GIFT   OF 
J.  &.  Whiie  Envin-  Carp*. 


VOLUME    ONE 

A  POPULAR  AND  PRACTICAL  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT 
OF  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  AND  WONDERFUL  DE- 
VELOPMENT OF  THE  ELECTRICAL  INDUSTRY 

With    engravings    and   sketches   of  the    pioneers  and  prominent   men,    past  and  present 


Edited  by  /--w 

T.  COMMERFORD  MARTIN 

Author  of  "  Edison,  His  Life  and  Inventions,"    "  Inventions  and  Researches  of  Nikola  Tesla,' 
"  The  Electric  Motor,"  Etc.      Formerly  Editor  of  "  Electrical  World  " 

and 

STEPHEN  LEIDY  COLES 

Formerly  Managing  Editor  "  Electrical  Review,"  Editor  American  Edition  "  Electric  Heating, 

Cooking  and  Cleaning  " 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY  COMPANY  ,\\ 

M.  M.  MARCY 
711-731  TRIBUNE  BUILDING.  NEW  YORK  CITY 


V.  \ 


\ 


c 


T.  COMMERFORD  MARTIN 


STEPHEN  LEIDY  COLES 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


PREFACE 

HE  intent  of  this  book  is  to  tell  a  plain  story  of  the  develop- 
ment of  electricity.  Considering  the  supreme  importance  of 
the  electrical  industry,  affecting  as  it  does  to-day  the  home 
and  business  life  of  practically  every  citizen  of  this  country, 
it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  no  history  of  its  rapid  and  marvelous 
development  has  been  produced — a  development  due  to  the  initiative 
of  progressive  and  far-seeing  men  and  the  employment  of  courageous 
private  capital.  This  lack  of  adequate  historical  recognition  is  all 
the  more  surprising  when  it  is  understood  that  at  the  present  time 
more  than  twelve  billion  dollars  are  invested  in  the  electrical  industry ; 
that  the  people  paid  out  last  year  over  $3,500,000,000  for  electrical 
service;  that  during  the  same  period  the  public  bought  and  used 
$750,000,000  worth  of  electrical  devices,  apparatus  and  supplies,  and 
that  conservative  and  authoritative  estimates  place  the  number  of 
American  people  dependent  upon  the  electrical  industry  for  a  living 
or  support  at  5,000,000,  or  one  in  every  twenty  of  the  country's 
population. 

Hence  the  Editors  of  THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 
take  especial  pleasure,  pride  and  satisfaction  in  recording  and  ar- 
ranging in  an  historical  review  the  salient  facts  regarding  an  industry 
with  which  they  have  been  actively  connected  since  youth. 

The  Editors  were  both,  for  many  years,  electrical  journalists 
whose  daily  work  brought  them  into  close  contact  with  all  but  the 
very  earliest  pioneers  in  the  telegraphic  art.  Acquaintance  and 
friendship  with  the  leading  men  of  the  industry  during  the  past  thirty- 
five  years  has  enabled  them,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  to  secure 
accurate  data  regarding  important  events  from  the  actual  creators  of 
the  art  or  participants  in  those  events.  Suggestions  that  such  a  work 
should  be  prepared  have  been  repeatedly  made,  and  they  feel  that 
they  are  meeting  a  long  recognized  necessity  for  such  an  addition  to 
the  permanent  literature  of  invention  and  industry.  This  history  is 
written  in  the  language  of  the  layman,  while  at  the  same  time  its 
technical  truth  will  satisfy  the  scientist. 

It  is  thus  possible  to  present  an  historical  narrative  at  once 
accurate  and  authoritative,  as  well  as  one  thoroughly  permeated  with 
that  most  desirable  quality,  "human  interest."  The  personal  sketches 
have  been  prepared  with  the  utmost  care,  and  no  efforts  have  been 
spared  to  secure  authentic  portraits  of  the  prominent  members  of  this 


411320 


great  industry,  both  of  the  past  and  the  present  day.  Contained  within 
the  covers  of  this  volume,  the  casual  reader  or  the  student  in  search 
of  information  will  find  not  only  the  facts  he  is  seeking,  but  at  the 
same  time  he  may,  by  consulting  the  index,  turn  to  portraits  and 
reliable  biographies  of  the  men  concerned  in  the  events  described. 

Although  this  volume  is  primarily  a  history,  the  general  reader 
will  find  the  narrative  pleasantly  punctuated  with  descriptions  of 
absorbingly  interesting  events  such  as  the  romance  of  the  telephone, 
from  the  stringing  of  the  first  experimental  line  between  Cambridge 
and  Boston  to  the  modern  "coil-loaded"  and  "phantom"  circuits 
which  make  possible  the  transmission  of  speech  between  New  York 
and  San  Francisco;  the  hazardous  exploits  performed  by  adven- 
turous pioneer  inventors  in  the  electric  railway  field — such  as  riding 
on  the  truck  of  a  street  car  and  holding  in  place  the  electric  motor 
which  had  jarred  loose  from  its  fastenings;  the  thrilling  and  danger- 
ous expeditions  into  the  jungles  of  the  Far  East  in  search  of  the 
exact  species  of  bamboo  required  for  incandescent  lamp  filaments; 
the  steady,  grinding,  stubborn  hours  of  ceaseless  experiment  which 
finally  resulted  in  apparatus  that  renders  possible  the  moving  picture 
of  today;  the  stirring  account  of  the  epoch-making  discovery  of  a 
way  to  subdivide  the  electric  current  by  which  house-lighting  by 
electricity  became  possible;  the  narrative  of  the  important  commercial 
introductions  of  the  alternating  current  which  enables  electrical  energy 
to  be  delivered  for  useful  work  at  points  far  distant  from  its  source 
of  generation ;  the  account  of  the  patent  litigation,  acrimonious  legal 
strife  and  bitter  business  battles  waged  by  the  partisans  of  "direct" 
and  "alternating"  current  systems;  the  mysterious  and  wonderful 
electro-chemical  reactions  that  take  place  in  the  operation  of  a  storage 
battery;  and  over  all,  partly  to  be  read  between  the  lines  and  partly 
emblazoned  as  high  lights  of  industrial  progress  and  human  achieve- 
ment, spreads  the  glamour  of  pioneer  hardships  and  business  chances 
undertaken  and  endured  by  adventurous  men  of  faith  and  vision  and 
commercial  sagacity,  many  of  whom  have  after  all  realized  but  a  small 
if  any  part  of  their  just  reward.  For  the  majority  of  them  the  con- 
sciousness of  having  rendered  conspicuous  public  service  must  forever 
suffice. 

The  subject  is  a  wonderful  one.  The  Editors  have  endeavored  to 
treat  it  so  as  to  preserve  as  much  as  possible  of  that  atmosphere  or 
sentiment  of  co-operative  effort  which  binds  electrical  men  into  the 
fraternity  that  has  enabled  them  to  give  more  of  comfort  and  service 
to  humanity  than  any  other  group  of  professional  workers  the  world 
has  ever  known. 

T.  COMMERFORD  MARTIN 

STEPHEN     LEIDY     COLES 

New  York,  1919 


SUMMARY  OF  CHAPTERS 

» 

THE  STORY  or  ELECTRICITY 
For  Complete  Index  and  Table  of  Contents  see  Page  657  of  Volume 


PAGE 
CHAPTER  ONE 

Origin  of  Electrical  Science 9 

CHAPTER  Two 
Story  of  the  Telegraph 29 

CHAPTER  THREE 
Story  of  Telephony 55 

CHAPTER  FOUR 
The  Central  Station  . 


CHAPTER  FIVE 
Electrical  Engineering  as  a  Profession 89 

CHAPTER  Six 
Story  of  the  Early  Electric  Railway 101 

CHAPTER  SEVEN 
The  Electrical  Societies 305 

CHAPTER  EIGHT 
The  Electric  Storage  Battery  ..........     335 


CHAPTER  NINE 
Electrical  Securities  as  Investments 339 

CHAPTER  TEN 
Electricity  in  the  Home 466 

CHAPTER  ELEVEN 
Steam  Railroad  Electrification  in  the  United  States  ....      473 

CHAPTER  TWELVE 
The  General  Electric  Company 489 

CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 
Story  of  the  Electric  Furnace 503 

CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 
Story  of  the  X-Ray 513 

CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 

Development  of  Hydro-Electric  Power 571 

J 

CHAPTER  SIXTEEN 
Buffalo  General  Electric  Company 590 

;$ 

CHAPTER  SEVENTEEN 
International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical  Workers  654 


CHAPTER    I 
ORIGIN  OF  ELECTRICAL  SCIENCE 

HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  AND   DEVELOPMENT  OF 
ELECTRICAL    PHENOMENA 


A i  this  book  probably  will  fall  into  the 
hands  of  many  readers  who  have 
no  knowledge  of  electricity  what- 
ever, it  has  been  suggested  to  the  authors 
that  a  preliminary  historical  sketch  of  the 
growth  of  electrical  discovery  and  experi- 
mentation from  the  earliest  times  would 
be  helpful  to  a  clearer  understanding  of 
what  has  been  accomplished  in  the  United 
States  in  the  past  half  century  in  this  re- 
markable field  of  development. 

The  account  which  follows,  while  cov- 
ering the  subject  in  the  briefest  possible 
manner,  has  been  written  to  meet  this  sug- 
ges  ion  and  with  the  hope  that  the  layman 
may  glean  from  it  enough  to  make  plainer 
and  more  interesting  to  him  the  other 
chapters  of  the  book. 

The  period  of  Thales,  a  Greek  philoso- 
pher, about  600  B.  C.,  is  generally  taken 
by  historians  as  the  genesis  of  electrical 
discovery.  Thales  was  a  mathematician, 
an  astronomer  and  an  all  around  wise  man 
of  his  day.  Having  these  qualifications, 
which  are  historically  well  authenticated, 
it  is  logical  to  assume  that  his  faculty  of 
observation  was  well  developed.  There- 
fore, when  he  is  credited  with  the  observa- 
tion that  if  a  piece  of  amber  is  rubbed 
against  the  clothing  it  will  first  attract  and 
then  repel  light  objects  brought  near  it,  it 
seems  safe  to  assume  that  even  if  he  was 
not  the  original  discoverer  he,  at  least,  was 
the  first  to  record  the  phenomenon  upon 
which  so  much  later  knowledge  has  been 
founded. 

That  Thales  was  not  lacking  in  the  at- 
tributes of  the  modern  business  man  is 


shown  in  an  anecdote  related  of  him  by 
Benj.  Martin  in  his  "Biographia  Philo- 
sophica,"  London,  1764,  as  follows: 

"Thales  being  upbraided  for  hisPoverty, 
resulting  from  the  Study  of  Science,  and 
foreseeing  by  his  Skill  in  Astrology  there 
would  be  plenty  of  Olives  that  year,  pur- 
chased all  the  gardens  about  Miletus  and 
Chios,  and  thus  having  acquired  a  Mono- 
poly, disposed  of  them  again  at  High 
Prices,  and  then  told  his  Neighbors  that  it 
was  very  easy  for  Men  of  Learning  to  be 
rich  if  they  chose  it,  but  that  Wealth  was 
not  their  Aim." 

Because  of  its  suggestion  of  sunlight, 
the  Greeks  named  their  beautiful,  golden 
amber  "elektron,"  from  which  our  "elec- 
tricity" readily  descends.  Here,  then,  we 
have  the  beginning  of  things  electrical — 
the  original  and  first  experiment  made  and 
recorded  and  the  derivation  of  the  name 
for  the  specific  form  of  energy  on  which 
all  our  latest  developments  depend. 

About  the  time  of  Thales,  Aristotle  is 
reported  to  have  said:  "The  stone  has  a 
soul  since  it  moves  iron."  It  is  supposed 
that  he  referred  to  the  lodestone,  or  par- 
ticular variety  of  iron  ore  called  "magne- 
tite," which  possessed  the  power  of  at- 
tracting similar  pieces  or  small  particles  of 
iron.  The  city  of  Magnesia  produced  the 
best  specimens  of  these  stones.  Thus  we 
have  a  source  for  our  terms  "magnetism" 
and,  later,  "magnet." 

Some  300  years  after  Thales,  Theo- 
phrastus  the  Greek  showed  that  certain 
species  of  tourmaline  when  rubbed  ac- 
quired similar  properties  to  amber.  In  his 


10 

work  oh'*  :p*eci0uV  stones'  hY  states  that 
"amber  is  a  stone.  It  is  dug  out  of  the 
earth  in  Liguria  and  has  a  power  of  at- 
traction. It  is  said  to  attract  not  only 
straws  and  small  pieces  of  sticks,  but  even 
copper  and  iron,  if  they  are  beaten  into 
thin  pieces." 

At  an  indefinite  date,  probably  some 
time  before  100  A.  D.,  Plutarch  records 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  observed  that 
"iron  drawn  by  stone  often  follows  it,  but 
often  also  is  turned  and  driven  away  in  the 
opposite  direction." 

This,  then,  is  the  sum  of  our  knowledge 
of  electrical  phenomena  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era.  For  2,000  years 
Thales'  original  experiment  lay  dormant 
and  was  productive  of  nothing.  From  our 
modern  standpoint  it  seems  most  remark- 
able that  the  existence  of  electrical  energy 
should  have  remained  so  long  unrecog- 
nized. The  world  was  not  lacking  in  bril- 
liant minds,  for  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans  possessed  a  high  order 
of  culture  and  intellectual  development. 
In  the  words  of  Dr.  Edwin  J.  Houston, 
"the  road  leading  into  the  unknown  do- 
main of  electric  science  was  pointed  out  to 
them,  but  this  road  was  neglected  and  soon 
forgotten,  and,  only  during  the  past  one 
hundred  years  or  so,  became  the  great 
thoroughfare  of  scientific  progress." 

The  centuries  are  barren  of  electrical 
advance  until  Dr.  William  Gilbert,  physi- 
cian to  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  England, 
showed  that  many  bodies  besides  amber 
and  tourmaline,  when  rubbed,  attracted 
and  then  repelled  light  particles  brought 
near  them. 

Gilbert,  who  was  born  in  1540,  pub- 
lished his  observations  in  1600  in  a  book 
entitled  "De  Magnete,"  which  is  among 
the  very  earliest  printed  records  relating 
in  any  way  to  electricity.  He  described 
a  large  number  of  experiments.  His  men- 
tal development,  which  was  beyond  the 
average,  gave  him  the  enduring  distinction 
of  being  the  first  man  after  a  lapse  of 
2,000  years  to  extend  the  original  obser- 
vation of  Thales.  Gilbert  was  a  contem- 
porary of  Bacon,  who  taught  a  system  of 
inductive  philosophy  under  which  the 
causes  of  phenomena  are  determined  by 
careful  experimentation  and  the  facts  ob- 
tained from  one  series  of  experiments  are 
used  as  the  basis  for  further  experiments. 


VtLE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Gilbert's  work,  although  leading  him  to 
erroneous  conclusions  in  a  number  of  in- 
stances, bears  evidence  of  having  been 
carried  on  according  to  Bacon's  methods 
of  philosophy.  Gilbert's  researches  and 
the  important  fact  that  he  recorded  them 
in  a  printed  book  have  resulted  in  the  be- 
stowal upon  him  of  the  title  "Father  of 


DR.  WILLIAM   GILBERT 

First  Systematic  Investigator  of  Whom  there  is 
any  Record 

Electricity."  He  also  is  credited  with  hav- 
ing invented  the  name  "electrica,"or  "elec- 
trics," to  describe  those  bodies  which  pos- 
sess the  amber  attraction.  Thus  he  pro- 
vided a  root  for  our  word  "electricity." 

The  adaptation  of  a  piece  of  magne- 
tized iron  for  use  as  a  mariner's  compass 
has  been  credited  to  the  Chinese  and  also 
to  seafaring  men  of  the  Northern  Euro- 
pean countries.  The  first  description  of 
the  device,  however,  was  made  by  Alex- 
ander Neckham,  an  English  monk,  in 
1 1 80.  He  assumed  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts  that  if  a  natural  magnet,  or  lode- 
stone,  is  suspended  and  free  to  turn  about 
a  vertical  axis  the  same  portion  of  the 
magnet  will  always  point  to  t^e  north;  and 
that  if  a  piece  of  iron  is  rubbed  with  a 
lodestone  it  will  acquire  temporarily  the 
properties  of  the  lodestone. 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


11 


Gilbert  made  and  described  many  ex- 
periments with  the  compass.  He  ampli- 
fied Robert  Norman's  assumption  that  the 
magnet  is  surrounded  by  an  "orb  of  vir- 
tue" by  imagining  that  his  sphere  of  influ- 
ence extended  to  infinity  and  called  "rays 
of  magnetic  force"  the  lines  along  which 
the  magnetic  force  was  exercised.  In  con- 
sonance with  Gilbert's  theories  we  speak 
today  of  the  "field  of  force"  surrounding 
a  magnetic  pole  and  refer  to  his  rays  as 
"lines  of  force."  Gilbert  also  found  that, 
while  magnetic  action  is  strongest  at  the 
poles  of  a  lodestone  magnet,  the  force  per- 
meates the  whole  mass  and  that  if  it  be 
broken  up  each  part  becomes  a  magnet 
with  its  own  north  and  south  poles.  An- 
other of  his  discoveries  was  that  the  mag- 
netic attraction  of  a  lodestone  for  iron 
particles  can  be  cut  off  by  the  interposition 
of  any  substance  except  iron  and  also  that 
the  iron  particle  is  magnetized  before  it 
touches  the  magnet,  having  a  polarity  op- 
posite to  that  of  the  magnet.  Therefore 
the  north  pole  of  a  magnet  induces  in  the 
approaching  iron  particle  a  south  pole  and 
these  two  unlike  poles  attract  each  other. 
Thus  the  important  principle  of  magne- 
tization by  induction  is  established. 

The  flow  of  electric  current  through  a 
conductor  was  demonstrated  by  Gilbert's 
experiment  that  the  magnetic  force  moves 
from  one  end  of  an  iron  rod  to  the  other 
when  one  end  is  in  contact  with  a  magnet. 

Otto  von  Guericke,  burgomaster  of 
Magdeburg,  about  this  period  had  been 
making  experiments  with  the  amber  at- 
traction. In  order  to  save  time  and  labor 
in  rubbing  the  amber  by  hand  he  made,  in 
1650,  a  machine  consisting  of  a  large  ball 
of  sulphur  mounted  on  a  shaft  which  could 
be  revolved.  His  hand  laid  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ball  acted  as  the  rubber.  Plac- 
ing a  linen  thread  in  contact  with  the  globe 
and  revolving  his  machine,  he  made  the 
important  discovery  that,  just  as  Gilbert 
found  that  magnetism  passes  from  one 
end  of  an  iron  rod  to  the  other,  the  electric 
attraction  appeared  at  the  distant  end  of 
the  thread.  Thus  was  established  the 
principle  that  electric  attraction  could  be 
"conducted"  and  made  evident  at  a  point 
distant  from  its  source.  In  this  primitive 
laboratory  in  Magdeburg,  therefore,  was 
born  the  "electrical  transmission  of 
energy." 


About  1700  Francis  Hawksbee,  an  Eng- 
lishman, built  a  similar  machine  with  a 
glass  globe  in  place  of  the  ball  of  sulphur. 
By  means  of  a  belt  and  crank  shaft  the 
globe  could  be  revolved  at  high  speeds. 
Exhausting  the  air  from  the  globe  and 
rubbing  it  while  it  revolved  produced  a 
glowing  light  in  the  sphere.  When  this 


OTTO  VON  GUERICKE 

First  to  Conduct  Experiments  with  a   Special 

Machine 

experiment  was  performed  before  the 
Royal  Society  great  excitement  was  cre- 
ated by  the  "electric  light." 

Stephen  Grey,  an  Englishman,  in  1729, 
first  called  attention  to  the  difference  be- 
tween conductors  and  non-conductors  of 
electricity.  Using  threads  of  hemp  sup- 
ported by  silk  threads  he  transmitted  the 
electric  attraction  a  distance  of  1,000  feet. 
His  further  experiments  demonstrated 
that  while  linen,  hemp  or  metal  would 
conduct  electricity,  silk  was  a  non-conduc- 
tor. A  Frenchman,  Charles  du  Fay,  re- 
peated these  experiments  and  records,  in 
1733,  that  the  hempen  thread,  when  sup- 
ported by  silk  threads,  is  "insulated."  An 
"insulator,"  therefore,  is  a  substance 
which  conducts  electricity  so  poorly  that 
the  amount  passing  through  it  is  negligible. 


12 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


As  the  amount  of  electricity  produced 
by  the  various  frictional  machines  of  these 
pioneer  experimenters  was  very  small,  a 
demand  grew  up  for  a  device  that  would 
either  store  these  small  quantities  until  a 
large  total  had  accumulated  or  a  machine 
that  would  itself  generate  large  quantities 
of  the  electric  fluid.  Hence  it  happens 
that  1745  proved  to  be  a  memorable  year 
in  the  advancement  of  electrical  experi- 
menation,  for  at  this  date  Bishop  Von 
Kleist,  dean  of  the  cathedral  of  Comin, 
Pomerania,  discovered  the  Leyden  jar. 
While  this  discovery  has  been  credited  to 
others,  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley,  in  his  "His- 
tory and  Present  State  of  Electricity,  with 
Original  Experiments,"  London,  1775,  at- 
tributes the  discovery  to  Von  Kleist. 

The  Leyden  jar,  or  phial,  gets  its  name 
from  the  fact  that  Cunaeus,  of  Leyden, 
while  repeating  some  experiments  with 
Professors  Muschenbroeck  and  Allamand, 
of  the  University  of  Leyden,  independ- 
ently made  the  same  discovery  as  Von 
Kleist.  In  a  letter  from  Von  Kleist,  dated 
November  4,  1745,  read  before  the  Aca- 
demy of  Science  at  Berlin,  he  describes  his 
discovery  as  follows : 

"When  a  nail,  or  a  piece  of  thick  brass 
wire,  &c.,  is  put  into  a  small  apothecary's 
phial  and  electrified,  remarkable  effects 
follow;  the  phial  must  be  very  dry  or 
warm.  I  commonly  rub  it  over  before- 
hand with  a  finger,  on  which  I  have  put 
some  pounded  chalk.  If  a  little  mercury, 
or  a  few  drops  of  spirit  of  wine,  be  put 
into  it,  the  experiment  succeeds  the  better. 
As  soon  as  this  phial  and  nail  are  removed 
from  the  electrifying  glass,  or  the  prime 
conductor,  to  which  it  hath  been  exposed, 
is  taken  away,  it  throws  out  a  pencil  of 
flame  so  long,  that,  with  this  burning  ma- 
chine in  my  hand,  I  have  taken  above  sixty 
steps,  in  walking  about  my  room.  When 
it  is  electrified  strongly,  I  can  take  it  into 
another  room,  and  there  fire  spirits  of 
wine  with  it.  If  while  it  is  electrifying,  I 
put  my  finger,  or  a  piece  of  gold,  which  I 
hold  in  my  hand,  to  the  nail,  I  receive  a 
shock  which  stuns  my  arm  and  shoulders." 

About  this  time  a  number  of  experi- 
menters investigated  the  Leyden  jar  effects 
and  most  of  them  describe  extravagantly 
the  sensations  produced  on  themselves  by 
the  electric  discharge.  It  is  altogether 
probable,  from  what  is  now  known  of  the 


character  of  the  jars  then  constructed,  that 
the  shocks  obtained  must  have  been  trivial. 
Professor  Allamand  reports  that  Bohe- 
mian glass  was  the  best  kind  to  use  and 
further  remarks:  "That  with  which  it 
(the  experiment)  best  succeeded  was  a 
beer  glass." 

The  discovery  of  the  Leyden  jar  and 
its  independent  study  by  a  number  of  ex- 
perimenters undoubtedly  marks  a  most  im- 
portant milestone  in  electrical  progress. 
It  is  a  fact  that  some  of  the  most  interest- 
ing advances  in  electrical  science  in  mod- 
ern times  have  been  founded  on  the  basic 
principles  of  the  Leyden  jar.  The  re- 
searchesof  Dr.Elihu  Thomson  andNikola 
Tesla  on  the  effects  produced  by  alternat- 
ing currents  of  high  frequency  are  notable 
examples  of  this. 

Recalling  the  occasions  without  number 
when  the  wiseacre  layman  has  feelingly 
remarked  that  "electricity  is  only  in  its 
infancy,"  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  obser- 
vations of  one  Tiberius  Cavallo,  who 
published  a  treatise  in  three  volumes  on 
electricity  in  1795.  Referring  to  the  Ley- 
den jar,  he  says : 

"Since  the  time  of  this  discovery,  the 
prodigious  number  of  electricians,  experi- 
ments and  new  facts  that  have  been  daily 
produced,  from  every  corner  of  Europe, 
and  other  parts  of  the  world,  is  almost  in- 
credible. Discoveries  crowded  upon  dis- 
coveries; improvements  upon  improve- 
ments ;  and  the  science  ever  since  that  time 
went  on  with  so  rapid  a  course,  and  is  now 
spreading  so  amazingly  fast,  that  it  seems 
as  if  the  subject  would  soon  be  exhausted, 
and  electricians  arrive  at  an  end  of  their 
researches;  but,  however,  the  ne  plus  ultra 
is,  in  all  probability,  as  yet  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, and  the  young  electrician  has  a  vast 
field  before  him,  highly  deserving  his  at- 
tention, and  promising  further  discoveries, 
perhaps,  equally,  or  more  important  than 
those  already  made.". 

The  ubiquity  and  fascination  of  electri- 
cal experimentation  had  their  start  about 
this  time,  when  news  of  the  discoveries  in 
Europe  reached  the  colonists  in  America. 
Benjamin  Franklin,  a  Philadelphia  printer, 
in  1746,  repeated  the  Leyden  jar  experi- 
ments for  his  own  amusement.  He  had 
already,  in  1742,  made  the  immortal  dis- 
covery with  his  silken  kite  that  lightning 
and  the  artificial  discharge  from  the  Ley- 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


13 


den  jar  are  identical.  The  practical  ap- 
plication he  made  as  the  result  was  the 
invention  of  the  lightning  rod.  Franklin's 
own  description  of  his  kite  experiment  is 
given  in  one  of  his  letters  which,  later,  was 
published  in  his  book,  "Experiments  and 
Observations  on  Electricity,  made  at  Phil- 
adelphia, in  America."  The  letter  is  as 
follows : 

"As  frequent  mention  is  made  in  public 
papers  from  Europe  of  the  success  ol  the 
Philadelphia  experiment  for  drawing  the 
electric  fire  from  clouds  by  means  of 
pointed  rods  of  iron  erected  on  high  build- 
ings, &c.,  it  may  be  agreeable  to  the  curi- 
ous to  be  informed  that  the  same  experi- 
ment (  has  succeeded  in  Philadelphia, 
though  made  in  a  different  and  more  easy 
manner,  which  is  as  follows: 

"Make  a  small  cross  of  two  light  strips 
of  cedar,  the  arms  so  long  as  to  reach  to 
four  corners  of  a  large,  thin,  silk  handker- 
chief when  extended;  tie  the  corners  of  the 
handkerchief  to  extremities  of  the  cross, 
so  you  have  the  body  of  a  kite;  which 
being  properly  accommodated  with  a  tail, 
loop,  and  string,  will  rise  in  the  air,  like 
those  made  of  paper;  but  this  being  of  silk, 
is  fitter  to  bear  the  wet  and  wind  of  a  thun- 
der-gust without  tearing.  To  the  top  of 
the  upright  stick  of  the  cross  is  to  be  fixed 
a  very  sharp  pointed  wire,  rising  a  foot  or 
more  above  the  wood.  To  the  end  of  the 
twine,  next  the  hand,  is  to  be  tied  a  silk 
ribbon,  and  where  the  silk  and  twine  join, 
a  key  may  be  fastened.  This  kite  is  to  be 
raised  when  a  thunder-gust  appears  to  br 
coming  on,  and  the  person  who  holds  the 
string  must  stand  within  a  door  or  window 
or  under  some  cover,  so  that  the  silk  rib- 
bon may  not  be  wet;  and  care  must  be 
taken  that  the  twine  does  not  touch  the 
frame  of  the  door  or  window.  As  soon  as 
any  of  the  thunder  clouds  come  over  the 
kite,  the  pointed  wire  will  draw  the  electric 
fire  from  them,  and  the  kite,  with  all  the 
twine,  will  be  electrified,  and  the  loose  fila- 
ments of  the  twine  will  stand  out  in  every 
way,  and  be  attracted  by  an  approaching 
finger.  And  when  the  rain  has  wet  the  kite 
and  twine,  so  that  it  can  conduct  the  elec- 
tric fire  freely,  you  will  find  it  stream  out 
plentifully  from  the  key  on  the  approach 
of  your  knuckle.  At  this  key  the  phial  may 
be  charged;  and  from  electric  fire  thus  ob- 
tained, spirits  may  be  kindled,  and  all  the 


other  electric  experiments  be  performed, 
which  are  usually  done  by  the  help  of  a 
rubbed  glass  globe  or  tube,  and  thereby 
the  sameness  of  the  electric  matter  with 
that  of  lightning  completely  demon- 
strated." 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 

Discoverer  of  the  Positive  and  Negative  char- 

teristics  of  Electricity,  and  Inventor  of 

the  Lightning  Rod 

Franklin's  further  observations  on  the 
Leyden  jar  brought  him  the  knowledge 
that  when  it  was  charged  from  the  fric- 
tional  electric  machine  the  inner  coating 
of  the  Leyden  jar  connected  to  the  ma- 
chine was  positive  and  the  outer  coating 
negative.  Having  established  this  fact  to 
his  satisfaction,  he  made  a  Leyden  jar 
which  easily  could  be  taken  apart  and 
began  a  series  of  experiments  to  discover 
where  the  electricity  was  stored.  By  using 
a  sheet  of  glass  with  thin  lead  on  each  side 
he  found  that  the  electricity  did  not  rest 
in  the  lead  coatings  but  was  on  the  surfaces 
of  the  glass,  and  was  held  there  by  the  at- 
traction of  opposite  electrifications  until  a 
path  was  provided  by  which  the  positive 
and  negative  charges  could  join  each 
other. 


14 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Until  now  European  observers  had  be- 
lieved that  the  electricity  was  held  in  the 
iron  filings,  or  the  lead  plates,  or  the 
water  used  to  fill  the  Leyden  jar.  Frank- 
lin's theory,  however,  in  the  course  of 
time  prevailed  and  displaced  all  others. 

As  a  natural  sequence  of  this  theory,  it 
followed  that  if  the  surface  of  the  glass 
was  where  the  electricity  was  stored,  all 
that  had  to  be  done  to  secure  an  increased 
charge  was  to  enlarge  the  glass  surface; 
that  is,  two  jars  properly  connected  would 
contain  twice  the  charge  of  one  jar  or  have 
twice  the  "capacity."  Franklin,  therefore, 
increased  his  battery  of  jars  to  six  or  more 
and  succeeded  in  securing  a  discharge  suf- 
ficient to  kill  a  ten  pound  turkey.  When 
Franklin  had  his  battery  of  jars  arranged 
so  that  all  the  inner  coatings  were  con- 
nected together  and  all  the  outer  coatings 
connected  with  each  other,  making,  in 
effect,  a  single  large  jar,  he  said  the  jars 
were  "connected  in  parallel."  When  the 
outer  coating  of  the  first  jar  was  connected 
to  the  inner  coating  of  the  second,  and  so 
on,  he  called  the  connection  "cascade." 
While  we  still  use  Franklin's  term  "paral- 
lel" connection,  we  now  call  his  "cascade" 
connection  "series." 

Franklin  continued  his  electrical  investi- 
gations along  with  his  other  activities,  but 
the  proof  of  the  identity  of  the  electric 
spark  and  the  flash  of  lighting  and  the  in- 
vention of  the  lightning  rod  gave  to  the 
world  the  first  practical  results  of  electri- 
cal experimentation.  It  had  now  been 
about  150  years  since  Gilbert's  classic  dis- 
coveries in  magnetism.  The  sum  of  prac- 
tical electrical  knowledge  at  this  time  was, 
therefore,  contained  in  the  work  of  these 
two  men. 

Luigi  Galvani,  professor  of  anatomy  in 
the  University  of  Bologna,  made  a  mem- 
orable discovery  in  1786.  While  carrying 
on  some  experiments  in  the  effects  of  at- 
mospheric electricity  on  animal  organisms 
he  accidentally  found  that  the  dismem- 
bered leg  of  a  frog  was  violently  con- 
vulsed when  charged  with  electricity.  As 
he  had  been  searching  for  the  vital  fluid 
which  could  be  credited  with  being  the 
cause  of  vitality,  he  supposed  he  had 
found  it,  and  his  published  accounts  of  this 
experiment  make  such  a  claim,  which  we 
now  know  to  be  erroneous.  The  excite- 
ment produced  by  Galvani's  announce- 


ment was  widespread  and  's  experiments 
were  repeated  by  many  observers  in  the 
scientific  world. 

Among  these  was  Alexander  Volta,  pro- 
fessor of  physics  in  the  University  of 
Pavia,  who,  while  at  first  accepting  his 
conclusions,  afterwards  decided  that  Gal- 
vani had  really  discovered  a  new  method 


ALEXANDER  VOLTA 

Discoverer  of  the  Voltaic  Pile.     The  Most  Im- 
portant Advance  up  to  that  Time 

of  producing  electricity  instead  of  the  vital 
force  of  life,  as  he  had  announced.  As  a 
result  of  his  experiments  Volta  announced 
in  1796  the  voltaic  pile,  one  of  the  most 
important  inventions  ever  made  in  the  elec- 
trical arts.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Volta  was  so  far  in  advance  of  his  time 
with  this  invention  that  he  stirred  up  no 
rival  claimants,  a  really  unique  distinction. 
The  voltaic  pile,  which  was  the  first  gen- 
erator of  a  continuous  electric  current,  was 
referred  to  by  Arago  as  "the  most  won- 
derful apparatus  that  has  ever  come  from 
the  hand  of  man,  not  excluding  even  the 
telescope  or  the  steam  engine." 

Volta's  pile,  first  exhibited  in  1800,  con- 
sisted of  a  series  of  disks  of  silver,  zinc 
and  cloth  wet  with  salt  water.  The  disks 
were  about  an  inch  in  diameter  and  were 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


15 


assembled  'n  a  column  in  regular  order — 
silver,  zinc,  cloth,  repeated  until  the  de- 
sired number  was  reached.  In  the  inven- 
tor's own  words,  this  procedure  resulted 
in  "the  construction  of  an  apparatus  which 
resembles,  so  far  as  its  effects  are  con- 
cerned —  that  is,  by  the  commotion  it  is 
capable  of  making  one  feel  in  the  arms, 
etc. — the  Leyden  batteries,  and  still  more 
the  fully  charged  electric  batteries.  It 
acts,  however,  without  ceasing,  and  its 
charge  re-establishes  itself  after  each  ex- 
plosion. It  operates,  in  a  word,  by  an  in- 
destructible charge,  by  a  perpetual  action 
or  impulse  on  the  electric  fluid."  The  ca- 
pacity of  the  pile,  moreover,  was  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  number  of  metallic 
plates  used.  One  hundred  pairs  produced 
a  distinct  shock  and  500  pairs  a  very  pain- 
ful one.  As  compared  with  a  Leyden  jar, 
the  greatest  improvement  in  the  voltaic 
pile  was  its  continuity  of  electric  discharge. 
This  was  true  as  long  as  the  disks  of  cloth 
remained  moist.  When  they  became  dry 
the  action  of  the  pile  ceased  entirely. 
Volta  overcame  this  defect  by  devising  his 
"crown  of  cups,"  the  cloth  disks  being  re- 
placed by  glass  vessels  filled  with  salt 
water  and  strips  of  silver  and  zinc  taking 
the  place  of  the  metal  disks.  In  this  ap- 
paratus the  silver  in  one  glass  cup  was  con- 
nected to  the  zinc  in  the  next  cup,  the  silver 
in  this  to  the  zinc  in  the  next,  and  so  on; 
a  "series  connection"  like  the  Leyden  jar 
battery. 

Experiments  with  the  new  voltaic  pile 
soon  demonstrated  that  more  vigorous  ac- 
tion could  be  obtained  by  replacing  the  salt 
water  in  the  cups  with  a  weak  solution  of 
sulphuric  acid.  Then  it  was  found  that 
the  acid  rapidly  dissolved  the  zinc  even 
when  the  pile  was  not  discharging  current 
and  that  hydrogen  gas  was  given  off  at  the 
zinc.  To  save  this  waste  of  metal  the 
strips  were  attached  to  a  frame  which 
could  be  raised  out  of  the  acid  solution 
when  the  apparatus  was  not  in  use.  Thus 
came  about  the  invention  of  the  "plunge 
battery."  It  also  was  found  that  the  waste 
of  metal  could  be  stopped,  even  if  it  were 
left  in  the  acid  bath,  if  the  zinc  strips  pre- 
vious to  use  were  rubbed  with  mercury,  or 
"amalgamated."  Now,  while  no  gas  was 
generated  while  the  cells  were  at  rest,  a 
copious  discharge  took  place  as  soon  as 
the  complete  circuit  was  established  be- 


tween the  end  plates  and  the  zinc  was  con- 
sumed in  direct  proportion  to  the  electric 
discharge  drawn  from  the  cell.  New  the- 
ories for  the  action  of  the  cell  were  now 
advanced.  It  was  recognized  that  some- 
where in  the  apparatus  a  force  was 
evolved  which  had  the  ability  to  move  elec- 
tricity through  a  closed  path.  The  cells 


SIR   HUMPHRY    DAVY 
First  to  Exhibit  a  Practical  Electric  Light 

themselves  had  been  referred  to  as  "elec- 
tro-motors" or  electricity  movers.  This 
force,  then,  was  called  "electro-motive 
force,"  a  term  still  important  in  our  elec- 
trical vocabulary. 

A  great  number  of  valuable  discoveries 
and  inventions  followed,  now  that  Volta 
had  placed  at  the  disposal  of  investigators 
a  simple  and  easy  means  of  producing 
electricity.  One  of  these  discoveries  was 
that  of  Nicholson  and  Carlisle,  made  in 
1800,  which  proved  that  an  electric  cur- 
rent passed  through  a  compound  liquid  de- 
composes the  liquid.  Their  voltaic  pile 
consisted  of  thirty-six  English  half-crowns, 
alternating  with  the  same  number  of  zinc 
disks,  the  two  metals  separated  by  disks 
of  pasteboard  soaked  in  salt  water.  With 
this  apparatus,  Nicholson  and  Carlisle 
showed  that  when  current  was  passed 


16 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


through  salt  water  the  water  was  decom- 
posed and  oxygen  and  hydrogen  were  lib- 
erated. 

Sir  Humphry  Davy,  by  using  this 
method  on  October  6,  1807,  made  the  im- 
portant discovery  of  the  compound  nature 
of  potassa,  a  substance  which  theretofore 
had  been  regarded  as  elementary.  He 
demonstrated  that  postassa  was  composed 
of  the  hitherto  undiscovered  metallic  ele- 
ment potassium  combined  with  oxygen. 
Later  he  demonstrated  that  the  earth's 
crust  is  almost  entirely  formed  of  metallic 
elementary  substances  combined  with  oxy- 
gen or  other  substances. 

Although  it  was  discovered  very  shortly 
after  the  invention  of  the  voltaic  pile  that 
a  bright  light  is  produced  at  a  break  in  the 
circuit  of  a  sufficiently  powerful  pile,  it 
was  Sir  Humphry  Davy  who,  in  1809, 
showed  at  the  Royal  Institution  in  London 
for  the  first  time  on  an  extended  scale  the 
brilliant  light  of  the  voltaic  arc  which  he 
established,  with  a  pile  formed  of  2,000 
couples,  between  two  sticks  of  carbon. 
Strictly  speaking,  this  was  not  the  first  arc 
light,  yet  it  was  undoubtedly  the  first  time 
it  was  publicly  shown  in  such  a  way  as  to 
demonstrate  its  possibilities  as  an  artificial 
illummant.  While  many  futile  attempts 
were  made  from  this  time  on  to  produce 
a  commerciallly  practical  arc  light,  it  was 
not  until  nearly  seventy  years  later  that 
the  problem  was  solved. 

Gilbert  had  shown  the  many  points  of 
difference  between,  electrical  and  magnetic 
phenomena  and  had  proved  fallacious  the 
belief  of  the  early  philosophers  that  elec- 
tric and  magnetic  attractions  were  identi- 
cal, yet  the  opinion  prevailed  among  manv 
experimenters  that  there  was  a  definite 
relation  between  magnetism  and  electric- 
ity. Hans  Christian  Oersted,  professor  of 
physics  in  the  University  of  Copenhagen, 
was  a  scientist  who  held  such  views  One 
day  in  1819  while  addressing  his  students, 
he  happened  to  hold  a  highly  charged  wire 
over  a  large  magnetic  needle  which  had 
come  to  rest  in  its  normal  position  on  the 
lecture  table.  To  the  astonishment  of  the 
professor,  the  needle  swung  about  and 
took  up  a  position  at  right  angles  to  the 
charged  wire.  Oersted  promptly  began  a 
series  of  experiments  to  establish  the  rela- 
tion he  suspected  between  magnetic  and 
electrical  phenomena.  He  found  that  if  he 


reversed  the  current  the  needle  deflected 
in  the  opposite  direction.  If  the  current 
flow  remained  unchanged  and  the  charged 
wire  was  moved  from  above  the  needle  to 
below  it,  the  direction  of  deflection  also 
reversed.  In  July,  1820,  Oersted  pub- 
lished his  book  "Experiments  on  the 
Effect  of  the  Electric  Conflict  on  the  Mag- 


PROF.  AXDRE  MARIE  AMPERE 
First  to  Introduce  the   Magnet 

netic  Needle,"  which  recounted  these  and 
many  similar  facts  he  had  carefully 
observed. 

After  carefully  repeating  Oersted's 
experiments  and  making  many  of  his  own, 
Andre  Marie  Ampere,  professor  of 
mathematics  in  the  Ecole  Polytechnique  of 
Paris,  published  his  theory  of  these  phe- 
nomena. His  famous  rule  for  the  direc- 
tion of  movement  of  the  needle  in 
Oersted's  original  experiment  was:  "Imag- 
ine yourself  swimming  in  the  wire  in  the 
direction  of  the  current  and  facing  the 
needle,  then  the  north  pole  will  be  de- 
flected toward  your  left  hand."  Carrying 
his  work  further,  Ampere  made  the  impor- 
tant discovery  that  currents  in  opposite 
directions  repel  and  currents  in  the  same 
direction  attract  each  other.  From  this  he 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


17 


developed  the  theory  which  resulted  in  his 
construction  of  a  long  spiral  coil  of  wire 
called  a  "solenoid"  which,  when  connected 
to  a  battery,  showed  all  the  characteristics 
of  a  magnet. 

Sturgeon,  in  1825,  discovered  that  a 
round  iron  bar  placed  within  the  solenoid 
acquired  a  magnetic  strength  many  hun- 
dred times  that  of  the  solenoid  alone;  and 
that  when  the  current  supply  was  cut  off 
the  magnetism  of  the  bar  disappeared. 
These  cored  solenoids  were  called  "elec- 
tro-magnets" by  Sturgeon  and  are  today 
important  parts  of  nearly  all  electrical 
apparatus.  In  1830  an  electro-magnet 
was  constructed  of  700  feet  of  wire  and 
weighing  60  pounds  which  could  support 
a  ton  weight  when  charged  with  electric 
current  from  a  few  cells  of  battery. 

Years  before  this,  or  as  soon  as  it 
became  known  that  electricity  transmitted 
its  effects  through  conductors  practically 
instantaneously,  'experimenters  had  sug- 
gested that  such  a  method  be  used  for  com- 
munication between  distant  points.  Herein 
lies  the  germ  of  the  modern  telegraph. 
But  there  were  two  requisites  necessary 
before  a  system  of  telegraphy  could  be 
made  practical.  One  was  the  electro-mag- 
net discovered  by  Sturgeon,  as  noted 
above.  The  other  was  a  source  of  current 
which  would  give  a  constant  supply.  In 
1836  Daniell  invented  a  voltaic  pile,  or 
battery,  which  differed  from  others  in  that 
it  was  capable  of  yielding  for  long  periods 
of  time  an  approximately  steady  current. 
These  two  important  inventions,  there- 
fore, made  the  later  invention  of  the  tele- 
graph a  possibility. 

The  year  1837  is  an  important  date  in 
the  annals  of  telegraphy.  A  number  of 
claimants  to  the  honor  of  inventing  the 
modern  telegraph  appear,  among  them 
being  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse  in  the  United 
States,  Steinheil  in  Munich,  and  Wheat- 
stone  and  Cooke  in  England.  Previous  to 
this  time,  Morse  had  devoted  much 
^thought  and  attention  to  the  elements  of 
his  final  invention  for  the  honor  of  which 
the  scientific  world  at  last  awarded  him 
credit.  He  has  told  how  the  germs  of  the 
invention  took  root  in  his  consciousness  on 
board  the  packet  ship  "Sully"  while  en 
route  from  Havre,  France,  to  New  York 
City.  The  "Sully"  sailed  from  Havre 
October  i,  1832,  and  during  the  voyage 


Morse  made  many  sketches  of  his  tele- 
graphic apparatus.  He  uses  these  words: 
"I  also  drew  in  my  sketch-book  modes  of 
interring  the  conductors  in  tubes  in  the 
earth,  and,  soon  after  landing,  planned 
and  drew  out  the  method  upon  posts." 
Here  we  have  what  is  probably  the  first 
suggestion  that  electric  conductors  can  be 
carried  in  tubes  underground,  although 
Morse  did  not  use  it  in  his  pioneer  tele- 
graph work.  Morse  completed  his  first 
telegraph  instrument  in  1835,  three  years 
after  the  "Sully"  arrived  in  New  York. 
It  was  in  1837,  however,  that  his  instru- 
ments and  system  were  exhibited  to  the 
public  generally. 

The  Morse  system  of  telegraphy  con- 
sisted in  using  an  electro-magnet  to  the 
armature  of  which  was  attached  a  stylus, 
or  pen,  that  recorded  on  a  ribbon  of  paper, 
drawn  beneath  it,  a  series  of  dots  and 
dashes  corresponding  to  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet.  Prof.  J.  D.  Forbes,  in  the 
"Encyclopaedia  Brittanica,"  commenting 
on  the  systems  of  telegraphy  contempo- 
rary with  Morse,  refers  to  the  latter's 
apparatus  as  being  entirely  original  and 
continues:  "The  telegraphs  of  Morse  have 
the  inestimable  advantage  that  they  pre- 
serve a  permanent  record  of  the  dispatch 
they  convey." 

Since  1837  we  find  an  almost  continuous 
record  of  progress  in  the  development, 
refinement  and  expansion  of  capacity  of 
the  telegraph.  Duplex  telegraphy,  by 
which  two  or  more  messages  are  sent 
simultaneously  over  the  same  wire;  con- 
traplex,  or  the  sending  simultaneously  of 
two  or  more  messages  in  opposite  direc- 
tions; Delaney's  system,  by  which  as  many 
as  72  separate  and  distinct  messages  have 
been  successfully  transmitted  over  the 
same  wire,  either  all  in  one  direction  or  a 
number  in  one  direction  and  the  remainder 
in  the  opposite  direction;  the  simultaneous 
sending  over  one  wire  of  two  or  more  tele- 
graph messages  which  at  the  same  time 
was  transmitting  two  or  more  telephonic 
conversations — these  are  only  a  few  of  the 
wonders  accomplished  through  Morse's 
invention. 

The  classic  researches  and  investiga- 
tions of  Michael  Faraday  undoubtedly 
made  available  for  the  world  that  wonder- 
ful and  remarkably  efficient  source  of  elec- 
trical energy,  the  dynamo.  Passing  over 


18 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


the  interesting  labors  of  other  experiment- 
ers, it  is  sufficient  for  our  present  purpose 
to  state  that  the  first  electric  dynamo  was 
invented  by  Faraday  and  was  described  in 
a  paper  read  before  the  Royal  Society  of 
Great  Britain  in  1831. 

Faraday's     epoch     marking     invention, 
which  he  modestly  called  "A  New  Elec- 


MICHAEL  FARADAY 
Inventor  of  the  First  Electric  Dynamo 

trical  Machine,"  consisted  of  a  copper  disk 
about  12  inches  in  diameter,  so  mounted 
on  an  axis  as  to  be  capable  of  rotation 
between  the  opposite  poles  of  a  strong 
permanent  magnet  Two  collecting 
brushes,  one  resting  on  the  axis  and  the 
other  on  the  circumference  of  the  wheel, 
were  provided  to  collect  and  carry  off  the 
current  generated  by  means  of  the  poten- 
tial difference  produced  as  the  rotating 
disk  cut  through  the  lines  of  magnetic 
force  of  the  permanent  magnet.  This  was 
the  first  time  that  electric  current  was  pro- 
duced from  a  permanent  magnet. 

Working  along  similar  lines,  numerous 
inventors  made  dynamos  of  larger  size 
and  more  power.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  Dal  Negro,  Pixii,  Ritchie, 
Clarke,  Saxton,  Jacobi,  Sturgeon,  Wheat- 
stone,  Brett,  Page,  Holmes,  Wilde  and 


the  inventors  of  our  own  times.  Fara- 
day's invention  for  transforming  mechan- 
ical effort  into  electrical  energy  with 
marvelous  efficiency  was  of  far  more  im- 
portance than  even  he  realized  and  con- 
stituted a  step  oi  progress  of  immeasura- 
ble benefit  to  the  world. 

Now  that  electricity  could  be  produced 
reliably,  cheaply  and  in  quantity  it  was 
possible  to  commercialize  many  applica- 
tions hitherto  confined  to  mere  laboratory 
experiments.  The  first  of  these  was  the 
use  of  electric  light  for  artificial  illumina- 
tion on  a  commercial  basis.  The  arc  light 
was  the  earliest  result  of  these  conditions. 
Some  years  previously  Staite,  one  of  the 
ablest  advocates  of  the  commercial  arc 
light,  had  invented  several  types  of  arc 
lamp;  but  his  work  at  the  time  came  to 
nothing  because  he  was  dependent  for  his 
current  on  the  expensive  voltaic  batteries. 

Bunsen,  in  1840,  devised  a  process  of 
making  carbon  rods  for  use  in  arc  lamps. 
He  mixed  with  molasses  ground  carbon 
obtained  from  the  retorts  of  illuminating 
gas  plants,  moulded  the  rods  into  shape 
and  then  subjected  them  to  great  heat. 
This  identical  process,  with  slight  varia- 
tions, is  that  used  today  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  arc  lamp  carbons.  Deleuil  and 
Archerau,  in  1844,  made  two  arc  lamps 
which  were  installed  in  Paris.  But  again 
the  cost  of  current  from  batteries  halted 
progress. 

By  1866,  however,  a  sufficiently  power- 
ful and  efficient  dynamo  of  the  Faraday 
type  was  built  to  allow  the  installation  of 
arc  lights  in  a  few  lighthouses  in  France 
and  England  and  even  to  light  the  yacht 
of  Prince  Napoleon.  From  now  on,  as 
the  inherent  problems  of  the  arc  lamp 
itself  developed,  they  were  met  and  suc- 
cessfully solved  by  inventors  such  as 
Hefner  von  Alteneck,  Charles  F.  Brush, 
Elihu  Thomson,  Dr,  Edwin  J.  Houston, 
Sigmund  Bergmann  and  others. 

While  the  arc  light  gradually  grew  into 
a  commercial  device,  perfectly  satisfactory 
for  the  illumination  of  streets,  large  open 
spaces  and  auditoriums,  it  was  not  suitable 
for  lighting  residences  or  other  small,  con- 
fined interiors. 

The  great  problem  now  confronting 
the  electrical  inventors  of  the  world  was 
to  produce  something  smaller,  .better  and 
more  efficient  than  the  arc  light  which 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


19 


could  be  used  for  interior  illumination. 
The  solution  of  this  problem,  through  his 
wonderful  invention  of  the  modern  incan- 
descent lamp,  by  Thomas  Alva  Edison  is 
considered  by  many  scientists  and  others 
as  the  crowning  achievement  of  his 
remarkable  life  work.  The  divisibility  of 
the  electric  arc  light  was  now  an  accom- 
plished fact  the  effects  of  which  on  the 
world's  progress  and  comfort  were  not 
even  dreamed  of  at  the  time. 

In  his  laboratory  at  Menlo  Park,  N.  J., 
on  October  21,  1879,  after  strenuous  and 
nerve-racking  days  and  months  of  intense 
application,  Edison  produced  an  incandes- 
cent lamp  with  a  filament  of  carbonized 
cotton  sewing  thread  sealed  in  a  glass 
globe  exhausted  to  a  vacuum  of  one  thirty- 
thousandth  of  an  atmosphere,  which 
burned  for  forty  hours. 

As  early  as  1820  De  la  Rue  had  pro- 
duced an  electric  lamp  composed  of  a  coil 
of  platinum  enclosed  in  a  glass  tube  from  .,. 
which  the  air  could  be  exhausted.  The*  ' 
coil  glowed  brightly  for  a  very  short  time, 
then  broke  down  and  had  to  be  replaced. 
In  1845  an  American  inventor,  J.  W. 
Starr,  was  granted  a  patent  in  England  on 
a  lamp  consisting  of  a  strip  of  carbon 
placed  in  the  high  vacuum  existing  at  the 
top  of  a  barometer  tube.  After  an  exhi- 
bition of  a  fixture  holding  26  of  his  lamps, 
Starr  died  at  the  age  of  25  on  his  return 
voyage  to  the  United  States. 

Just  as,  up  to  Starr's  time,  platinum  had 
been  the  favorite  material  for  lamp  ex- 
perimenters, so  from  now  on  for  the  next 
30  years  carbon  was  mostly  used  in  the 
various  efforts  to  produce  a  successful  elec- 
tric light.  But  the  carbon  rods  used  were 
not  stable,  and  all  sorts  of  devices  were 
employed  to  replace  within  the  globe  of 
the  lamp  carbons  that  had  disintegrated. 
None  of  these  was  commercially  suc- 
cessful. 

By  the  year  1878  the  arc  light  had 
established  itself,  at  least  in  the  United 
States,  as  a  successful  street  illuminant, 
and  it  was  this  fact  which  drew  Edison's 
attention  to  the  problem  of  subdividing  it 
for  use  indoors.  He  decided  that  a  sys- 
tem of  interior  illumination  must  be  de- 
veloped in  which  any  one  lamp  could  be 
lighted  or  turned  out  independent  of  all 
the  others  in  the  system.  Arc  lamps  were 
all  connected  "in  series,"  the  current  from 


the  dynamo  passing  through  them  all  suc- 
cessively, so  that,  if  anything  happened  to 
one  lamp  and  it  ceased  to  give  light,  the 
circuit  was  interrupted  and  all  the  lamps 
went  out.  Therefore  Edison  started  out 
to  invent  a  system  in  which  the  lamps  were 
to  be  connected  "in  parallel";  that  is,  each 
lamp  was  to  be  connected  to  the  two  wires 
leading  from  the  dynamo  and  there  would 
be  as  many  paths  for  the  current  to  flow 
from  the  positive  to  the  negative  wire  as 
there  were  lamps  connected  in  the  circuit. 
To  make  such  a  system  practical,  Edison 
decided  he  would  have  to  make  a  lamp 
which  wrould  require  much  less  current 
than  any  that  had  even  been  suggested  up 
to  that  time. 

With  characteristic  thoroughness,  Edison 
tried  out  platinum  filaments  of  various 
kinds  and  then  experimented  with  carbon- 
ized paper.  Then  c'otton  thread  was  tried 
andv  the  successful  lamp  was  produced. 
The  £aPeir  filaments  were  tried  again  and 
proved' better  than  the  thread.  Arrange- 
ments were  now  made  to  produce  the 
lamps  on  a  commercial  scale. 

In  a  few  houses  and  along  the  streets 
of  Menlo  Park  the  first  hundred  lamps 
were  strung,  and  so  great  was  the  interest 
created  by  this  wonderful  experiment  in 
the  little,  unknown  village  that  over  3,000 
people  came  out  from  New  York  on  the 
last  night  of  1879  to  see  for  themselves 
the  new  invention. 

While  the  lamps  were  being  turned  out, 
experiments  were  continued  to  discover  a 
better  material  for  the  filaments.  In  the 
early  part  of  1880  Edison  happened  to 
notice  the  little  strip  of  bamboo  used  to 
bind  a  palm  leaf  fan  and,  as  bamboo  had 
not  been  tried  for  filaments,  he  decided  to 
test  it.  The  result  was  successful,  and  dur- 
ing the  next  nine  or  ten  years  all  the  Edi- 
son incandescent  lamps,  which  ran  into  the 
millions,  were  fitted  with  bamboo  fila- 
ments. Over  6,000  filament  materials, 
including  every  known  species  of  bamboo, 
were  tried.  In  1889  there  came  from  the 
Edison  laboratory  an  artificial  filament 
made  by  dissolving  cotton  in  a  suitable 
liquid,  the  solution  having  a  consistency 
about  that  of  molasses  being  then 
"squirted"  through  a  die  into  another 
liquid  which  hardened  it  into  the  thread- 
like form  required.  These  squirted  fila- 
ments were  used  in  all  incandescent  lamps 


20 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


THOMAS     ALVA     EDISON 
A  Heretofore  Unpublished  Photograph   Presented  to  One  of  the  Editors  and  Reproduced  for  this  Work 


up  to  the  recent  development  of  the  tung- 
sten filament,  which  is  now  practically  uni- 
versally used  for  incandescent  lamps. 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  to  Eng- 
land and  Michael  Faraday  to  learn  the 
beginnings  of  another  vital  piece  of  elec- 
trical apparatus — the  electric  motor.  In 
1819  Oersted  had  recorded  that  "the  elec- 
tric conflict  acts  in  a  rotating  manner." 
In  1820  a  monthly  journal  commissioned 


Faraday  to  write  a  history  of  electro-mag- 
netism. Before  doing  any  writing,  he 
decided  to  repeat  all  the  experiments-made 
by  others  so  that  he  could  write  about  them 
with  first  hand  knowledge.  While  thus 
engaged,  on  September  3,  1821,  he  made 
the  discovery  which  resulted  in  the  inven- 
tion of  the  electric  motor. 

With   his  brother-in-law,    George    Bar- 
nard, Faraday  was  working  in  the  labora- 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


21 


tory  of  the  Royal  Institution.  They  had 
just  set  up  on  a  table  an  apparatus  con- 
sisting of  a  vertical  glass  tube  closed  at 
both  ends  by  corks.  In  the  lower  end  was 
a  small  quantity  of  mercury  through  which 
was  thrust  one  pole  of  a  bar  magnet.  From 
the  upper  cork,  inside  the  tube,  was  loosely 
hung  a  stiff  wire  whose  lower  end  touched 
the  mercury.  Several  voltaic  cells  were 
connected  to  the  circuit  which  ran  through 
the  hook  supporting  the  stiff  wire,  along 
this  wire  to  the  mercury  and  back  to  the 
battery.  Immediately  the  lower  end  of 
the  wire  began  to  move  around  the  pole  of 
the  magnet.  Faraday  "danced  about  the 
table  with  beaming  face." 

There,  before  the  delighted  eyes  of 
Faraday  and  Barnard,  was  established  the 
fact  that  electrical  energy  can  be  translated 
back  into  mechanical  movement  —  the 
germ  of  the  electric  motor  of  today.  Of 
course  these  enthusiastic  scientists  could 
not  even  dream  a  tithe  of  the  importance 
of  their  discovery.  They  were  satisfied  to 
know  that  they  had  developed  something 
new  in  electrical  experimentation.  They 
kept  on,  however,  and  soon  found  that  by 
reversing  the  direction  of  the  current  flow 
the  direction  of  revolution  of  the  wire  was 
reversed.  Or  if  they  reversed  the  pole  of 
the  magnet  and  maintained  the  current 
flow  in  the  same  direction,  the  revolution 
of  the  wire  was  reversed. 

In  1823  Barlow  substituted  a  star 
shaped  wheel  for  the  stiff  wire  in  Fara- 
day's experiment  and  secured  continuous 
rotation.  In  1838  Jacobi  built  a  boat 
which  attained  a  speed  of  four  miles  per 
hour  when  driven  by  an  electric  motor. 
Professor  Page,  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution, Washington,  D.  C.,  designed  a 
motor,  or  "electro-magnetic  engine,"  in 
which  iron  plungers  were  alternately 
sucked  into  solenoid  magnets  arranged  on 
opposite  sides  of  a  "working  beam,"  like 
those  on  side  wheel  steamboats,  the  motion 
being  transmitted  through  a  crank  to  a 
fly  wheel.  This  engine,  placed  on  a  car, 
made  a  ten-mile  trial  run  between  Bladens- 
burg  and  Washington  on  tracks  in  two 
hours. 

As  was  the  case  with  the  arc  light,  the 
development  of  the  electric  motor  was 
slow  because  of  the  expensive  source  of 
current  necessarily  involved  in  the  use  of 
voltaic  cells  of  battery.  The  British  Insti- 


tution of  Civil  Engineers,  in  1857,  having 
discussed  the  possibility  of  producing  a 
horse-power  with  less  than  45  pounds  of 
zinc,  decided  that  until  this  was  a  fact  the 
only  practicable  source  of  power  was  coal 
and  the  steam  engine. 

About  1870  engine-driven  electric  dyna- 
mos reached  a  point  of  development  which 
assured  a  constant  and  cheap  supply  of 
electric  current.  The  electric  motor 
promptly  began  to  develop  when  it  was 
found  that  the  dynamo  and  the  motor  were 
the  same  machine.  In  the  case  of  the 
dynamo,  mechanical  effort  is  applied  to 
produce  electrical  energy,  while  electrical 
energy  supplied  to  a  motor  produces 
mechanical  power.  In  the  early  motors 
the  principal  defects  were  found  in  the 
coils  of  wire  which  moved  between  the 
poles  of  the  magnets.  Siemens,  Gramme, 
Edison,  Eickemeyer  and  others  improved 
this  moving  part  until  we  have  the  motor 
with  the  modern  armature. 

The  wonderful  electric  motors  of  today, 
built  in  all  sizes  from  that  of  a  watch  to 
those  big  enough  to  operate  a  steel  mill, 
little  resemble  in  appearance  Faraday's  ex- 
perimental apparatus  which  demonstrated 
the  principle  of  "electro-magnetic  rota- 
tions," but  they  owe  their  existence  to  the 
thoroughness  of  this  pioneer  investigator. 

One  of  the  very  earliest  pioneer  investi- 
gators in  the  electric  railway  field,  which 
was  destined  to  be  the  largest  com- 
mercial user  of  the  electric  motor,  was 
Thomas  Davenport,  a  blacksmith,  of 
Brandon,  Vermont.  He  undoubtedly  had 
read  or  heard  of  Faraday's  discoveries 
and  conceived  the  idea  of  applying  the 
electric  motor  as  the  power  to  move  a 
vehicle.  It  is  probable  that  he  began  his 
experiments  about  1 834,  for  we  find  that  in 
1835  Davenport  had  built  a  working 
model  of  his  electric  car  which  ran  on  a 
circular  track  of  small  diameter.  This  was 
exhibited  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  at  Bos- 
ton. During  six  years  of  work  Davenport 
is  credited  with  having  designed  over  100 
forms  of  motor,  some  of  which  were  used 
to  drive  printing  presses  and  other  machin- 
ery. He  obtained  a  broad  United  States 
patent  on  his  invention,  but,  as  he  was 
something  like  a  half  century  ahead  of  his 
time,  his  work  was  not  appreciated  at  its 
true  value  and  nothing  practical  came  of  it. 
The  model  of  his  electric  railway  was  dis- 


22 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


covered  years  afterward  and  formed  the 
subject  of  an  interesting  article  in  the  Elec- 
trical Engineer.  Davenport  used  the  track 
rails  to  supply  current  to  the  motor  on  the 
car,  the  wheels  on  either  side  being  insul- 
ated from  each  other.  The  motor  was 
electrically  connected  by  wires  in  contact 
with  the  car  wheels. 

Electric  cars  operated  by  voltaic  cells 
carried  on  them  were  tried  out  by  several 
experimenters,  but  the  cost  of  current  was 
prohibitive.  A  Scotchman  named  Robert 
Davidson,  in  1838,  operated  such  a  car 
between  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  at  four 
miles  an  hour.  The  car  devised  by  Profes- 
sor Page  in  1851  also  used  primary  bat- 
teries. In  1840  a  patent  was  issued  in 
England  which  covered  the  use  of  the  rails 
as  conductors  and  another  English  patent, 
issued  in  1855,  described  the  overhead 
trolley  line  practically  as  we  know  it  today. 
However,  as  the  primary  battery  could  not 
compete  with  the  new  steam  railroads,  the 
next  twenty  years  contain  no  -record  of 
progress  in  electric  traction.  The  success- 
ful development  of  the  steam  driven  elec- 
tric dynamo  provided  a  cheap  and  flexible 
source  of  energy  and  at  once  interest  was 
revived  in  the  application  of  the  electric 
motor  to  transportation.  George  F. 
Green,  of  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  in  1875, 
made  a  model  electric  railway  operated  by 
batteries;  but,  when  he  found  that  a 
dynamo  was  necessary  for  the  commercial 
success  of  his  idea  and  he  was  too  poor  to 
build  one,  he  abandoned  his  experiments. 

At  the  Berlin  Exposition  of  1879  Sie- 
mens &  Halske  operated  an  electric  rail- 
way about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long.  An 
electric  locomotive  drew  three  cars  with  a 
capacity  of  about  20  people.  A  Siemens 
dynamo  supplied  current  which  was  trans- 
mitted through  an  insulated  rail,  laid 
between  the  track  rails,  to  a  similar 
dynamo  mounted  on  the  locomotive  and 
operated  as  a  motor.  This  is  the  proto- 
type of  the  third  rail  electric  railway  sys- 
tems of  today.  In  the  United  States  the 
development  of  electric  traction  into  a 
practical  utility  began  about  the  same  time 
through  the  labors  of  Stephen  D.  Field, 
Edison  and  Frank  J.  Sprague. 

Although  Edison  was  busily  engaged 
in  perfecting  the  incandescent  lamp  and  in 
trying  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  his 
dynamo,  he  found  time  early  in  1880  to 


build  a  little  electric  railway  about  a  third 
of  a  mile  long  at  Menlo  Park.  On  this  he 
demonstrated  successfully  that  a  dynamo 
of  90  per  cent  efficiency  could  be  built  and 
that  it  could  be  operated  as  a  motor.  A 
locomotive  drew  three  cars  over  a  light, 
unballasted  track  at  speeds  which  ulti- 
mately reached  40  miles  an  hour.  Numer- 
ous accidents  occurred  during  these  experi- 
ments, and  many  amusing  stories  are  told 
of  the  terror  of  staid  men  of  affairs  who 
were  invited  by  Edison  to  tempt  fate  by  a 
ride  on  his  electric  railway.  As  in  Daven- 
port's system,  the  rails  were  used  as  con- 
ductors and  were  insulated  by  tar  paper 
laid  between  them  and  the  ties.  The  loco- 
motive carried  an  Edison  12  horsepower 
generator  mounted  on  its  side  operating 
as  a  motor.  Through  belts  and  pulleys 
it  was  connected  with  the  axle  of  the  loco- 
motive truck.  Edison  devised  a  resist- 
ance coil  to  lessen  the  jar  of  starting  when 
the  full  force  of  the  current  was  suddenly 
turned  into  the  motor.  This  was  the  fore- 
runner of  the  controller  used  on  all  elec- 
tric cars  today.  Just  as,  commercial  suc- 
cess seemed  to  be  in  sight  Edison  was 
thrown  into  interference  in  the  Patent 
Office  with  Stephen  D.  Field.  This  led 
later  to  the  formation  of  the  Electric  Rail- 
way Company  of  America  which  acquired 
the  patents  of  both  contestants. 

At  the  Chicago  Railway  Exposition,  in 
1883,  the  Electric  Railway  Company  of 
America  exhibited  an  electric  locomotive 
named  "The  Judge,"  after  Stephen  D. 
Field's  brother,  Chief  Justice  Field.  Dur- 
ing the  two  and  a  half  weeks  of  the  expo- 
sition this  locomotive  hauled  about  25,000 
passengers.  Later  at  other  expositions 
"The  Judge"  was  instrumental  in  spread- 
ing the  electric  railway  propaganda,  but 
the  commercial  results  of  the  efforts  of 
Edison  and  Field  were  not  what  they  had 
good  reason  to  expect. 

The  real  beginnings  of  the  electric  rail- 
way industry  are  properly  credited  to  the 
pioneer  work  of  Frank  J.  Sprague,  who, 
early  in  1887,  began  the  installation  at 
Richmond,  Va.,  of  a  complete  system. 
This  contract  comprised  "the  building  of 
a  generating  station,  erection  of  overhead 
lines,  and  the  equipment  of  40  cars,  each 
with  two  7J/2  horsepower  motors  on  plans 
largely  new  and  untried."  The  overhead 
trolley  system  under  a  pressure  of  450 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


23 


volts,  with  the  track  rails  forming  the 
return  circuit,  was  used.  In  this  work 
Sprague  developed,  among  other  impor- 
tant advances,  the  feeder  system  of  sup- 
plying current  to  the  trolley  wire  and  the 
'bond/'  or  form  of  copper  cable,  usecf  to 
connect  electrically  the  track  rails  at  their 
joints  in  order  to  lower  the  resistance  of 
the  return  circuit.  While  Dr.  Hopkmson, 
in  1 88 1,  had  established  the  groundwork 
for  a  system  of  "series-parallel"  control, 
Sprague  worked  this  out  to  practical  suc- 
cess and  produced  a  controller  which 
enabled  him  to  start  his  cars  slowly  and 
then  at  increasing  speed.  Just  as  in  the 
modern  trolley  car,  the  motors  on  the 
Richmond  cars  were  carried  on  the  trucks 
and  geared  to  the  axles. 

The  necessity  for  transmitting  eiccrnc 
current  to  considerable  distances  from  the 
generating  station  and  the  limitations  of 
the  direct  current  for  this  purpose,  owing 
to  the  losses  in  transmission  or  the  pro- 
hibitive expense  of  the  large  conductors 
required,  led  to  the  development  of  the 
alternating  current  generator  and  system 
which  is  now  used  to  send  current  to  points 
as  far  away  from  the  source  as  250  miles. 
William  Stanley,  Jr.,  at  Great  Barring- 
ton,  Mass.,  in  1885,  was  the  pioneer  in 
this  development.  In  brief,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  steady  pressure  or  volt- 
age of  the  direct  current  system,  the 
pressure  in  the  alternating  current  sysrem 
rapidly  shifts  from  positive  to  negative  in 
wave  forms  or  cycles.  In  practice,  these 
alternations  are  as  rapid  as  25  and  60  per 
second.  By  generating  alternating  current 
of  very  high  voltage  it  was  found  possible 
to  transmit  electrical  energy  to  great  dis- 
tances. But  the  devices  and  apparatus 
which  were  to  be  energized  were  not  suited 
for  safe  use  with  such  high  voltages.  The 
problem,  therefore,  was  to  devise  a  means 
of  reducing  this  voltage  to  a  practicable 
and  safe  point  at  the  place  of  use.  Using 
a  modified  form  of  induction  coil,  Gaulard 
and  Gibbs,  in  England  in  1883,  made  pio- 
neer efforts  to  design  such  a  device. 

Stanley,  however,  was  the  first  in  the 
United  States  to  achieve  success  with  what 
he  called  a  "converter,"  which  we  now 
know  as  a  "transformer."  The  principle 
involved  here  is  that  if  the  high  voltage 
alternating  current  is  passed  through  a  coil 
of  wire  a  secondary  current  of  much 


lower  voltage  will  be  induced  to  flow 
through  another  coil  of  wire  in  proximity 
to  it.  The  proportions  of  the  size  of  wire 
and  number  of  turns  in  the  coils  control 
the  pressure  and  quantity  of  the  secondary 
current.  The  first  transformers  built  by 
Stanley  converted  a  primary  pressure  of 
500  volts  to  a  secondary  pressure  of  100 
volts,  and  each  had  a  capacity  sufficient  to 
supply  secondary  current  to  25  sixteen 
candle-power  incandescent  lamps.  Several 
stores  and  the  local  hotel  were  equipped 
with  Stanley  converters,  and  the  skeptics 
who  predicted  that  the  whole  thing  would 
go  up  with  a  flash  and  a  bang  were  sur- 
prised to  see  it  work  quietly  and  success- 
fully. 

No  sooner  was  the  Morse  system  of 
telegraphy  proved  to  be  a  success  and  a 
commercial  development  than  electrical  ex- 
perimenters began  to  try  to  transmit  by  its 
means  other  sounds  than  the  click  of  the 
telegraph  instrument  itself.  Charles  Bour- 
ceul,  a  Frenchman,  wrote  in  1854:  "Sup- 
pose a  man  speaks  near  a  movable  disk 
sufficiently  flexible  to  lose  none  of  the 
vibrations  of  the  voice,  and  that  this  device 
alternately  makes  and  breaks  the  current 
from  a  battery;  you  may  have  at  a  distance 
another  disk  which  will  simultaneously 
execute  the  same  vibrations."  In  the  light 
of  today  this  reads  a  great  deal  like  a 
description  of  the  telephone  as  we  know 
it;  but  Bourceul  seems  to  have  been  con- 
tent to  express  his  idea  in  words,  and  no 
record  exists  of  any  attempt  to  try  out  such 
a  device.  Johann  Philip  Reis,  a  poor  Ger- 
man school  teacher,  is  the  next  telephone 
pioneer.  He  developed  a  telephone  which 
would  transmit,  after  a  fashion,  musical 
sounds,  but  only  an  occasional  word  of  an 
attempted  conversation.  His  transmitter 
consisted  of  a  piece  of  sausage  skin,  used 
as  a  tightly  stretched  membrane,  to  the 
center  of  which  a  bit  of  metal  was  at- 
tached. A  contact  spring  was  arranged  to 
touch  this  metal  very  lightly.  Reis' 
receiver  was  based  on  a  discovery  of  Pro- 
fessor Page,  of  Salem,  Mass.,  who  found 
that  an  audible  click  occurred  in  the  core 
of  an  electro-magnet  when  it  was  suddenly 
magnetized  and  demagnetized.  The 
receiver  devised  by  Reis  was  mounted  on 
a  sounding  box  and  had  a  knitting  needle 
for  a  core.  Having  established  a  proper 
electrical  circuit  between  the  Reis  transmit- 


24 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


ter  and  receiver,  it  was  found  that  when 
a  musical  sound  was  made  the  membrane 
vibrated  and  this  vibration  was  transmit- 
ted to  the  receiver  where  the  knitting 
needle  core  gave  off  a  series  of  clicks  at 
the  same  rate.  Its  lack  of  ability  to  repro- 
duce the  "quality"  of  sounds  made  the 
Reis  telephone  a  failure  as  a  transmitter 
of  speech. 

In  1876,  at  the  Centennial  Exposition 
at  Philadelphia,  was  publicly  shown  a  suc- 
cessful telephone  which  would  transmit 
not  only  musical  sounds  but  human  speech. 
It  was  the  invention  of  Alexander  Graham 
Bell  and  marks  the  beginning  of  an  epoch 
in  human  progress.  Dr.  Bell,  by  educa- 
tion and  experience,  was  well  prepared  for 
the  role  of  telephone  inventor.  He  had 
spent  years  in  the  study  of  the  laws  and 
physics  of  sound  and  the  human  voice  in 
connection  with  his  work  of  teaching  deaf 
mutes  to  speak.  He  also  had  taken  a  great 
interest  in  Morse's  telegraph  and  several 
years  previous  to  his  invention  of  the  tele- 
phone had  developed  a  system  of  multi- 
plex telegraphy.  In  his  application  for  a 
patent  on  this  system  he  included  a  claim 
covering  an  early  form  of  telephone. 
During  the  famous  telephone  patent  liti- 
gation this  early  telephone,  while  imper- 
fect in  many  respects,  actually  did  trans- 
mit speech.  The  instrument  shown  at  the 
Centennial  embraced  many  improvements, 
and  in  a  still  later  form  the  membrane, 
which  had  the  defect  of  absorbing  mois- 
ture from  the  air,  was  replaced  by  a  thin 
disk  of  iron  or  "ferrotype  plate."  The 
distinctness  of  transmission  also  was 
greatly  improved  by  including  a  shallow 
air  chamber  between  the  iron  disk  and  the 
hearing  orifice.  All  these  features  are 
included  in  the  telephone  as  we  know  it. 

While  Sir  Humphry  Davy  and  other 
experimenters  had  demonstrated  that  the 
electric  arc  would  melt  most  of  the  then 
known  elements,  including  platinum,  and 
while  it  also  was  known  that  the  passage 
of  an  electric  current  through  a  conductor 
generated  heat  in  the  conductor,  nothing 
definite  regarding  the  relation  between 
heat  and  electricity  was  established  until 
1842,  when  an  Englishman  named  Joule 
carefully  studied  the  subject  and  estab- 
lished what  we  know  as  "Joule's  law."  He 
first  satisfied  himself  that,  however  small 
the  current  flowing  in  any  length  of  con- 


ductor for  even  the  shortest  time,  heat 
always  was  produced.  By  measurements 
made  with  instruments  of  his  own  devis- 
ing, Joule  finally  proved  that  "the  heat 
generated  in  a  wire  is  proportional  to  the 
square  of  the  amount  of  current  flowing 
multiplied  by  the  resistance  of  the  wire 
and  the  time  the  current  flows."  The  suc- 
cessful operation  of  all  our  modern  elec- 
tric heating  devices,  such  as  electric  ranges 
and  irons,  as  well  as  the  great  industrial 
processes  dependent  upon  the  electric  fur- 
nace, is  based  on  the  invariable  working 
of  Joule's  law. 

Siebeck,  of  Berlin,  discovered  in  1821 
that  electric  current  could  be  produced  by 
the  contact  of  dissimilar  metals,  whose 
ends  were  soldered  together  to  form  cir- 
cuits, provided  their  junctions  were  main- 
tained at  a  certain  difference  of  tempera- 
ture. His  experiment  was  made  by  sol- 
dering together  a  bar  of  bismuth  and  a 
bar  of  copper  in  the  form  of  a  hollow  rec- 
tangle. When  heat  was  applied  to  one  of 
the  junctions  a  current  of  electricity  was 
produced.  When  the  other  junction  was 
heated  the  current  generated  flowed  in  the 
opposite  direction.  He  called  these 
"thermo-electric"  currents,  the  combina- 
tion of  the  two  metals  a  "thermo-electric 
couple"  and  the  separate  metals  or  sub- 
stances or  metals  "thermo-electric  ele- 
ments." He  found  by  experiment  that  a 
large  number  of  substances  could  be  used 
to  form  thermo-electric  couples  and  ar- 
ranged them  in  a  series  in  the  order  of 
their  thermo-electric  powers.  Although 
others,  including  a  number  of  experiment- 
ers in  our  times,  have  followed  the  trail 
blazed  by  Siebeck  no  extensive  commercial 
developments  of  his  device  have  borne 
fruit.) 

Ohm's  law,  "C  equals  E  divided  by  R," 
is  often  called  the  basic  law  of  electricity. 
It  was  established  in  1827  by  Dr.  G.  S. 
Ohm,  of  Berlin,  as  the  result  of  mathe- 
matical computations  verified  by  experi- 
ment. It  is  as  follows:  "The  current 
strength  in  any  circuit  is  equal  toj:he  elec- 
tro-motive force  divided  by  the  resist- 
ance." That  is,  the  quantity  or  number  of 
amperes  in  any  electrical  circuit  is  equal 
to  the  pressure  or  number  of  volts  driving 
it  through  the  circuit  against  the  resistance 
to  the  passage  of  the  current  offered  by 
the  circuit.  While  this  law  is  fundamental 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


25 


and  universal  it  applies  only  to  direct  cur- 
rents. Another  law  is  necessary  to  express 
similar  relations  for  alternating  currents. 

Electrotyping  and  electroplating  were 
invented  or  developed  in  England  by  Dr. 
Jacobi,  in  1831;  Messrs.  Elkington  and 
Barrett,  in  1838;  and  Wright  at  a  some- 
what later  date.  These  inventions,  more 
properly  and  scientifically  described  as 
electrolysis,  while  of  great  industrial 
importance  in  themselves,  led  to  the  inven- 
tion at  a  later  date  of  that  extremely  val- 
uable device,  the  electric  storage  battery. 
The  Frenchman,  Plante,  in  1859,  made  a 
storage,  or  secondary,  battery  of  lead 
plates  immersed  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid. 
The  action  and  reaction  taking  place  in  a 
storage  battery  are  thus  described:  "By 
the  passage  of  an  electric  current  through 
the  acid,  electrolytic  decomposition  takes 
place  and,  by  a  process  called  'forming  the 
plates,'  which  consists  substantially  in 
sending  a  current  for  a  considerable  length 
of  time  in  one  direction  and  then  passing 
it  through  the  cell  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion and  repeating  this  change  of  direction 
many  times,  the  lead  plates  tveeome 
changed;  one  of  them  becomes  finally 
coated  with  lead  peroxide  and  the  other 
with  finely  divided  metallic  lead.  If  now, 
when  in  this  state,  the  charging  current  be 
discontinued,  the  cell'  will  act  as  an  inde- 
pendent source  of  electric  current  and  will 
produce  a  current  which  will  flow  through 
the  cell  in  the  opposite  direction  to  that  of 
the  current  which  was  required  to 
charge  it." 

The  chemical  reactions  which  take  place 
in  the  charging  and  discharging  of  a  stor- 
age battery  are  of  the  most  complicated 
character  and  still  constitute  a  subject  of 
discussion.  At  this  point  it  is  well  to  note 
a  remark  of  Dr.  Edwin  J.  Houston,  who 
said:  "A  storage  battery  cannot  any  more 
properly  be  said  to  store  electricity  than 
a  music  box  can  be  said  to  store  sound 
when  mechanical  power  is  applied  to  wind 
its  driving  spring.  What  the  storage  bat- 
tery actually  stores  is  the  energy  of  the 
charging  current.  It  acts  as  a  device 
whereby  energy  is  stored  up  by  effecting 
chemical  decomposition,  such  energy  being 
transformed  from  mechanical  energy  to 
chemical  potential  energy.  In  discharging 
the  storage  battery  this  chemical  potential 
energy  becomes  liberated  and  appears  as 


electric  energy,  just  as  it  does  in  the  vol- 
taic cell." 

Faure,  in  1880,  greatly  improved 
Plante's  original  battery.  In  subsequent 
years  Charles  F.  Brush  and  others  in  the 
United  States  made  numerous  improve- 
ments in  details  and  processes  of  manufac- 
ture. Among  the  latest  of  the  notable 
inventors  who  have  turned  their  attention 
to  this  important  device  is  Thomas  A. 
Edison,  who  has  developed  and  commer- 
cialized a  storage  battery  of  lighter  weight 
which  eliminates  the  lead  plate.  The  mod- 
ern storage  battery,  without  which  the 
submarine  boat  could  not  operate,  occu- 
pies a  most  important  place  among  elec- 
trical inventions. 

The  electrical  scientist  has  had  con- 
stantly before  him  the  problem  of  "cold 
light,"  or  a  form  of  artificial  illumination 
which  will  resemble  the  light  given  off  by 
the  fire-fly.  Our  electric  lights  contain 
a  large  proportion  of  useless  heat  rays 
which,  by  means  of  some  discovery  in  the 
future,  may  be  turned  into  useful  light 
rays.  It  may  be  that  this  will  be  brought 
about  through  the  invention  of  a  process 
for  creating  physical  phosphorescence  by 
means  of  molecular  bombardment  through 
the  use  of  alternating  electrical  currents  of 
unlimited  high  frequency  and  extraordi- 
narily high  voltage. 

The  careful  study  now  being  given  to 
the  electric  furnace  by  eminent  engineers 
and  scientists,  in  the  mechanical  and  chem- 
ical fields  as  well  as  in  the  electrical,  may 
result  in  discoveries  which  will  revolution- 
ize certain  industrial  processes.  There  are 
literally  hundreds  of  drugs,  dyes  and 
chemicals  now  being  manufactured  in  what 
seems  to  be  a  very  wasteful  manner  which 
may,  in  the  near  future,  be  produced 
quickly  and  very  cheaply  through  the  use 
of  an  improved  electric  furnace. 

The  physician  and  diagnostician  will 
probably  find  an  increasing  use  for  elec- 
tricity in  the  future.  It  is  not  unreason- 
able to  hope  that  systems  of  careful  elec- 
trical measurements,  made  perhaps  with 
instruments  now  unknown,  will  provide 
more  accurate  knowledge  of  the  human 
body  and  its  vital  organs  both  in  health 
and  in  a  state  of  disease.  It  may  be,  top, 
that  systems  of  electrical  treatment  will 
be  devised  by  which  the  germ  of  recog- 
nized disease  may  be  killed  before  they 


26 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


have  an  opportunity  to  harm  the  human 
body. 

We  have  come  to  regard  the  telephone 
as  an  instrument  closely  approximating 
perfection.  Is  it  possible,  then,  that  we 
may  some  day  find  attached  to  the  tele- 
phone a  device  which  will  enable  us  to  see 
the  person  with  whom  we  are  conversing? 

SUMMING  UP  AT  THE   PRESENT  TIME 

In  this  day,  when  electric  service  in  its 
broadest  sense  touches  the  daily  life  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  of  every  inhabitant  of 
the  United  States,  it  seems  idle  to  specu- 
late on  what  would  happen  if  the  arma- 
ture of  every  generator  in  use  suddenly 
stopped.  The  imagination,  projected  into 
the  contemplation  of  such  a  state  of  af- 
fairs, readily  would  see  a  cessation  of  every 
activity  to  which  we  are  accustomed  ex- 
cept, for  a  time,  the  operation  of  steam 
railways.  Over  one  hundred  million  peo- 
ple would  be  unable  to  use  the  telepnone, 
the  telegraph,  the  wireless,  the  ocean 
cables,  the  trolley  cars.  The  majority  of 
our  factories  could  not  run  after  the  day- 
light hours  until  illuminating  gas  was  in- 
stalled, and  then  the  demand  for  gas  would 
be  such  that  it  would  require  years  to  pro- 
vide it  in  sufficient  quantities.  Our  resi- 
dences would  be  illuminated  by  candles  as 
long  as  there  were  any  to  be  had.  Briefly, 
our  business  and  social  life  actually  would 
come  to  a  standstill  with  all  the  perils  and 
calamities  incident  to  dark  streets  and  the 
inability  to  communicate  with  each  other 
quickly. 

Although  imaginings  of  this  kind  may 
seem  fantastic,  yet  their  setting  down 
serves  to  emphasize  the  great  boons  which 
electric  service  has  conferred  on  us,  the 
importance  of  the  generic  functions  which 
it  performs  and  our  almost  universal  de- 
pendence uponi  it  for  the  proper  conduct 
of  our  daily  social  and  business  life.  VVe 
have  come  to  accept  all  these  boons  as  a 
matter  of  course  and  to  assume  without 
question  that  "the  experiments  of  yester- 
day are  the  necessities  of  today."  It  is 
quite  probable  that  the  great  majority  of 
young  men  who  will  reach  the  voting  age 
this  year  have  never  seen  a  horse  car. 

Having  thus  reminded  ourselves  of  the 
importance  of  all  that  electricity  does  for 
us,  what  is  to  be  said  of  the  pioneer  in- 


ventors, financiers  and  manufacturers 
whose  early  faith,  unflagging  courage  and 
dogged  persistence  made  it  possible?  The 
majority  of  them  have,  as  their  only  re- 
ward, the  consciousness  of  a  vital  public 
service  performed.  Many,  of  course,  have 
achieved  worldy  success  as  measured  in 
dollars  and  cents  and  not  a  few  have 
reached  the  highest  pinnacles  of  scientific 
attainment. 

But  let  us  not  forget  the  men  of  vision 
and  faith,  such  as  those  who  financed  the 
early  telephone  experiments  of  Bell,  the 
man  who  advanced  $40,000  to  Edison  to 
build  an  improved  "stock  ticker"  or  the 
manufacturers  behind  Sims  who  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  design  and  build  a 
high-speed  engine  suitable  to  drive  dyna- 
mos for  incandescent  lighting.  The  names 
even  of  most  of  these  adventurous  pio- 
neers of  faith  plus  money  have  been  for- 
gotten, but  without  their  aid  at  the  time 
that  most  of  our  epoch-making  inventions 
were  conceived,  it  readily  may  be  imagined 
that  the  discouraged  inventor  or  experi- 
menter might  have  been  driven  by  the  very 
necessities  of  existence  to  abandon  his  ef- 
forts and  turn  his  hand  to  something  suf- 
ficiently practical  to  enable  him  to  live. 
Many  a  time  did  Edison  have  to  stop  his 
experiments  for  lack  of  funds,  ask  for  a 
job  as  telegraph  operator  and  save  his 
salary  until  he  had  enough  to  get  the  ap- 
paratus he  needed.  The  trials  and  tribu- 
lations of  Elias  Howe,  inventor  of  the 
sewing  machine,  were  no  more  severe  than 
those  endured  by  Acheson  while  perfecting 
his  electric  process  for  making  carbo- 
rundum. 

Hundreds  of  other  experimenters  were 
obliged  to  follow  along  the  same  thorny 
paths  until  they  arrived  at  a  point  where 
their  devices  had  been  developed  into 
something  demonstrable  to  the  man  with 
the  necessary  money.  Therefore  let  us  do 
all  honor  to  those,  known  and  unknown, 
who  backed  their  faith  with  their  cash  and 
enabled  the  inventors  to  give  us  all  that 
we  have  today  of  progress,  civilization  and 
comfort. 

In  considering  the  wonders  performed 
by  the  electrical  industry  the  most  striking 
feature  is  the  rapidity  of  its  development. 
Every  commercial  use  of  the  electric  cur- 
rent, except  the  telegraph,  has  been  con- 
ceived, perfected  and  given  to  our  service 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


27 


luring  the  past  forty  years.  At  the  Cen- 
:ennial  Exposition  in  Philadelphia,  1876, 
he  telephone  and  the  arc  light  were  pub- 
icly  shown  to  the  people  at  large  for  the 
irst  time.  Both,  as  commercial  enter- 
)rises  or  practical  utilities,  were  in  the  em- 
>ryonic  stage.  Many  skeptics  asserted 
hat  neither  would  ever  amount  to  any- 
hing  except,  perhaps,  as  toys.  The  incan- 
lescent  lamp  was  as  yet  unborn.  The 
rolley  car  was  still  Holmes'  fantastic 
'broomstick  train." 

In  1877  the  total  investment  in  com- 
nercial  electrical  enterprises  in  the  United 
kates  was  about  $50,000,000,  and  all  this 
yas  in  telegraphs  and  ocean  cables.  In 
ontrast,  consider  that  the  investment 
oday  in  electric  lighting,  power  and  trac- 
ion  companies  alone  is  represented  by  se- 
urities  estimated  at  close  to  $7,000,000,- 
100.  Add  to  this  the  increased  capital  used 
i  the  telegraph  companies,  that  employed 
ti  the  telephone  industry,  in  electrical 
manufacturing,  in  isolated  plants  and  for 
miscellaneous  purposes  and  we  arrive  at 
stupendous  total  which  reliable  csti- 
lates  place  at  near  $25,000,000,000. 

Perhaps  a  more  easily  understood  pic- 
Lire  of  the  vastness  and  importance  of  the 
lectrical  industry  may  be  gained  if  we 
3ok  at  figures  which  show  us  what  the 
eople  of  the  United  States  have  paid  out 
i  1917  for  electric  service  of  various 
inds :  For  telegraphy  of  all  sorts,  $175,- 
00,000;  telephony,  $425,000,000;  cen- 
ral  stations  for  all  services  performed, 
500,000,000;  electric  railways,  $775,- 
00,000;  isolated  plants,  $150,000,000; 
lectrical  manufactures,  $600,000,000;  a 
Dtal  of  $2,625,000,000.  Thus,  these  rig- 
res  indicate  an  average  expenditure  for 
lectric  service  during  1917  of  about  $25 
er  capita  for  every  inhabitant  of  the 
Jnited  States. 

If  measured  in  terms  of  convenience, 
:onomy,  comfort,  safety  and  energy  con- 
irved  in  transportation,  manufacturing, 
)cial  intercourse  and  the  domestic  opera- 
ons  of  housekeeping  it  is  possible  to  fig- 
re  a  return  on  this  average  expenditure 
f  $25  per  capita  many  fold  that  obtained 
i  the  purchase  of  any  other  commodity 
hatever. 

The  contribution  of  electricity  to  the 
ise  and  comfort  of  living  is  made  with 
)  little  effort  and  at  such  a  minimum  cost 


that  it  is  at  the  command  of  almost  every 
one.  The  universality  of  electric  service 
is  such  that  it  has  come  to  be  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course.  No  modern  landlord 
would  think  of  erecting  a  dwelling  without 
equipping  it  for  electric  service,  primarily 
because  he  knows  the  values  of  that  serv- 
ice, and  in  the  second  place  he  is  well 
aware  of  the  added  renting  value  to  him 
of  electrically  wired  apartments  and 
dwellings.  Therefore,  the  modern  land- 
lord very  sensibly  regards  electric  wiring 
as  an  investment — not  an  expense. 

At  the  time  of  the;  Centennial  Exposi- 
tion, 1876,  the  United  States  was  in  a  re- 
ceptive mood  for  the  acceptance  of  inno- 
vations and  inventions  that  seemed  to  spell 
progress.  In  the  light  of  the  present  there 
can  be  no  doubt  of  the  vast  good  accom- 
plished by  this  exposition  in  educating  our 
people  to  expect  and  accept  improvements 
and  advances  along  any  line  that  affected 
their  work  or  their  home  lives. 

The  vast  and  complicated  problems  of 
the  reconstruction  period  following  the 
.Civil  War  practically  had  been  adjusted, 
the  financial  status  of  the  country  had  been 
re-established,  the  surviving  soldiers  on 
both  sides  had  been  gradually  re-absorbed 
into  the  civil  body  politic  and  the  time 
seemed  ripe  for  the  advent  of  the  inventor 
and  experimenter,  even  though  they  la- 
bored tin  new  and  unknown  fields.  The 
people  were  more  ready  than  ever  before 
to  heed  and  appraise  innovations  that 
promised  progress. 

The  advance  of  invention  during  the 
nineteenth  century,  although  practically 
halted  during  the  Civil  War,  already  had 
given  to  our  people  many  devices  of  great 
and  permanent  value.  The  sewing  ma- 
chine had  established  itself  as  a  household 
necessity,  largely  through  the  efforts  of  a 
country-wide  house  to  house  canvass  by  in- 
gratiating salesmen.  The  farmer  had  been 
shown  the  value  of  the  horse-drawn 
reaper,  and  the  threshing  machine  was  be- 
coming known.  In  the  large  cities  gas  had 
established  itself  as  a  means  of  illumina- 
tion. Steam  power  was  being  employed  to 
drive  looms,  printing  presses  and  other 
machinery.  The  bicycle  was  taking  the 
country  by  storm,  and  the  embryonic  auto- 
mobile was  here  and  there  being  tried  out 
by  death  defying  inventors.  Processes 
for  vulcanizing  rubber  and  galvanizing 


28 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


iron  had  been  developed.  Photography- 
had  made  wonderful  advances,  and  the 
prototype  of  the  kodak  had  appeared  in 
the  so-called  "detective  camera."  In  the 
field  of  chemistry  great  progress  had  been 
made.  New  elements  had  been  discov- 
ered, gases  had  been  liquified  and  solidi- 
fied and  the  range  of  useful  heat  and  cold 
had  been  indefinitely  extended.  The  miner 
had  been  provided  with  the  safety  lamp, 
the  caisson  was  in  every-day  use  by  the 
bridge  builder  and  anti-friction  metal  had 
been  generally  adopted  for  the  bearing 
parts  of  machinery.  Steam  navigation 
was  advancing  with  rapid  strides  and 
steam  railways  were  growing  at  the  rate 
of  more  than  a  thousand  miles  a  year. 
The  gigantic  expansion  of  the  iron  and 
steel  industry,  begun  some  years  before  by 
the  change  from  wood  to  coal  in  the  smelt- 
ing furnaces,  was  assured  by  the  almost 
constant  discovery  of  new  ore  bodies  and 
the  ever  increasing  demand  for  the  fin- 
ished product. 

And  what  of  electrical  development  at 
this  interesting  period  of  our  national 
growth?  It  will  italicize  our  appreciation 
of  the  marvels  of  electrical  progress  which 
had  its  beginnings  at  this  time  if  we  again 
remind  ourselves  that  the  telephone,  the 
electric  light,  the  trolley  car,  the  electric 
railway,  the  storage  battery,  the  electric 
motor,  the  phonograph,  the  wireless  tele- 
graph, the  electric  iron,  the  fan  motor,  the 
vacuum  cleaner  and  many  other  household 
electrical  devices  did  not  exist  in  practical 
form.  Most  of  the  difficulties  of  the  tele- 
graph had  been  solved,  and  we  were  daily 
using  ocean  cables.  But  for  these  excep- 
tions, the  modern  marvels  of  electricity 
were  as  a  sealed  book. 

Looking  back  down  the  decade,  it  would 
seem  as  if  the  world  had  never  known  and 
probably  never  will  know  again  such  an 
opportunity  for  valuable  discovery  in  a 
virgin  field  of  effort.  But  we  must  remem- 
ber that  for  many  years  prior  to  the  com- 
mercial awakening  which  now  had  its  gen- 
esis, a  noble  band  of  scientists  and  experi- 
menters had  been  delving  away  in  the 


realm  of  electricity  and  pure  physics  witl 
the  result  that  many  of  their  discoveriel 
have  since  been  proved  to  be  fundamental 
principles.  That  band  of  pioneers  fronfl 
Gilbert  to  Franklin  and  Faraday  had  del 
veloped  an  endless  wealth  of  phenomena 
which  now  awaited  the  process  of  inventiol 
which  alone  could  render  them  useful  t<j 
mankind.  So  that,  in  speaking  of  the  eleq 
trical  progress  which  had  its  beginning 
fifty  years  ago,  it  were  better,  no  doubt 
to  refer  to  "utilization"  or  "application1: 
rather  than  broadly  to  "discovery." 


The  tools  with  which  the  inventor  no 
set  to  work  were,  from  our  present  view 
point,  crude  indeed.  To  be  sure,  hi: 
source  of  electric  current  was  now  the  dy 
namo  instead  of  the  Leyden  jar,  and  h< 
had  recording  instruments  of  a  sort  witl 
which  to  check  his  results  and  gauge  hi 
advances.  It  was  now  possible  cheaply  t( 
convert  mechanical  energy  into  electricit1 
in  unlimited  quantities.  In  Philadelphi; 
a  manufacturer  of  covered  wire  for  bon 
net  frames  adapted  his  process  to  coverinj 
wire  for  the  transmission  of  the  electri 
current  so  that  the  experimenter  coul< 
now  avail  himself  of  a  means  to  utiliz 
electrical  energy  at  a  point  distant  fron 
its  source.  Crude  forms  of  rubber  am 
glass  afforded  insulators. 

And  here  again  begins  our  wonderfu 
cycle  of  electrical  invention  and  develop 
merit  along  commercial  lines.  To  judg 
the  effect  of  a  single  invention  is  at  an 
time  a  most  difficult  task;  and  the  prot 
lem  becomes  vastly  complicated  when  ir 
ventions  of  the  highest  order  crowd  upo 
each  other  in  rapid  and  bewildering  su< 
cession.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  in  the  ir 
ventive  genius  displayed,  electrical  pro£ 
ress  during  the  past  fifty  years  has  nc 
been  excelled  at  any  time  in  the  world 
history  by  that  of  any  other  advances  i 
the  arts  and  sciences.  No  class  of  invef 
tors  has  given  more  of  real  value  to  sue 
a  large  proportion  of  the  world's  inhab 
tants  as  have  those  who  have^labored  5 
the  electrical  field. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE   STORY  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH 

ORIGIN   AND   GROWTH   OF   THE    IDEAS    WHICH    LATER    LINKED 
THE  WORLD  WITH  SUBMARINE  CABLES  AND  WIRELESS  TELEGRAHY 


[N  the  year  1844,  at  the  time  the 
Morse  system  of  electric  telegraphy 
was  introduced,  and  fourteen  years 
ter,  when  Europe  and  America  were 
>ined  by  telegraph  cable,  great  civic 
Dnors  were  accorded  the  scientific  pio- 
;ers  who  perfected  these  systems  of  long 
istance  instantaneous  communication. 

In  the  great  speeches  delivered  by  the 
entlemen  present  at  these  memorable 
'lebrations  the  main  thread  of  thought — 
[most  a  prayer — running  through  the  re- 
Larks  of  all  speakers  was  that  the  tele- 
raph  would  prove  to  be  a  harbinger  of 
niversal  peace,  friendship  and  civiliza- 
on. 

That  the  hopes  of  those  who  were  here 
)  welcome  the  advent  of  the  telegraph 
ave  not  in  full  been  realized,  surely 
lould  not  be  charged  to  some  unsuspected 
uality  or  property  of  the  new  art;  but 
ather  should  we  understand  that  a  wide 
tiough  span  has  not  not  as  yet  intervened 
etween  the  date  of  discovery  and  our  own 
mes  for  the  art  to  work  out  its  true 
estiny. 

As  the  investigator  gropes  back  through 
le  attenuated  records  of  the  past  in 
;arch  of  the  birth  of  the  idea  of  the  tele- 
raph  he  is  peplexed  by  the  many  attempts 
reviously  made  to  lay  finger  upon  the 
enesis,  the  origin,  of  the  telegraphic  idea. 

The  inspired  author  of  the  Book  of  Job 
xclaims,  in  an  interrogatory  framed  to 
uggest  the  impossible,  "Canst  thou  send 
ghtnings  that  they  may  go,  and  say  unto 
"hee,  here  we  are?" 


Surely  the  scientists  of  our  own  times 
have  given  the  answer,  and  we  are  now 
able  to  "send  lightnings"  where  we  will 
and  when  we  will. 

Were  it  sensible  to  attribute  to  specu- 
lative fancy  the  beginning  of  any  achieve- 
ment or  accomplishment  which  should  ulti- 
mately have  practical  value,  then  we  may 
say  that  John  Baptista  Porta,  an  Italian 
prodigy  (1575)  has  claims  which  entitle 
him  to  recognition  in  telegraph  history.  In 
one  of  his  published  works  Porta  says : 
"To  a  friend,  that  is  at  a  far  distance  from 
us,  fast  shut  up  in  prison,  we  may  relate 
our  minds;  which  I  do  not  doubt  may  be 
done  by  two  mariner's  compasses  having 
the  alphabet  writ  upon  them." 

Von  Guericke,  of  Magdeburg  (1655) 
observed  the  transference  of  electricity 
through  a  conductor  (a  linen  thread  an  ell 
or  more  long) ,  antedating  by  twenty  years 
the  work  along  similar  lines  of  Boyle, 
Newton,  and  Hauksbee,  in  England. 

In  1726  Wood,  in  England,  discovered 
that  electricity  may  be  transmitted  through 
long  metallic  conductors,  and  twenty  years 
later  Dr.  Watson,  in  England,  actually 
transmitted  electric  impulses  over  a  circuit 
two  miles  in  length. 

In  the  year  1753,  Charles  Marshall,  of 
Scotland,  sent  to  The  Scot's  Magazine  a 
communication  which  contained  the  earli- 
est recorded  reference  to  an  electric  tele- 
graph, and  as  the  telegraph  was  the  fore- 
runner of  all  electrical  activities,  historians 
of  electrical  development  in  all  civilized 
countries  have  in  hundreds  of  instances 


29 


30 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


made  reference  to  the  article  which  ap- 
peared in  the  February,  1753,  issue  of  this 
magazine. 

The  article  states,  in  part:  "It  is  well 
known  to  all  who  are  conversant  in  electri- 
cal experiments  that  the  electric  power 
may  be  propagated  along  a  small  wire, 
from  one  place  to  another,  without  being 
sensibly  abated  by  the  length  of  its  prog- 
ress; let,  then,  a  set  of  wires  equal  in  num- 
ber to  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  be  ex- 
tended horizontally  between  two  given 
places  parallel  to  each  other  and  each  of 
them  about  an  inch  distant  from  that  next 
to  it.  At  every  twenty  yards'  end  let  them 
be  fixed  in  glass  or  jewelers'  cement  to 
some  firm  body,  both  to  prevent  them  from 
touching  the  earth  or  any  other  non-elec- 
tric, and  from  breaking  from  their  own 
gravity."  The  writer  then  goes  on  to  ex- 
plain his  proposed  method  of  operating 
the  telegraph,  whereby  bits  of  paper  bear- 
ing the  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  placed 
an  eighth  of  an  inch  below  suspended 
metallic  balls  at  the  receiving  end  and  are 
attracted  thereto  as  each  wire  is  electri- 
cally charged  from  the  distant  station. 
Thus  by  observing  the  letters  affected  the 
receiving  operator  may  form  the  words 
of  the  message  transmitted. 

After  the  publication  of  the  "C.  M." 
article  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century 
elapsed  before  the  first  method  of  electric 
telegraphy  was  tried  out;  namely,  that  of 
George  Louis  LeSage  of  Geneva.  Moigno 
writing  in  1852,  Sabine  in  1867,  and  Tay- 
lor in  1879,  all  state  that  Le  Sage  actually 
established  his  telegraph  system  at  Geneva 
in  the  year  1774. 

Le  Sage's  method  of  telegraphing  was 
almost  identical  with  that  suggested  by  "C. 
M."  in  The  Scot's  Magazine,  previously 
mentioned. 

Then  followed  the  telegraph  experi- 
ments of  Lomond,  in  France  (1787), 
Claude  Chappe,  in  France  (1793),  M. 
Reusser,  in  Switzerland  (1794),  Caballo, 
in  England  (i795)>  Salva,  in  Spain 
(1798),  Soemmering,  in  Bavaria  (1807), 
Schweigger,  in  Germany  (1815),  and 
Francis  Ronalds,  in  England  (1816). 

In  chronological  order  the  next  note- 
worthy attempt  made  to  devise  a  system  of 
telegraphy  was  that  of  Harrison  Gray 
Dyar,  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1828.  An 


account  of  Dyar's  experiments  is  interes 
ing;  first,  because  his  ill-fated  inventic 
was  the  first  telegraph  tried  in  Americ 
and,  second,  because  his  system  was  tl 
last  of  the  long  line  of  impracticable  tel 
graphs  which  were  dependent  upon  fri 
tional  electric  machines  as  sources  of  cu 
rent. 

About  the  time  Dyar  was  making  h 
telegraph,  Sturgeon,  in  England,  ar 
Joseph  Henry,  in  America,  were  expei 
menting  with  electro-magnets — those  ob 
dient  and  tractable  little  helpmates  whi( 
were  destined  to  provide  us  with  a  re 
telegraph  system  and  to  revolutionize  m 
chanical  motion.  Also,  a  year  previous 
(1827),  Ohm's  Law  had  been  announce 

Dyar's  telegraph  was  of  the  electr 
chemical  order,  being  operated  by  sparl 
produced  by  a  friction  machine,  the  sparl 
being  spaced  and  regulated  by  a  pendulun 
There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  a  recei 
ing  device  was  actually  constructed,  a 
though  Dyar  proposed  using  a  litmu 
paper  receiver  as  soon  as  the  experimen 
made  a  transcribing  device  necessary.  Tt 
experiments  were  conducted  on  Lor 
Island  over  a  great  length  of  wire  strur 
around  a  race  course,  and  were  satisfa 
tory  to  the  extent  that  he  showed  th; 
sparks  made  at  one  end  of  the  circuit  coul 
be  observed  at  the  other  end  of  the  wir 
Presumably  a  metallic  circuit  was  used,  £ 
no  mention  is  made  of  the  use  of  a  groun 
return.  In  erecting  the  poles  and  wir 
Dyar  was  aided  by  a  Mr.  Brown,  of  Prov 
dence,  R.  I.,  the  legal  side  of  the  unde 
taking  being  in  the  hands  of  a  Mr.  Connel 
of  New  York.  As  soon,  however,  as  tl 
experiments  were  well  under  way,  Conne 
brought  suit  against  Dyar  for  twenty  thoi 
sand  dollars,  and,  although  the  case  w< 
dismissed,  John  F.  White,  Dyar's  pater 
attorney,  notified  him  that  Connell  had  si 
cured  a  writ  against  Dyar  charging  coi 
spiracy  against  the  government  for  a 
tempting  to  carry  on  secret  communicatio 
between  cities.  Dyar  forthwith  abai 
doned  his  experiments  and  left  the  state  i 
order  to  escape  prosecution. 

The  important  discoveries  in  electn 
magnetism  made  by  Oersted,  in  Denmar 
(1820),  Faraday,  in  England  (1823} 
Sturgeon,  in  England  (1824),  and  Henn 
in  America  (1827),  speedily  brought  to  th 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


31 


From  the  Collection  of  Col.  R.  C.  Clowry. 


PROF.  SAMUEL  F.  B.  MORSE 


front  entirely  new  ideas  and  agencies  from 
which  a  practical  system  of  telegraphy 
might  be  constructed.  It  is  true,  of  course, 
that  the  operation  of  lines  over  consider- 
able distances  was  not  efficiently  practicable 
until  economical  and  reliable  primary  bat- 
teries were  brought  out.  The  primary 
cells  introduced  by  John  Frederick  Daniell, 
in  England  (1836)  and  by  William 
Grove,  in  England  (1837)  supplied  the 
missing  link  and  from  that  time  onward 
practical  telegraph  systems  were  rapidly 


introduced  and  extended  to  meet  social, 
governmental,  and  commercial  require- 
ments in  all  civilized  countries. 

In  devising  telegraphs  the  earliest  use 
made  of  the  principles  of  electro-magne- 
tism was  in  connection  with  what  is  known 
as  "the  needle  system."  Baron  Schilling, 
in  Russia  (1832)  exhibited  a  method  of 
signaling  employing  thirty-six  deflecting 
needles.  Gauss  and  Weber,  in  Germany, 
erected  a  metallic  circuit  about  two  miles 
long  (1833),  the  received  signals  being  in- 


32 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


dicated  by  freely  suspended  needles.  The 
practical  development  of  this  system  was 
taken  up  by  Steinheil,  who,  in  1837,  had 
several  miles  of  lines  in  operation  in  Bava- 
Steinheil  devised  a  receiving  arrange- 


ria. 


ment  employing  bells  of  different  pitch  to 
indicate  the  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Stein- 
heil's  chief  claim  to  fame  rests  upon  his 
discovery  made  in  the  year  1837  that  the 
earth  could  be  used  as  the  return  portion 
on  an  electrical  circuit. 


The  Port-rule,  Morse's  First  Telegraph  Sending 
Device 

In  England,  in  the  year  1837,  Edward 
Davy  exhibited  a  telegraph  system  em- 
ploying deflecting  needles  to  indicate  the 
received  signals,  and  in  the  .same  year 
Cooke  and  Wheatstone,  in  England,  pro- 
cured an  English  patent  (June  12)  for  a 
needle  telegraph  system  employing  six 
wires  and  five  deflecting  needles.  (The 
American  patent  was  granted  June  10, 
1840.) 

We  now  arrive  at  the  point  where  we 
may  truthfully  transfer  the  scene  of  tele- 
graphic activity  and  invention  from 
Europe  to  America. 

During  the  past  forty  years  various  de- 
sultory attempts  have  been  made  purport- 


ing to  establish  the  view  that  Joseph 
Henry,  and  not  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  invented 
the  system  of  electric  telegraphy  univer- 
sally known  as  the  Morse  Telegraph 
System. 

Henry's  exemplary  life  and  his  pro- 
found writings  vividly  remind  one  of  the 
life  and  work  of  his  great  English  con- 
temporary, Michael  Faraday.  Scientific 
history  unreservedly  accords  to  Henry  the 
honor  of  being  the  first  to  devise  electro- 
magnets of  a  useful  type;  but  there  is 
plenty  of  evidence  to  show  that  in  the  begin- 
ning he  did  not  think  much  about  or  con- 
cern himself  with  the  development  of  elec- 
tric telegraphy. 

The  thing  Henry  did  which  has  misled 
some  of  his  biographers  was  to  suspend 
around  the  walls  of  the  upper  rooms  in  the 
Albany  Academy  a  circuit  consisting  of  a 
mile  of  copper  wire  in  which  wras  con- 
nected a  primary  battery  and  an  electro- 
magnet. A  permanently  magnetized  steel 
rod  was  mounted  on  a  pivot  (like  a  com- 
pass needle)  and  situated  in  such  position 
relatively  to  the  electro-magnet  that  one 
extremity  of  the  rod  could  play  between 
the  polar  extremities  of  the  magnet.  Near 
the  other  end  of  the  steel  rod  the  gong  of 
a  small  office  bell  was  placed.  When  the 
current  from  the  primary  battery  was  sent 
through  the  circuit  in  one  direction  the  rod 
was  attracted  into  contact  with  one  pole  of 
the  magnet,  resulting  in  the  opposite  end 
of  the  rod  striking  the  bell,  thus  giving  a 
signal.  When  the  current  was  reversed 
through  the  circuit  the  rod  was  attracted 
to  the  other  pole  of  the  electro-magnet, 
again  causing  the  gong  to  be  tapped. 
These  demonstrations  were  made  in  the 
year  1832. 

Morse's  first  idea  of  the  telegraph  came 
to  him  in  the  year  1832 — he  was  then 
forty-one  years  of  age — while  he  was  on 
board  the  packet-ship  Sully,  sailing  from 
Havre,  France,  to  New  York.  A  fellow 
passenger — Dr.  Charles  T.  Jackson — one 
day  at  the  dinner  table  discoursed  upon  the 
advances  which  had  recently  been  made  in 
the  science  of  electricity,  explaining  the 
method  of  increasing  the  power  of  a  mag- 
net by  passing  electric  current  through  con- 
volutions of  insulated  wire  wound  upon  a 
soft  iron  bar.  The  speaker  stated  that 
electricity  was  known  to  travel  through 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


33 


^reat  lengths  of  conducting  wire,  practi- 
:ally  instantaneously;  whereupon  Morse, 
who  was  present,  propounded  the  ques- 
:ion :  "If  the  presence  of  electricity  can  be 


coveries    and    agencies    already    at    hand. 

Nothing  short  of  inspiration  could  have 

given  Morse  his  original  broad  conception 

of  the  ultimate  utility  of  a  system  of  in- 


//!€,/<     ^     J^    <f/        ^          ^    ^^          f/lll  /**     ^     <W    «•     ^    /'<         X'' 

S~    •  .  jr  -:  A 


-/K  < 


Reproduction  of  an  Original  Letter  Written  by  Prof.   Morse   to    Mrs.   Alfred   Vail   of   Morristown,    X.   ]. 


nade  visible  In  any  part  of  the  circuit,  I 
see  no  reason  why  intelligence  may  not  be 
transmitted  instantaneously  by  electricity." 
Morse  was  a  portrait  painter,  not  a  sci- 
entist, and  from  his  question,  above 
quoted,  it  may  be  understood  that  his  first 
vision  of  the  possibilities  of  electricity  dis- 
:losed  to  his  practical  mind  the  growing 
need  for  a  system  of  transmitting  intelli- 
gence now  become  possible  because  of  dis- 


stantaneous  communication,  and  the  way  he 
overcame  subsequent  trials  and  discourage- 
ments while  gathering  up  the  elements  of 
a  workable  system  proved  that  he  had  un- 
limited faith,  not  only  in  ultimate  technical 
success,  but  also  in  the  meed  certain  to  be 
awarded  the  first  in  the  field  with  a  prac- 
tical system  of  electric  telegraphy. 

There  were  in  the  world  at  that  time  a 
number   of   eminent  savants   much   better 


34 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


equipped  than  Morse  was  to  solve  the 
problem:  In  France,  Peltier,  Arago,  De 
La  Rive,  and  Ampere;  in  England,  Fara- 
day, Sturgeon,  Cooke,  Wheatstone,  and 
Ronalds;  in  Russia,  Jacobi,  and  Schilling; 
in  Germany,  Ruhmkorff,  Lenz,  Steinheil, 
Ohm,  and  Soemmering;  in  America, 
Joseph  Henry,  Page,  Silliman,  Day,  and 
Frisbie. 

In  scientific  history  these  men  all  are 
famous  as  the  foremost  scientists  of  their 
times,  and  most  of  them  were  in  the  hey- 
day of  manhood  at  the  time  the  artist 
Morse  by  patient  but  persevering  labor 
gave  to  the  world  the  crowning  electrical 
achievement  of  the  century. 

The  fact  that  the  five  years  intervening 
between  October,  1832  (the  date  of  the 
Morse-Jackson  conversation  on  board  the 
Sully)  and  November,  1837,  were  con- 
sumed by  Morse  in  studying  the  require- 
ments, and  in  constructing  the  first  crude  ap- 
paratus, but  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
there  was  an  extended  opportunity  afforded 
others  who  may  have  been  better  informed 
electrically,  or  who  may  have  had  the 
means  necessary  to  carry  on  experiments. 
That  others  did  not,  during  this  period, 
overtake  and  pass  Morse  in  the  march  to- 
ward the  goal  of  success  points  to  the  con- , 
elusion  that  Morse,  and  Morse  only,  had 
a  true  understanding  of  the  entire  problem. 

When  Morse  arrived  in  New  York 
from  Europe,  November  15,  1832,  he  at 
once  set  to  work  experimenting  along  lines 
suggested  in  numerous  sketches  and  dia- 
grams which  he  had  recorded  in  his  note- 
book while  on  ship-board,  but  owing  to 
lack  of  funds  and  to  inadequate  shop  facili- 
ties it  was  not  until  1835  that  he  was  able 
to  assemble  a  working  model  embodying 
his  ideas.  By  September  2,  1837,  he  had 
succeeded  in  building  two  sets  of  instru- 
ments, one  for  each  end  of  a  circuit,  and 
on  that  date  gave  a  public  demonstration 
of  his  invention  in  the  great  hall  of  New 
York  City  University,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed as  a  professor. 

It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Morse  had 
the  good  fortune  to  meet  Mr.  Alfred  Vail, 
son  of  Judge  Stephen  Vail,  proprietor  of 
the  Speedwell  Iron  Works  at  Morristown, 
New  Jersey.  Alfred  Vail  was  then  thirty 
years  of  age  and  had  recently  graduated 
from  the  University  of  the  City  of  New 


York.  Upon  witnessing  Morse's  tele- 
graph demonstrations  in  1837,  Vail  be- 
came intensely  interested,  and  learning 
that  Morse  was  greatly  in  need  of  capital, 
and  mechanical  assistance,  undertook  to 
induce  his  father  to  furnish  financial  back- 
ing for  Morse's  enterprise,  and  himself 
agreed  to  take  up  the  work  of  constructing 
improved  apparatus  at  Speedwell. 

Morse's  caveat  was  filed  in  the  patent 
office  at  Washington,  October  6,  1837,  and 
his  application  for  letters  patent  was  filed 
April  7,  1838. 

On  November  28,  1837,  Morse  advised 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  at  Washing- 
ton— with  whom  he  had  previous  cor- 
respondence regarding  the  telegraph — that 
he  had  succeeded  in  operating  a  telegraph 
circuit  ten  miles  in  length. 

From  the  year  1837  unt^  ^42  Morse's 
time  was  taken  up  procuring  patent  pro- 
tection in  European  countries,  giving  exhi- 
bitions of  his  system  in  the  large  cities  in 
this  country,  and  in  perfecting  details  of 
the  mechanism  of  the  telegraph.  Also, 
during  these  years  a  continuous  effort  was 
made  to  induce  the  American  government 
to  make  an  appropriation  to  defray  the 
costs  of  establishing  an  experimental  line 
of  telegraph  between  two  of  the  eastern 
cities.  In  December,  1842,  Morse  was 
persuaded  to  make  one  more  application 
to  Congress,  and,  on  March  3,  1843,  a  bill 
appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  to 
aid  the  enterprise  passed  through  the 
House  by  a  very  close  margin. 

Plans  were  immediately  made  to  con- 
struct a  line  between  Washington  and 
Baltimore,  the  conductors  to  be  laid  under- 
ground between  these  points. 

Ezra  Cornell,  later  the  founder  of  Cor- 
nell University,  was  engaged  to  take 
charge  of  the  conduit  work,  leaving  New 
York  for  Baltimore  on  October  17,  1843. 
The  conductors  consisted  of  four  insul- 
ated No.  1 6  copper  wires  inclosed  in  a 
lead  pipe  which  was  laid  in  a  trench  be- 
tween the  double  tracks  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  extending  between 
Washington  and  Baltimore. 

Early  in  the  year  1 844  it  was  discovered 
that  the  conductors  in  the  pipe  were  badly 
mixed,  after  about  ten  miles  of  the  under- 
ground system  had  been  constructed.  The 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


35 


underground  scheme  was  then  abandoned 
and  the  wires  strung  on  poles. 

On  May  24,  1844,  the  famous  "first 
message,"  "What  Hath  God  Wrought?" 
was  sent  over  the  line  from  Washington. 

The  Washington-Baltimore  line  was  re- 
garded, for  a  time,  as  government  prop- 
erty, and  on  May  15,  1845,  a  charter  was 
granted  for  the  first  private  commercial 
telegraph  line  in  America — The  Magnetic 
Telegraph  Company. 

In  the  meantime  in  Europe  needle  tele- 
graph systems,  dial  telegraph  systems, 
and  electro-chemical  telegraph  systems 
had  been  established;  but  as,  later  on, 
most  of  these  methods  of  telegraph- 
ing were  displaced  by  .the  Morse  sys- 
tem, or  modifications  of  the  same,  the 
Story  of  the  Telegraph  may  reasonably  be 
confined  to  the  development  of  invention 
and  progress  in  America. 

The  success  of  Morse's  first  line  created 
wide  interest  in  the  telegraph,  and  the  con- 
struction of  lines  in  many  directions  was 
soon  begun.  In  1846  a  line  was  opened 
for  service  between  New  York  and  Bos- 
ton, another  between  Philadelphia  and 
Pittsburgh,  and  still  another  between  Buf- 
falo, New  York,  and  Toronto,  Canada;  in 
1847,  a  mie  between  Troy,  New  York,  and 
Montreal,  Canada  ;  in  1 848,  a  line  between 
Portland,  Maine,  and  Calais,  Maine,  and 
many  other  lines. 

In  1849  the  House  Printing  Telegraph 
Company  was  organized,  and  constructed 
lines  between  New  York  and  Boston  and 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  A 
year  later  "House"  lines  were  built  be- 
tween New  York  and  Buffalo  and  between 
Buffalo  and  Cincinnati,  the  character  of 
pole  line  construction  showing  great  im- 
provement over  that  of  lines  previously 
constructed.  The  "House"  system  was 
operated  in  opposition  to  the  Morse  lines. 

In  the  year  1850  still  another  opposi- 
tion company,  known  as  the  Merchants' 
Line,  entered  the  field,  erecting  lines  be- 
tween New  York  and  Boston  and  between 
New  York  and  Washington.  The  system 
was  based  upon  the  electro-chemical  tele- 
graph inventions  of  Alexander  Bain,  of 
Scotland.  Bain  had  applied  for  an  Ameri- 
can patent  in  the  year  1849.  After  about 
three  years  of  operation  the  Bain  lines 
consolidated  with  the  Morse  lines,  the 


combination  taking  the  name  "Union 
Lines." 

In  the  year  1851  there  were  over  fifty 
separate  telegraph  companies  doing  busi- 
ness in  the  United  States,  many  of  them 
operating  under  Morse's  patents,  others 
using  then  existing  printing  telegraph 
systems. 

On  April  2,  1851,  Henry  S.  Potter  was 
elected  president  of  the  New  York  and 
Mississippi  Valley  Printing  Telegraph 
Company,  the  immediate  predecessor  of 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
of  which  latter  company  Mr.  Potter  was 
the  first  president. 


Special   Silver  Telegraph  Key  used  by  Professor 
Morse 


It  may  well  be  imagined  that  with  fifty 
or  more  telegraph  companies  in  the  field, 
many  of  them  operating  in  exclusive  terri- 
tory, the  cost  of  telegraphing,  together 
with  the  delay  in  transferring  messages 
from  one  company  to  its  connections,  cre- 
ated a  situation  which  had  to  be  corrected 
if  the  new  art  was  to  have  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity to  be  efficiently  useful. 

Although  it  was  not  until  1866  that  the 
headquarters  of  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany was  moved  from  Rochester,  New 
York,  to  New  York  City,  a  movement  was 
set  in  motion  in  1851  with  the  object  of 
bringing  about  consolidation  of  the  vari- 
ous adjoining  telegraph  lines.  Also,  in 
1851  the  application  of  the  telegraph  to 
railroad  requirements  was  begun.  In  that 
year  the  first  telegraphic  train-order  was 
sent,  on  the  Erie  Railroad.  Within  two 
years  thereafter  the  Erie  Railroad  had  497 
miles  of  telegraph  line  in  operation,  with 
fifty-two  telegraph  stations,  and  employed 
sixty-five  telegraphers. 

The  rapid  extension  of  the  telegraph 
which  followed  to  meet  railroad  and  com- 


36 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


mercial  requirements  attracted  to  the  work 
many  bright  minds,  and  during  the  years 
intervening  between  1851  and  1858  many 
improvements  were  made  in  telegraph  ap- 
paratus. In  1851  the  first  automatic 
repeater  was  invented,  by  C.  S.  Buckley. 
In  1852  Moses  G.  Farmer  experimented 
with  double  telegraph  transmission  over  a 
single  wire.  In  1855  George  F.  Milliken, 
of  Boston,  introduced  the  first  spring-jack 
switch-board,  and  in  the  same  year  George 
M.  Phelps  and  David  E.  Hughes  per- 
fected new  printing  telegraph  systems. 
In  1857  Farmer  and  Woodman  introduced 
an  improvement  in  automatic  telegraph 
repeaters. 

In  the  year  1857  tne  first  attempt  was 
made  to  lay  a  submarine  telegraph  cable 
between  Europe  and  America,  and  al- 
though the  firs.t  efforts  failed  of  success,  the 
experience  gained  proved  of  inestimable 
value  in  a  later  enterprise. 

The  first  submarine  cable  laid  was  that 
between  Dover,  England,  and  Calais, 
France,  in  the  year  1851.  Two  years  later 
a  six-conductor  cable  was  laid  between 
England  and  Ireland.  In  the  year  1856 
American  and  British  naval  officers  made 
extensive  soundings  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
between  Europe  and  America  for  the  pur- 
pose of  charting  possible  routes  for  cables 
to  be  laid  between  Europe  and  North 
America. 

During  the  year  1856  a  cable  was  laid 
between  Newfoundland  and  Nova  Scotia, 
a  distance  of  eighty-five  miles. 

In  the  month  of  August,  1857,  tne  first 
attempt  was  made  to  lay  a  cable  across  the 
Atlantic.  The  venture  failed,  owing 
chiefly  to  the  employment  of  imperfectly 
designed  cable-laying  machinery.  Three 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  of  the  cable  was 
lost  in  the  sea. 

In  the  summer  of  1858  another  attempt 
was  made  to  forge  the  link  between 
Europe  and  America.  The  expedition  met 
with  several  mishaps,  but  on  August  5  of 
that  year  the  completed  cable  was  ready 
for  test  between  Trinity  Bay,  Newfound- 
land, and  Valentia,  Ireland,  a  distance  of 
1,960  miles  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean, 
the  actual  length  of  the  cable  being  2,267 
miles.  The  extra  307  miles  of  cable  was 
taken  up  in  following  the  hills  and  dales  of 
the  sea  bottom. 


After  three  weeks  of  fairly  satisfactory 
operation,  chiefly  of  an  experimental  na- 
ture, this  cable  failed. 

In  the  year  1865  Cyrus  W.  Field,  of 
New  York,  employing  the  famous  British 
ship  Great  Eastern,  made  a  brave  but  un- 
successful attempt  to  establish  the  much 
desired  telegraphic  connection  across  the 
Atlantic.  When  1,186  miles  of  cable  had 
been  passed  overboard  the  strand  broke, 
and  its  recovery  was,  for  the  time  being, 
abandoned. 


CYRUS  W.  FIELD 
The  Creator  of  the  First  Atlantic  Cable 

In  1866  Mr.  Field  reorganized  the  en- 
terprise under  the  name  of  The  Anglo- 
American  Telegraph  Company,  and  once 
more  to  the  Great  Eastern  the  task  was 
assigned  to  complete  the  job.  The  route 
taken  in  crossing  the  Atlantic  was  about 
twenty-seven  miles  north  of  the  line  along 
which  the  1865  cable  was  laid.  The.cable 
extended  between  Foilhommerun  Bay,  Ire- 
land, and  Heart's  Content,  Newfound- 
land. The  Great  Eastern  made  the  trip  in 
fourteen  days,  sailing  1,909  miles  and  lay- 
ing 2,113  miles  of  cable.  This  was  the 
first  satisfactory  cable  laid  across  the  At- 
lantic, and  in  cable  circles  July  27,  1866, 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


37 


is  known  as  the  date  upon  which  submarine 
telegraphy  became  an  accomplished  fact. 

The  second  Atlantic  cable  was  made  up 
of  the  abandoned  section  of  the  1865  cable 
spliced  to  a  new  section.  The  work  was 
done  by  the  Great  Eastern  in  September, 
1866. 

At  the  start  both  of  these  cables  were 
worked  at  a  speed  of  six  words  per  min- 
ute, but  improvements  made  in  terminal 


cent  invention  are  carrying  135  words  per 
minute. 

Going  back  for  a  moment  to  where  we 
left  off  in  the  development  of  land  line 
telegraph  systems — the  year  1858 — the 
next  important  period  was  that  of  the  civil 
war  in  the  United  States. 

On  March  15,  1861,  overland  telegraph 
communication  was  for  the  first  time  es- 
tablished between  cities  on  the  Atlantic 


NO  TICK. 


Ornate  Copy  of  a  Telegraph  Notice  Issued  in  1859  when  there  were  no  Railroads  West  of  the  Missouri  River 


apparatus,  together  with  increased  skill  on 
the  part  of  the  operating  staff,  shortly  re- 
sulted in  a  speed  of  seventeen  words  per 
minute. 

In  later  years  the  employment  of  Lord 
Kelvin's  siphon  recorder  as  a  receiving  in- 
strument, with  other  improvements,  ran 
the  speed  of  cable  operation  up  to  forty 
words  per  minute.  Today  a  speed  of 
forty-five  words  per  minute  simultaneously 
in  each  direction  over  a  cable  is  the  ordi- 
nary gait,  while  certain  cables  which  are 
equipped  with  electrical  amplifiers  of  re- 


coast  and  California,  and  many  other  lines 
north,  south,  east  and  west  were  opened 
to  traffic. 

The  Northwestern  Telegraph  Company 
erected  a  line  consisting  of  a  Number  8 
iron  wire  between  Milwaukee,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  in  the  year 
1862.  At  the  various  points  where  the 
wire  crossed  the  Mississippi  river  watch- 
men were  stationed  to  lower  the  wire  into 
the  river  in  order  to  prevent  steamboats 
from  breaking  the  strand  as  they  passed 
up  or  down  the  river. 


38 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


It  was  in  the  year  1863  that  the  original 
Morse  patents  expired.  A  year  later  sev- 
eral of  the  existing  independent  telegraph 
concerns  combined  under  the  name  of  the 
United  States  Telegraph  Company. 

In  1865  two  new  telegraph  companies 
entered  the  field,  namely,  the  Franklin 
Telegraph  Company  and  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Telegraph  Company. 

In  the  year  1866  the  United  States  Tele- 
graph Company,  together  with  other  inde- 
pendent lines,  consolidated  with  the  West- 
ern Union  Company,  and  in  that  year  the 
general  offices  of  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany were  transferred  from  Rochester  to 
New  York  City. 

During  the  period  of  the  civil  war  the 
telegraph  was  used  for  the  first  time  in 
this  country  in  military  operations.  For 
the  first  time  in  history  the  value  of  the 
telegraph  to  armies  in  the  field  was  dem- 
onstrated during  this  conflict.  Comparing 
Sherman's  operations  in  1864  with  Na- 
poleon's plans  of  1812  to  invade  Russia, 
the  great  benefits  of  a  ready  means  of  in- 
stantaneous communication  between  points 
remotely  separated  were  evidenced,  and  it 
is  to  the  point  to  observe  that  owing  to 
antiquated  methods  of  communication  it 
required  nearly  six  months  for  Napoleon 
to  concentrate  a  force  of  500,000  men  to 
enter  Russia  via  Poland.  Lack  of  an  ade- 
quate means  of  communication  in  advance 
and  to  the  rear  was  a  handicap  which 
spelled  ultimate  disaster  for  the  French 


armies. 


After  84  days'  march  and  a  costly  bat- 
tle, Napoleon  entered  Moscow,  only  to 
find  that  the  country  had  been  laid  waste 
and  the  city  of  Moscow  burned  down.  In 
the  face  of  an  approaching  winter  Napo- 
leon retreated,  and,  chiefly  owing  to  lack 
of  communications,  lost  450,000  men  be- 
fore reaching  a  base  of  supplies. 

In  the  year  1864,  with  thoroughly  or- 
ganized telegraphic  communications,  Gen- 
eral Sherman  began  his  march  into 
Georgia  with  100,000  men;  within  three 
months  he  entered  Atlanta.  Reaching  that 
point,  Sherman  was  able  to  communicate 
with  the  commanding  general  1,500  miles 
away  and  to  plan  his  march  to  the  sea, 
where,  instead  of  meeting  desolation,  he 
found  available  plentiful  stores  and  sup- 


plies provided  for  his  coming — all  through 
the  medium  of  the  telegraph. 

During  the  period  of  the  civil  war  the 
financial  resources  of  the  country  had  been 
so  taken  up  with  the  prosecution  of  mili- 
tary undertakings  that  only  a  limited 
amount  of  new  line  was  constructed.  Also, 
some  of  the  existing  trunk  lines  had  not 
been  maintained  witn  a  view  to  coming  in- 
crease in  traffic;  and  as  it  developed  that 
during  the  period  of  reconstruction  the 
telegraph  was  used  extensively  for  social 
and  commercial  correspondence  a  situation 
was  presented  wherein  additional  wires 
would  have  to  be  strung  over  all  main 
routes,  or  that  American  genius  would 
forthwith  have  to  invent  systems  making 
possible  the  transmission  of  more  than  one 
message  over  an  individual  wire  simul- 
taneously. 

And,  as  always,  American  genius  met 
the  issue  fairly  and  in  a  satisfactory 
degree. 

Once  more  harking  back  a  few  years  we 
find  that  in  1852  Moses  G.  Farmer,  that 
earnest  pioneer  philosopher,  had  con- 
ducted experiments  with  a  view  to  setting 
up  apparatus  capable  of  doubling  the 
capacity  of  a  single  wire.  Although 
Farmer  did  not  attain  complete  success,  he 
went  far  enough  to  start  others  working 
along  the  same  lines. 

Experiments  with  a  similar  end  in  view 
were  conducted  by  Gintl,  in  Austria,  and 
by  Siemens  and  Halske,  in  Germany,  in 
the  year  1853;  also  by  Stark,  in  Austria, 
and  Bernstein,  in  Germany,  in  1855. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  the  year  1868 
that  a  practical  method  of  duplex  teleg- 
raphy was  invented.  In  that  year  Mr. 
Joseph  B.  Stearns,  of  Boston,  brought  out 
a  workable  system,  which  was  first  placed 
in  service  on  the  lines  of  the  Franklin 
Telegraph  Company  between  New  York 
and  Boston,  and  a  year  or  two  later  on  the 
lines  of  the  Western  Union  Company. 

The  practical  application  of  this  inven- 
tion at  once  doubled  the  capacity  of  all 
single  wires  so  operated. 

It  has  been  stated  that  "coming  events 
cast  their  shadows  before,"  and  as  a  mo- 
mentous event  closely  related  to  the  needs 
of  the  telegraph  in  the  year  1869  it  is 
apropos  here  to  record  that  it  was  in  that 
year  that  Thomas  A.  Edison — then  a 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


youth  of  twenty-two  years  —  arrived  in 
New  York  City. 

In  1872  Mr.  Edison  invented  a  chemical 
automatic  high-speed  system  which  made 
possible  the  transmission  of  a  greatly  in- 
creased number  of  words  over  a  wire  in  a 
given  time,  and  a  year  later  Edison  and 
Prescott  successfully  operated  a  quadru- 
plex  system  of  telegraphy  over  a  circuit 
from  New  York  to  Boston.  This  system 
provided  for  simultaneous  transmission  of 
two  messages  in  each  direction  over  a 
single  wire.  American  genius  had  not  been 
found  wanting. 

The  duplex  and  quadruplex  systems 
have  not  only  been  of  great  value  in  in- 
creasing the  capacity  of  lines  for  Morse 
operation,  but  have  been  successfully  ap- 
plied in  further  increasing  the  line  capacity 
in  connection  with  high-speed  automatic 
telegraphy.  The  duplex  principle  forms  a 
part  of  modern  printing  telegraph  sys- 
tems, permitting  that  lines  operated  as 
printer  circuits  may  carry  one  message  in 
each  direction  at  a  time  simultaneously. 

In  the  year  1876  the  first  underground 
pneumatic  tubes  were  laid  between  the 
main  office  of  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany, in  New  York,  and  the  telegraph 
office  in  the  Wall  Street  district,  and  in 
1877  two  underground  cables  2,200  feet 
long,  with  30  conductors  each,  were  laid 
in  New  York  City  for  telegraph  purposes. 
In  1879  Stephen  D.  Field  first  employed 
dynamos  for  the  generation  of  electricity 
for  telegraph  purposes  in  place  of  gravity 
cells,  then  extensively  used  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

Although  the  telephone  arrived  in  the 
year  1876,  it  was  not  until  twenty  years 
later  that  telephone  service  had  developed 
to  an  extent  which  made  it  a  competitor  of 
the  telegraph  to  be  reckoned  with.  The 
rapid  increase  of  telegraph  traffic  during 
these  years  resulted  in  the  telegraph  being 
regarded  as  a  fertile  field  for  investment. 
Once  more  there  was  an  epidemic  of  new 
telegraph  companies,  almost  as  wide- 
spread as  that  prevailing  in  the  early 
fifties. 

In  1879  an  opposition  company  entered 
the  field  under  the  name  of  The  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company.  In  1884 
David  Homer  Bates,  at  that  time  assistant 
general  manager  of  the  Western  Union 


Company,  became  President  of  the  B.  &  O. 
Company.  In  1887  this  company  had  a 
total  of  50,978  miles  of  wire  in  operation, 
extending  from  Maine  to  Texas  by  way  of 
New  York,  Washington,  Chicago,  and  St. 
Louis.  In  October,  1887,  the  B.  &  O. 
Company  consolidated  with  the  Western 
Union  Company. 

In  1879  The  American  Rapid  Tele- 
graph Company  was  organized  with  a 
capital  of  three  million  dollars.  In  1883 
the  company  had  in  operation  about 
15,000  miles  of  wires;  on  the  trunk  lines 
using  the  newly  invented  Foote  and  Ran- 
dall high-speed  chemical  automatic  system. 
The  automatic  system  of  operation  was 
early  abandoned  in  favor  of  Morse  instru- 
ments, and  in  the  year  1884  the  American 
Rapid  Company  was  absorbed  by  the 
Western  Union. 

In  1883  The  Mutual  Union  Telegraph 
Company  was  organized  with  the  very 
modest  capital  of  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  A  year  later  the  company's  plant 
was  leased  to  the  Western  Union  for  a 
term  of  ninety-nine  years. 

Still  another  telegraph  company  was 
launched  in  the  year  1881,  known  as  the 
Bankers'  and  Merchants'  Line,  with  a 
capital  of  one  million  dollars.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1884,  this  company  was  declared 
bankrupt,  and  in  1885  the  property  was 
taken  over  by  The  United  Lines  Tele- 
graph Company,  a  newly  organized  con- 
cern. The  United  Lines  Company,  in 
turn,  within  a  short  time  was  taken  over  by 
the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company 
(first  organized  in  the  year  1881  and  re- 
organized in  1883),  which  company  has 
remained  in  the  field  up  to  the  present  time 
in  opposition  to  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company. 

Dropping  for  a  moment  the  story  of 
land  line  telegraphs  it  may  be  well  to  re- 
vert to  the  account  of  the  extension  of  sub- 
marine cables  which  followed  the  laying  of 
the  first  successful  trans-atlantic  cable  in 
the  year  1866,  previously  referred  to. 

Telegraphic  connection  between  Europe 
and  America  was  not  long  left  dependent 
upon  the  two  strands  which  joined  the  two 
continents  in  the  year  1866.  Additional 
cables  were  laid  in  the  years  1873,  1874, 
1880  and  1894,  the  main  sections  extend- 
ing between  Ireland  and  Newfoundland. 


40 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


The  1874  cable  was  the  last  cable-laying 
enterprise  in  which  the  famous  ship  Great 
Ea stern  was  employed. 

In  1869  and  in  1879  cables  were  laid  be- 
tween the  coasts  of  France  and  America. 

The  Commercial  Cable  Company  laid 
two  cables  across  the  Atlantic  in  1884,  one 


In  1866  a  cable  was  laid  between  Punta 
Rassa,  Florida,  and  Havana,  Cuba,  and  in 
1880  a  cable  between  Galveston,  Texas, 
and  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico.  Connection  was 
made  with  South  America  in  the  year 
1882  by  means  of  a  cable  laid  between 
New  York,  and  Colon,  Panama,  thence 


Showing   Present    (1918)    Submarine  Telegraph  Cables  and  Routes  between  America  and  Europe 


in  1894,  one  in  1905,  and  one  in  the  year 
1901. 

Two  submarine  cables  were  laid  be- 
tween Germany  and  the  United  States,  one 
in  1900  and  the  other  in  1904. 

At  the  present  time  (1917)  there  are 
seventeen  cables  in  operation  between 
Europe  and  North  America. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1903  that  the 
Pacific  Ocean  was  spanned  by  a  submarine 
cable.  In  that  year  an  all-British  cable 
was  laid  from  a  port  in  the  province  of 
British  Columbia,  Canada,  to  Australia. 
Also,  in  the  year  1903,  the  Commercial 
Cable  Company  laid  an  ail-American  cable 
between  San  Francisco  and  the  Philippine 
Islands.  In  1906  this  cable  was  extended 
to  Japan  and  China. 


across  the  Isthmus  and  along  the  west 
coast  of  South  America.  Since  that  time 
duplicate  cables  have  been  laid  along  all 
main  routes. 

At  this  writing,  1918,  there  are  290,- 
ooo  miles  of  submarine  cable  in  use,  hav- 
ing been  laid  at  a  cost  of  $300,000,000, 
and  in  the  waters  of  the  globe  forty-six 
cable  steamers  are  employed  in  the  task  of 
repairing  and  maintaining  these  submarine 
lines. 

As  a  reminder  that  sending  four  tele- 
grams over  one  wire  simultaneously,  or 
hooking  up  two  typewriters  by  a  wire  five 
hundred  miles  long,  was  not  to  be  the  ulti- 
mate of  telegraphic  achievement,  in  the 
year  1896  news  despatches  came  over  the 
cable  from  London  announcing  that  an 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


41 


Italian  youth  named  Marconi  had  arrived 
in  England  with  apparatus  of  his  inven- 
tion which  made  possible  the  sending  of 
telegrams  over  short  distances  without  the 
need  of  intervening  wires. 

In  the  years  immediately  following 
1896  speculation  was  rife  the  world  over 
as  to  whether  or  not  connecting  wires  and 
submarine  cables  were  doomed.  Although 
wireless  telegraphy  has  made  great  strides 
since  1896,  it  is  apparent  that  it  has  devel- 
oped a* field  of  its  own — a  field  of  great 
and  ever  expanding  usefulness;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  a  fact  that  additional  land 
wires  are  still  being  erected  and  additional 
submarine  cables  laid. 

Wireless  telegraphy  may  truthfully  be 
said  to  have  had  its  beginning  when  Clerk 
Maxwell,  the  great  English  physicist, 
about  the  year  1864,  announced  his  mathe- 
matical deductions  relating  to  the  electro- 
magnetic theory  of  light. 

In  the  year  1888  Heinrich  Hertz,  in 
Germany,  reaped  the  harvest  by  experi- 
mentally proving  Maxwell's  theories  and 
announcing  a  method  of  producing  con- 
trollable electro-magnetic  vibrations. 

In  1891  Branly,  in  France,  discovered 
a  practical  method  of  detecting  Hertz' 
waves  at  any  point  in  space,  and  in  the 
year  1894  Oliver  Lodge,  in  England,  con- 
structed and  exhibited  various  forms  of  the 
Branly  detector  in  action. 

In  Italy,  in  the  year  1895,  Marconi  ex- 
perimented with  the  devices  of  Hertz  and 
Branly  and  constructed  apparatus  capable 
of  telegraphing  over  short  distances  with- 
out the  use  of  connecting  wires. 

In  1896  Marconi,  through  the  coopera- 
tion of  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece,  chief  electrical 
engineer  of  the  British  Post-Office  Tele- 
graphs, transmitted  signals  over  a  distance 
of  one  and  three-fourths  miles  on  Salisbury 
Plain. 

In  March,  1897,  a  distance  of  four 
miles  on  Salisbury  Plain  was  covered,  and 
on  May  thirteenth  of  that  year  communi- 
cation was  established  between  Lavernock 
Point  and  Brean  Down,  a  distance  of 
eight  miles. 

In  America  (1890-1897)  many  students 
of  science  were  in  touch  with  the  discover- 
ies being  made  in  Europe,  and  it  was  dur- 
ing the  latter  year  that  the  utilitarian 
American  mind  first  sensed  the  commercial 


possibilities     of     the     newly     discovered 
method  of  transmitting  telegraphic  signals. 

In  September,  1899,  during  the  Interna- 
tional Yacht  Races  off  New  York  harbor, 
the  steamer  Ponce  was  equipped  with 
radio  apparatus  by  Marconi  for  the  pur- 
pose of  transmitting  reports  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  race.  Two  receiving  stations 
were  equipped;  one  on  the  Commercial 
Cable  Company's  cable  ship  Mackay  Ben- 
nett, stationed  near  Sandy  Hook,  and  con- 
nected with  a  land  line  station  on  shore  by 
means  of  an  ordinary  submarine  cable; 
the  other  at  Navesink  Highlands.  This 
demonstration,  although  not  highly  suc- 
cessful, brought  the  subject  to  the  fore  in 
this  country. 

In  the  year  1900  the  first  Marconi  sta- 
tion at  Cape  Cod,  Mass.,  was  built,  and  a 
year  later  the  station  at  Siasconset  was 
completed.  The  intention  was  to  communi- 
cate with  ships  at  sea,  later  to  be  equipped 
with  radio  apparatus. 

The  crowning  radio  event  of  the  year 
1901  was  the  reception  by  Mr.  Marconi, 
at  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland,  of  the  letter 
"S,"  transmitted  as  a  test  signal  from  his 
English  station;  this  was  on  December  21, 
1901. 

_  Beginning  in  the  year  1902,  many  im- 
provements in  radio  apparatus  were  made 
by  American  inventors;  notably  Dr.  Lee 
De  Forest,  Prof.  R.  A.  Fessenden,  Nikola 
Tesla,  John  Stone  Stone,  and  W.  W. 
Massie. 

When  first  introduced  commercially  in 
this  country  radio  telegraphy  was  ex- 
ploited by  a  number  of  separate  operating 
and  manufacturing  companies,  and  during 
the  first  seven  or  eight  years  the  practices 
of  stock  jobbing  and  of  organizing  fake 
companies  retarded  the  development  of 
the  new  system. 

However,  as  was  the  experience  with 
land  line  telegraphy,  all  of  these  compa- 
nies which  had  tangible  assets  ultimately 
consolidated  with  the  Marconi  Company, 
the  major  concern,  and  by  the  year  1912 
the  business  had  become  a  commercial  real- 
ity. High  power  coastal  stations  have  been 
erected,  which  now  are  capable  of  span- 
ning the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  oceans. 

The  fact  that  the  World-German  war, 
begun  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1914,  ne- 
cessitated the  taking  over  by  the  Entente 


42 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


naval  authorities  of  all  high-power  sta- 
tions for  the  purposes  of  the  war  tempo- 
rarily interrupted  extensive  use  of  radio 
for  commercial  purposes,  but  is  looked 
upon  only  as  a  setback  by  the  operating 
company. 

It  is  predicted  that  after  the  termination 
of  the  great  war  radio  telegraphy  will 
come  into  its  own,  and  that  a  world  service 
will  be  established  which  will  vigorously 
compete  with  existing  submarine  cable 
lines.  From  the  present  viewpoint  there 
is  little  probability  that  radio  will  in  the 
near  future  prove  a  serious  competitor  of 
land  line  telegraph  systems.  The  cable 
companies,  too,  regard  the  extension  of 
radio  operation  rather  as  an  aid  or  auxili- 
ary than  as  an  opposition  service. 

In  the  year  1913  Mr.  Edward  J.  Nally, 
who  had  been  Vice-President  and  General 
Manager  of  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable 
Company,  became  General  Manager  of  the 
American  Marconi  Company,  and  from 
that  time  onward  the  management  and 
operation  of  the  radio  system  passed  into 
the  hands  of  thoroughly  trained  telegraph 
executives. 

In  conclusion,  we  shall  take  up  the  story 
of  land  line  telegraphy  where  we  left  off 
with  it  in  the  year  1883,  at  the  time  the  re- 
organized Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Com- 
pany entered  the  field  in  earnest,  under  the 
aggressive  management  of  the  late  John 
W.  Mackay. 

One  of  the  most  common  remarks  made 
in  uninformed  circles  in  reference  to  the 
state  of  the  art  of  telegraphy  at  the  present 
time  is  that  the  telegraph  stands  today 
where  Morse  and  his  immediate  successors 
left  it  fifty  years  ago.  Nothing  could  be 
further  from  the  truth  than  this.  In  fact, 
it  may  safely  be  said  that  nothing  remains 
of  Morse's  original  work  except  the  send- 
ing key  and  the  symbol  code,  or  alphabet. 
Even  the  key  has  during  the  past  fifteen 
years  been  used  only  to  a  limited  extent. 

Numerous  technical  improvements  have 
been  made  in  the  design  and  arrangement 
of  apparatus,  and  the  fact  that  today 
eighty  telegrams  per  hour  are  handled  over 
a  single  outlet  where  fifteen  years  ago  half 
that  number  in  the  same  time  was  regarded 
as  good  performance,  and  that  during  the 
same  period  the  time  of  transmission  of  a 
telegram  between  cities  remotely  separated 


has  been  reduced  at  least  one-half,  cannot 
but  be  admitted  as  convincing  evidence 
that  vast  improvement  has  taken  place. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  toll  tele- 
phone service  was  opened  for  public  use 
between  New  York  and  Boston  in  the  year 
1887  and  between  New  York  and  Chicago 
in  1892;  also  in  other  directions  and  be- 
tween many  other  cities  prior  to  and  sub- 
sequent to  the  year  1887;  but  notwith- 
standing that  the  telephone  has  carried  an 
ever  increasing  volume  of  long  distance 
traffic,  telegraph  message  traffic  has  con- 
tinuously increased  to  an  extent  which 
today  taxes  to  the  utmost  the  carrying 
capacity  of  the  vast  network  of  lines  join- 
ing together  every  village,  town,  and  city 
of  importance  in  the  country. 

After  the  disappearance  of  the  "House," 
"Hughes"  and  "Phelps"  printing  telegraph 
systems  in  the  early  days  of  telegraphy, 
ordinary  Morse  operation,  with  a  few 
scattered  Wheatstone  circuits,  held  the 
field  during  a  period  of  thirty  years. 

In  the  year  1907  the  Barclay-Bucking- 
ham printing  telegraph  system  was  intro- 
duced on  the  lines  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  and  for  a  number  of 
years  thereafter  was  quite  extensively  em- 
ployed. 

In  the  same  year  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Company  experimented  with  the  printing 
telegraph  inventions  of  Prof.  H.  A.  Row- 
land. The  Rowland  was  a  beautiful  and 
ingenious  system  capable  of  transmitting 
eight  telegrams  simultaneously  over  a 
single  wire,  the  received  message  being  re- 
produced in  typewritten  characters  in  page 
form.  At  the  expiration  of  a  year  or  two 
the  system  was  discontinued  by  the  Postal 
Company  because  it  was  decided  that  it  did 
not  ideally  meet  existing  traffic  conditions. 

Then  followed  the  printer  invented  by 
John  E.  Wright,  an  old  associate  of  Mr. 
Edison.  The  Wright  printer  permitted 
the  transmission  of  one  message  in  each  di- 
rection over  a  single  wire  simultaneously. 
Mechanical  difficulties  and  frequent  cir- 
cuit failures  resulted  in  the  printer  being 
returned  to  the  shops  for  further  develop- 
ment about  the  year  1911.  It  has  not  since 
reappeared  in  commercial  service. 

In  1910  Messrs.  Krum  and  Morton  in- 
troduced a  comparatively  simple  duplex 
printer  system,  known  as  the  Morkum, 


THE   STORY  OF   ELECTRICITY 


43 


and  which  at  the  present  time  is  quite  ex- 
tensively employed  on  both  commercial 
and  railroad  telegraph  lines. 

In  the  year  1909  the  American  Tele- 
graph and  Telephone  Company  purchased 
a  controlling  interest  in  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  with  the  ob- 


Murray,  of  London,  England,  while  the 
Postal  Company  terminated  all  contracts 
for  leased  wires  to  brokerage  concerns, 
thus  releasing  all  of  their  wires  for  mes- 
sage traffic  taken  in  over  the  counter. 

In  the  year   1871   the  number  of  tele- 
grams handled  daily  in  the  main  office  of 


Automatic   Tape   Transmitting   Instruments    in  the  Penzance,  England,  Atlantic  Cable  Office 


ject  of  effecting  economies  which  it  was 
thought  would  ensue  from  the  comple- 
mentary operation  of  the  lines  owned  by 
each  company. 

The  combination  lasted  until  January, 
1914,  when  it  was  dissolved  on  account  of 
government  objection  to  the  continued 
joint  operation  of  what  were  considered 
competing  wire  systems. 

The  introduction  of  "night-letter"  and 
"day-letter"  service  in  the  year  1911,  al- 
though quite  an  innovation  in  this  country, 
very  soon  yielded  an  increase  in  wire  traf- 
fic which  seriously  taxed  the  existing  facili- 
ties of  both  the  Postal  and  Western  Union 
Companies. 

The  Western  Union  Company  met  the 
situation  by  developing  to  a  high  degree  of 
efficiency  a  multiplex  printing  telegraph 
system  based  on  the  patents  of  Mr.  Donald 


the  Western  Union  Company  at  New 
York  was  3,500.  In  1875  this  had  grown 
to  35,000  telegrams  per  day.  In  the  year 
1917  approximately  200,000  telegrams 
daily  are  handled  through  this  office,  and 
it  requires  the  space  of  three  entire  floors 
of  the  big  telegraph  building  at  24 
Walker  Street  to  house  the  apparatus  and 
staff  necessary  to  handle  this  great  volume 
of  traffic.  Seating  space  is  provided  for 
1,025  telegraphers. 

All  of  the  regular  "message"  wires  ex- 
tending between  New  York  and  Chicago 
are  operated  by  the  printer  system,  as  also 
are  most  of  the  principal  direct  circuits 
connecting  New  York  with  other  large 
cities  north,  east,  south  and  west. 

The  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company 
also  is  doing  an  enormous  business 
throughout  the  United  States.  Direct 


44 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


wires  are  maintained  between  New  York 
and  all  cities  of  importance  in  this  country 
and  in  Canada.  The  company's  own  cable 
system  supplies  rapid  fire  connections  with 
Europe  via  the  Atlantic,  and  with  China 
and  Japan  via  the  Pacific  ocean. 

At  the  present  time — twenty-five  years 
after  toll  telephone  service  was  inaugur- 


the  registration  of  the  national  resources 
was  called  for  by  the  President,  of  the 
thousands  of  professions  which  men  prac- 
tice one  of  the  very  few  considered  in  the 
registration  was:  "Are  you  a  telegraph 
operator?" 

Verily,   as   one  writer   has   said:    "The 
wire  is  serving.     Seventy  years  ago  a  por- 


Interior  View  of  a  Corner  in  the  Atlantic  Cable  Office  at  Penzance,   England 


ated  between  New  York  City  and  Chicago 
—we  find  that  there  are  about  fifty  thou- 
sand commercial  telegraph  employees  in 
tne  United  States.  This  is  exclusive  of 
railroad  telegraph  employees  to  an  almost 
equal  number. 

There  are  approximately  250,000  miles 
of  telegraph  pole  line  and  2,000,000 
miles  of  telegraph  wire,  besides  320,000 
miles  of  wire  owned  and  operated  by  rail- 
road companies  in  the  United  States. 

As  an  illuminating  commentary  upon 
the  importance  to  the  nation  of  the  tele- 
graph and  the  telegrapher,  it  may  be 
pointed  out  that  a  few  months  ago  when 


trait  painter  sat  at  a  clumsy  desk  in  Wash- 
ington and  jiggled  a  metal  tab  with  nerv- 
ous finger.  In  Baltimore  an  armature 
clicked,  and  one  understanding  its  untried 
speech  translated  the  click  into  'What 
hath  God  wrought!'  That  day  was  born 
the  wire — born  a  creature  of  service;  born 
to  obliterate  space  and  make  the  earth  a 
back-yard  for  over-fence  chattings  be- 
tween the  peoples." 

In  the  large  American  cities  each  tele- 
graph company  has  one  main  operating 
room  and  from  ten  to  two  hundred  branch 
offices  scattered  throughout  the  city. 
Former  practice  was  to  have  all  wires  ex- 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


45 


tending  from  the  main  to  branch  offices 
connected  to  an  individual  set  of  Morse 
instruments  at  the  main  office.  With  this 
system  unless  an  operator  was  maintained 
at  each  instrument  at  the  main  office  calls 
were  likely  to  go  unheeded,  resulting  in 
serious  delay  to  telegrams.  About  the 
year  1905  a  system  was  introduced  by  J. 


resembling  somewhat  a  modern  telephone 
switchboard.  Incoming  telegraph  calls 
are  indicated  by  miniature  red  lamps  light- 
ing up,  and  remaining  so  until  the  call  is 
answered.  On  the  shelf  level  of  this  board 
is  mounted  a  bank  of  miniature  white 
lamps,  each  one  being  connected  by  wire 
to  an  operator's  position  somewhere  in  the 


A   Modern    Monitor    Switchboard  in   Metropolitan   Telegraph   Offices 


T.  Needham  providing  that  all  metropol- 
itan short  wires  be  connected  through 
annunciator  units,  a  large  number  of  which 
could  be  mounted  in  front  of  and  accessi- 
ble to  a  monitor  operator.  The  monitor 
observing  the  visual  signal  displayed  when 
a  branch  office  called,  could  in  turn  con- 
nect to  the  branch  line,  by  means  of  a 
switching  cord,  any  operator  who  at  the 
moment  was  idle. 

.Later  on  (about  1912)  improvements 
were  made  in  this  system.  The  photo- 
graph herewith  reproduced  shows  this 
equipment  as  now  used.  The  metropoli- 
tan telegraph  lines,  mostly  under  ground, 
are  brought  into  a  monitor  switchboard 


main  operating  room.  When  an  operator 
is  idle  the  white  lamp  at  the  monitor  board 
indicates  this  condition.  The  general  re- 
sult, therefore,  is  that  at  a  given  time  all 
illuminated  white  lamps  indicate  idle  op- 
erators and  all  illuminated  red  lights  un- 
answered calls.  The  monitor  operators 
job  is  to  connect  idle  operators  with  in- 
coming calls. 

This  system  equalizes  the  load,  reduces 
delays,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
noticeable  differences  between  the  tele- 
graph of  today  and  the  telegraph  of 
twenty  years  ago. 

DONALD  McNicoL. 


46 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


FIRE    ALARM    TELEGRAPH    AND 

ELECTRIC  POLICE  PATROL 

SYSTEMS 

The  suggestion  of  the  possibility  of  the 
use  of  the  telegraph  for  fire  alarm  pur- 
poses came  soon  after  the  inauguration  of 
the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  by  Morse, 
but  the  suggestion  was  not  put  to  practical 
application  for  several  years. 

Dr.  W.  F.  Channing,  of  Boston,  is  cred- 
ited with  having  first  suggested  the  idea  in 
1839,  when  the  telegraph  itself  was  still  a 
crude  and  imperfect  means  of  communica- 
tion. Dr.  Channing  had  no  device  or  ap- 
paratus at  that  time,  but  in  1845,  'n  a  com- 
munication to  the  Boston  Advertiser,  he 
made  a  much  more  definite  suggestion.  He 
advised  that  "a  central  office  should  be  es- 
tablished in  some  public  building,  in  which 
the  necessary  battery,  together  with  a 
Morse  register  and  an  alarm  bell,  should 
be  located;  a  double  wire  to  proceed  thence 
over  the  housetops  successively  to  every 
engine  house  and  fire  bell  in  the  city  and 
return  again  to  complete  its  circuit  to  the 
place  from  which  it  started."  Under  this 
plan  a  Morse  register  in  connection  with 
an  alarm  bell  was  to  be  placed  in  each  sta- 
tion thus  established,  also  a  key,  by  the  sim- 
ple depression  of  which  an  appropriate 
signal  would  be  instantly  conveyed  to  every 
station  on  the  circuit. 

Dr.  Channing  in  this  article  also  sug- 
gested the  modification  of  having  five  or  six 
circuits,  or  even  a  circuit  from  every  station 
to  the  central  office.  By  this  method  the 
operator  would  be  able  to  communicate  di- 
rectly to  all  the  stations,  and,  if  so  desired, 
every  alarm  of  fire  might  be  made  to  pass 
through  the  central  office  before  being 
communicated  to  the  different  stations. 
Many  other  modifications  of  his  design 
were  suggested  by  Dr.  Channing,  one  of 
which  clearly  indicates  the  electro-mechani- 
cal bell  striker  as  follows: 

"There  is,  however,  one  which  de- 
serves to  be  specially  mentioned.  By 
a  slight  change  of  the  arrangement  of 
the  alarm  bell  stations  and  increase 
of  machinery,  the  hammers  of  the 
bells  could  all  be  disposed  so  as  to 
strike  mechanically  on  the  communica- 
tion of  a  galvanic  impulse  from  the 
central  office.  The  agent  (operator) 
would  therefore  be  enabled,  by  de- 


pressing a  single  key  with  his  finger  at 
certain  intervals  to  ring  out  an  alarm 
defining  the  position  of  the  fire  simul- 
taneously on  every  church  bell  of  the 
city." 

After  stating  his  ideas  of  the  use  of  the 
telegraph  for  fire-alarm  purposes,  Dr. 
Channing  urges  the  municipal  authorities 
of  Boston  to  give  his  project  consideration, 
and  says  that  as  Boston  had  been  much  be- 
hind other  cities  in  fire-alarm  efficiency  it 
would,  by  the  adoption  of  this  system,  be 
placed  in  advance  of  them. 

But  nothing  was  done  in  the  shape  of 
electrical  fire-alarm  in  Boston  until  the 
winter  of  1847-1848.  L.  L.  Sadler,  super- 
intendent of  the  Boston  and  New  York 
telegraph  line  in  a  discussion  with  F.  O.  J. 
Smith  about  the  feasibility  of  using  teleg- 
raphy for  fire  alarm  purposes,  said  that  an 
operator  in  his  employ  at  Framingham, 
Mass.,  named  Moses  G.  Farmer,  who  was 
the  most  ingenious  man  he  had  ever  seen, 
could  without  doubt  work  out  a  system  that 
would  operate  effectively.  Young  Farmer, 
having  the  problem  placed  before  him, 
took  about  a  week  to  produce  an  appar- 
atus, based  upon  electro-magnets  and  the 
striking  mechanism  of  an  old  church  clock. 
This  was  the  first  machine  ever  devised 
and  constructed  for  giving  a  fire  alarm  by 
electric  action,  and  was  the  starting  point 
of  all  the  subsequent  work  in  that  direction. 
But  no  early  result  came  from  it,  though 
Mayor  Quincy  of  Boston  indorsed  the  ap- 
paratus. 

Dr.  W.  F.  Channing  was  still  fully  pos- 
sessed with  the  fire-alarm  idea,  and  in  1851 
he  succeeded  in  getting  favorable  action  by 
the  Boston  City  Council,  which  voted  ten 
thousand  dollars  for  experimentation  in  a 
fire  alarm  telegraph  system.  His  plan, 
which  was  adopted  with  some  modifica- 
tions, provided  for  numerous  box  stations, 
connected  by  telegraph  circuits  with  the  cen- 
tral office,  from  which  all  alarm  signals  re- 
ceived from  the  boxes  were  to  be  sent  out 
over  other  circuits  to  the  bell  towers,  so 
that  the  box  signals  would  be  simultaneous- 
ly struck,  electrically,  by  every  fire  alarm  in 
the  city.  The  system  as  modified  was 
adopted  for  thirty-nine  signal  stations  and 
was  carried  out,  making  Boston  the  pioneer 
in  the  regular  adoption  of  an  electric  fire- 
alarm  system.  Professor  Farmer,  who  had 
invented  the  first  fire-alarm  electrical  de- 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


47 


vice,  became  superintendent  of  the  Boston 
fire-alarm  system,  serving  from  1851  to 
1855,  and  was  connected  with  the  depart- 
ment in  an  advisory  capacity  until  1859. 
He  and  Dr.  Channing  became  associated 
in  the  perfecting  of  the  system,  and  by  these 
two,  singly  and  together,  most  of  the  basic 
patents  of  the  present  fire-alarm  system 
were  taken  out. 

Though  the  Boston  system  was  the  first 
to  take  permanent  root  and  satisfactory 
form,  it  was  not  the  first  to  use  the  tele- 
graph as  a  signal  of  the  existence  of  fires. 
The  first  municipal  action  taken  by  any  city 
in  connection  with  the  use  of  telegraphy  by 
a  fire  department  was  taken  by  the  common 
council  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  Novem- 
ber, 1846,  when  it  authorized  the  adoption 
of  the  Morse  magnetic  telegraph  into  the 
lire  service.  At  a  meeting  of  the  engineers 
and  firemen,  held  a  month  later,  some  plans 
recommended  by  the  chief  engineer  were 
approved,  and  a  committee  of  five  was  ap- 
pointed to  secure  their  official  adoption.  In 
1847  a  permit  was  granted  to  Hugh  Down- 
ing and  Royal  E.  House,  a  prominent  tele- 
graph inventor,  to  setup  a  line  of  telegraph 
for  fire  purposes  in  various  sections  of  the 
city,  at  a  cost  of  five  hundred  dollars.  In 
1851  the  connection  of  the  bell  towers  with 
.fire  headquarters  by  telegraph  was  com- 
pleted with  beneficial  results,  but  the  official 
record  shows  that  it  aroused  such  public 
curiosity  that  the  entire  telegraph  appar- 
atus was  often  put  out  of  service  by  the 
tampering  fingers  of  innocent  (but  igno- 
rant) visitors.  So  that  nothing  permanent 
resulted,  and  New  York  continued  the  old 
method  with  watchmen  and  bell  towers 
until  1869,  four  years  after  the  paid  fire 
department  had  been  organized,  when  the 
city  took  up  modern  electrical  fire  alarm 
methods.  Outside  of  the  official  pioneer 
efforts,  Charles  Robertson  (who  intro- 
duced the  Morse  telegraph  system  into 
Germany),  had  utilized  it  in  New  York 
City  in  1850  to  aid  the  fire  department  in 
signalling  the  existence  of  fires. 

The  fundamental  patent  covering  the  in- 
vention of  the  fire-alarm  telegraph,  as  ex- 
emplified by  the  Boston  system,  was 
granted  to  Dr.  W.  F.  Channing  and  Moses 
G.  Farmer  May  19,  1857,  and  another 
patent  was  issued  to  them  March  8,  1859, 
for  a  repeater. 

To  Farmer  alone  were  issued  May  4, 


1852,  patents  for  an  improved  signal  box 
in  which  the  magnets  were  shunted  by  the 
closing  of  the  outside  box  door,  a  practice 
that  became  a  permanent  feature  of  fire 
alarm  telegraph  mechanism,  and  on  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1859,  he  received  a  patent  for  an 
automatic  system  in  which  the  central  office 
is  dispensed  with,  and  the  signal  boxes  and 
alarm  bells  are  all  placed  in  one  circuit; 
and  where,  consequently,  when  an  alarm  of 
fire  is  given,  all  the  bells  will  strike  instant- 
ly and  simultaneously,  without  the  aid  of 
an  operator.  This  was  called  the  "village 
system,"  because  especially  adapted  to 
small  places  where  the  expense  of  a  central 
office  would  be  prohibitory.  Two  other 
patents  were  issued  to  Farmer  in  1859 — 
one  for  an  "electric-magnetic  apparatus  for 
setting  water  motors  in  motion,"  which  was 
applied,  for  a  short  time,  to  operate  some 
of  the  bell-striking  machines  of  the  Boston 
system  in  place  of  weights.  The  other 
patent  was  for  "mechanism  for  operating 
signal  whistles  by  electro-magnetism." 

In  1856  Charles  T.  Chester  received  a 
patent  for  "an  automatic  electric  circuit 
breaker."  It  included  a  brake,  moved  au- 
tomatically by  means  of  clockwork  act- 
uated by  a  spring.  This  is  notable  as  the 
first  automatic  signal  box,  and  though  this 
identical  apparatus  never  came  into  public 
use,  it  was  the  forerunner  of  other  devices 
that  were  of  much  value  in  fire  alarm  tele- 
graph development. 

The  late  John  N.  Gamewell,  of  South 
Carolina,  came  into  the  fire  alarm  telegraph 
situation  in  1855  through  hearing  Dr.  W. 
F.  Channing  deliver  a  lecture  on  the  subject 
at  the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  Washing- 
ton. Mr.  Gamewell  was  very  much  im- 
pressed by  this  exposition  of  the  idea  and 
workings  of  the  system,  and  he  at  once  en- 
tered into  negotiations  with  Messrs.  Chan- 
ning and  Farmer,  and  secured  the  right  to 
use  their  inventions  and  patents  in  the 
Southern  States.  In  1859  he  purchased  the 
rights  for  the  rest  of  the  country.  From 
his  first  connection  with  the  fire  alarm  sys- 
tem he  devoted  his  commanding  business 
ability  to  the  advancement  and  extended 
use  of  the  fire  alarm  telegraph  system.  The 
original  Boston  system,  installed  in  1852, 
comprised  only  19  tower  bell  strikers  and 
26  signal  stations,  and  during  the  year  1854 
— two  years  after  the  system  had  been  in- 
troduced— the  number  of  fire  alarms  in 


48 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Boston  was  only  195.  The  Boston  system, 
with  some  improvements,  was  taken  up  in 
Philadelphia  in  1855,  and  St.  Louis  closed 
a  contract  in  1856,  though  the  plant  there 
was  not  in  use  until  early  in  1858.  The 
cities  of  New  Orleans  and  Baltimore 
adopted  the  system  in  1860,  but  further  de- 
velopment was  seriously  arrested  by  the 
outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  After  the  close 
of  the  war  Mr.  Gamewell  organized  the 
Gamewell  Fire  Alarm  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, and  devoted  much  vigor  to  the  exten- 
sion of  the  system. 

When  Mr.  Gamewell  purchased  the 
Channing-Farmer  patents  he  enlisted  the 
co-operation  of  men  of  noteworthy  in- 
ventive genius  and  great  mechanical  skill. 
Three  of  these  were  Edwin  Rogers,  James 
M.  Gardiner  and  Moses  G.  Crane,  who,  by 
their  inventions,  made  marked  impress 
upon  the  progress  of  the  fire  alarm  tele- 
graph. 

Edwin  Rogers  was  the  inventor  who  de- 
vised the  new  features  of  the  first  fire  alarm 
system  equipped  with  automatic  signal 
boxes,  which  was  introduced  into  the  city 
of  Mobile  in  1866.  It  differed  from  Far- 
mer's village  system,  which  placed  all  the 
apparatus  in  one  circuit,  by  providing  four 
circuits,  which  was  a  novel  feature,  and  for 
which  Mr.  Rogers  invented  a  new  appar- 
atus which  automatically  transferred  a  sig- 
nal from  any  one  circuit  to  every  other 
circuit,  and  would  mechanically  close  every 
other  circuit  should  any  one  circuit  remain 
open.  Mr.  Rogers  received  a  patent  for 
the  first  automatic  repeater  for  fire  alarm 
purposes  in  1870. 

At  Boston  the  original  crank-operated 
signal  boxes  of  1852  remained  until  1866, 
when  they  were  replaced  by  automatic 
boxes.  Joseph  B.  Stearns,  who  succeeded 
Farmer  as  superintendent  of  the  Boston 
fire-alarm  telegraph,  received  a  patent  for 
an  apparatus  operated  by  "reverse  cur- 
rents," which  permitted  the  simultaneous 
use  of  the  same  wire  for  receiving  a  signal 
from  a  box  and  transmitting  it  to  the  alarm 
bells.  For  the  proper  working  of  this  sys- 
tem it  was  necessary  that  the  person  turning 
in  the  alarm  should,  as  the  directions  read, 
"pull  the  hook  down  once  and  let  go." 
Where  this  was  done  the  proper  box  num- 
ber appeared  at  the  central  station  indi- 
cator. But  quite  often  the  numbers  turned 
in  were  unintelligible  or  erroneous,  and 


this  was  long  a  mystery  to  the  management. 
But  it  was  finally  discovered  that  the  per- 
son signalling  would  frequently  ignore  the 
letter  of  the  directions  and  would  give  one 
or  more  extra  pulls  by  way  of  emphasis, 
and  thus  cause  the  trouble.  Two  patents 
to  remedy  this  condition  were  issued:  one 
to  Stephen  and  Charles  T.  Chester,  and 
the  other  to  Edwin  Rogers  and  Moses  T. 
Crane. 

Other  interferences  came  from  simultan- 
eous alarms  from  several  boxes  on  the 
same  circuit.  The  first  patent  for  a  non- 
interference box  was  issued  to  Mr.  Game- 
well  in  1871,  and  an  improvement  greatly 
enhancing  its  efficiency  was  patented  by  J. 
M.  Gardiner  in  1880.  All  of  the  devices 
were  improved  from  time  to  time  as  work- 
ing defects  called  for  remedies. 

In  the  early  installations  the  Grove  cell 
was  used  to  furnish  the  electric  energy,  but 
it  was  succeeded  by  the  much  more  satisfac- 
tory Daniell  cell,  which  was  used  until  the 
Callaud  or  gravity  cell  was  introduced  in 
1871,  and  soon  supplanted  all  previously 
used  types  of  cells. 

Since  then  the  storage  battery  has  taken 
the  place  of  the  gravity  cells,  and  in  the 
larger  plants  the  dynamo  has  been  applied 
to  the  purpose.  The  first  to  be  thus 
equipped  was  Boston,  about  1892,  first  for 
a  single  circuit,  but  soon  after  for  the  entire 
plant. 

Even  in  its  earliest  applications  the  fire 
alarm  telegraph  possessed  such  manifest 
advantages  over  the  old  tower  and  watch- 
man system  that  it  would  seem  natural  that 
its  adoption  should  follow  rapidly  upon  its 
first  experimental  demonstrations.  But 
even  after  the  Civil  War  conservatism  and 
the  devious  ways  of  municipal  politics  re- 
tarded its  adoption.  The  strongest  opposi- 
tion came  from  the  volunteer  fire  depart- 
ments which,  in  the  larger  cities,  were  made 
up  of  groups  of  local  organizations  that 
were  in  fact  political  clubs,  each  headed  or 
controlled  by  a  local  boss.  As  the  fire 
alarm  telegraph,  to  reach  a  high  degree  of 
usefulness,  needed  behind  it  a  paid  fire  de- 
partment, strongly  organized  and  co-ordi- 
nated upon  a  basis  of  complete  efficiency, 
machine  politicians  saw  in  its  adoption  a 
blow  at  the  volunteer  companies  which 
were  such  a  strong  factor  in  party  strength. 
Therefore  the  system  was  not  adopted  until 
1869  in  New  York,  though  it  had  been  in 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


49 


successful  operation  for  seventeen  years 
before  that  date  in  Boston.  Most  of  the 
other  cities  lagged  behind,  for  even  in  1871 
only  twenty  cities  had  adopted  the  fire 
alarm  telegraph. 

After  that  date,  however,  the  system 
spread  with  great  rapidity,  and  there  were 
seventy-five  cities  using  it  in  1875.  Fol- 
lowing that  year  was  a  steadily  expanding 
appreciation  of  things  electrical,  including 
the  fire  alarm  telegraph,  so  that  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Twentieth  Century  there  was 
scarcely  a  city  of  ten  thousand  or  more  in- 
habitants that  had  not  installed  the  fire 
alarm  telegraph  as  a  prominent  feature  of 
its  fire  protection  programme,  and  many  of 
even  smaller  population  had  adopted  it 
also. 

An  improvement  in  signal  boxes  was  in- 
troduced by  Mr.  Tooker,  of  Chicago,  in 
1875.  Before  that,  delays  had  been  fre- 
quent in  transmitting  alarms  because  the 
key  to  open  the  box  could  not  be  found  on 
the  instant.  The  Tooker  keyless  door  was 
intended  to  deter  malicious  persons  from 
sending  in  false  alarms  or  otherwise  inter- 
fering with  the  apparatus.  The  door  was 
opened  by  the  turning  of  a  handle,  which 
wound  up  a  spring,  thus  setting  in  motion 
the  mechanism  by  which  a  local  alarm  was 
sounded  on  a  small  gong  within  a  box.  The 
person  using  the  Tooker  device,  having 
turned  the  handle  of  the  door  and  heard 
the  local  alarm,  often  thought  he  had  done 
all  that  was  necessary,  and  would  walk 
away  without  pulling  the  hook  that  sent  in 
the  signal  to  "central,"  so  that  the  vital 
part  of  the  signal  was  omitted.  The  next 
step  in  the  development  of  the  idea  was  the 
invention  made  by  M.  H.  Suren  in  1895. 
In  the  operation  of  this  invention  it  was 
only  necessary  that  the  handle  of  the  door 
should  be  turned,  whereupon  the  bell  rang 
and  the  alarm  was  transmitted  to  the  cen- 
tral office  without  even  opening  the  door 
of  the  box.  A  similar  development  is  seen 
in  the  device  patented  by  J.  J.  Ruddick  in 
1889,  by  means  of  which  the  boxes,  besides 
being  non-interfering,  are  made  to  succeed 
each  other,  each  in  turn  sending  in  its  own 
definite  signal,  even  if  three  or  four  boxes 
on  the  same  circuit  are  pulled  at  the  same 
time. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  Edwin 
Rogers'  automatic  repeater,  invented  in 
1870  as  an  improvement  on  Farmer's  vil- 


lage system,  which  made  it  practicable  to 
strike  all  the  bells  and  gongs  of  a  fire 
alarm  system  directly  from  one  street  sig- 
nal box  without  the  intervention  of  an 
operator  at  the  central  office.  John  P.  Bar- 
rett, then  superintendent  of  the  fire  alarm 
telegraph  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  invented 
in  1876  a  device  known  as  the  joker  which 
carried  the  valuable  idea  of  the  Farmer 
system  into  a  new  application  and  gave  its 
benefits  to  large  central  station  systems.  By 
means  of  the  Barrett  invention  alarms  can 
be  sent  directly  from  a  signal  box  to  the 
fire  companies  whose  duty  it  is  to  respond 
first,  and  this,  in  combination  with  the  auto- 
matic repeater,  was  found  to  be  an  im- 
provement of  very  great  value  in  city  fire 
alarm  work. 

In  central  stations  of  the  fire  alarm  tele- 
graph there  have  been  many  improve- 
ments to  make  the  system  more  and  more 
efficient.  The  electro-mechanical  indicator, 
which  was  first  introduced  in  1875,  is  a  gen- 
eral feature  of  the  fire  engine  house,  and 
as  electrical  art  has  progressed  new  and  in- 
genious devices  have  been  introduced  to 
render  more  responsive  and  to  speed  up  the 
operations  of  the  fire  fighting  force. 

There  has  been  a  continuous  develop- 
ment of  the  use  of  the  telephone  for  fire 
alarm  purposes.  Its  efficiency  for  that 
purpose  is  very  great  in  reporting  fires  in 
the  business  district  or  in  the  better  resi- 
dence sections,  where  the  telephone  is  in 
general  use,  but  in  the  poorer  tenement  sec- 
tions, where  telephones  are  few  and  inac- 
cessible, the  automatic  fire  alarm  box,  usu- 
ally easily  distinguished  by  the  poles  and 
boxes  being  painted  red,  is  the  main  fire 
alarm  resource. 

Like  other  matters  of  electrical  applica- 
tion, the  fire  alarm  telegraph  has  been  sub- 
ject to  constant  innovation  and  improve- 
ment. New  conditions  of  service  have 
called  for  these  advances,  and  while  the 
system  in  use  in  the  fire-protected  cities  of 
the  United  States  are  greatly  varied,  some 
cities  finding  the  old  equipment  sufficient 
for  their  needs,  others  have  found  new 
methods  necessary.  In  New  York  City, 
and  especially  in  the  Borough  of  Manhat- 
tan, where  the  main  streets  are  underlaid 
by  the  wires  of  many  circuits  of  various 
voltages,  some  of  high  tension,  which  were 
detrimental  to  the  proper  working  of  the 
fire  alarm  telegraph  lines  in  the  old  fire  de- 


50 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


partment  subway,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  install  a  new  modern  fire  alarm  system 
for  the  island  of  Manhattan. 

The  matter  had  been  long  contemplated 
and  in  1907  the  need  in  this  direction  was 
investigated  by  J.  J.  Carty  and  Kempster 
B.  Miller,  who  reported  a  preliminary  plan 
and  stated  the  engineering  principles  which 
should  govern  the  new  installation.  The 
matter  did  not  reach  definite  action  until 
1915,  when  a  report  was  made  to  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment  by 
Robert  Adamson,  fire  commissioner,  and 
Putnam  A.  Bates,  electrical  engineer. 

Under  the  new  plan  the  fire  department 
discontinued  the  use  for  fire  alarm  pur- 
poses of  the  old  fire  department  subways 
and  also  the  high-tension  subways  of  the 
Consolidated  Electrical  Telegraph  and  Sub- 
way Company,  confining  the  fire  alarm 
cables  to  the  low-tension  system  of  subways 
to  be  supplied  by  the  Empire  City  Subway 
Company,  thereby  eliminating,  as  far  as 
existing  conditions  make  it  practicable  to 
do  so,  the  possibility  of  contact  between 
conductors  of  the  fire  alarm  system  and 
foreign  circuits  containing  dangerous  volt- 
ages. This  project  utilized  such  parts  of 
recent  construction  as  were  adapted  to  the 
new  system,  and  supplied  the  remainder  by 
new  construction. 

Thus  was  introduced  into  the  Borough 
of  Manhattan  an  entirely  new  fire  alarm 
system,  modern  in  every  respect,  including 
the  cables,  fire  alarm  boxes,  and  a  new  fire- 
proof central  station  in  Central  Park. 

Under  this  plan  only  ten  street  boxes  are 
attached  to  any  single  circuit.  Each  fire 
house  is  connected  with  the  central  office  by 
circuits  wholly  independent  of  the  alarm- 
box  circuits,  a  maximum  of  four  companies 
being  connected  on  any  one  of  these  cir- 
cuits. Fire  alarms  are  sent  to  the  new  cen- 
tral headquarters  from  the  street  boxes, 
and  are  thence  transmitted  to  the  fire  house 
over  the  central  office  circuit.  Provision  is 
made  by  means  of  independent  circuits  for 
notifying  independently  the  chief  of  the  de- 
partment, his  under  chiefs,  all  fire-boat  sta- 
tions and  the  Insurance  Patrol,  so  that  they 
shall  receive  all  alarms  of  fire  at  all  hours. 
In  this  latter  system  is  included  a  connec- 
tion with  the  high  pressure  pumping  sta- 
tions, the  Edison  Company's  waterside 
power  station,  which  furnishes  the  current 
for  the  pressure  pumping,  and  police  head- 


quarters. Wires  in  the  feeder  cables  pro- 
vide direct  connections  with  fire  headquar- 
ters in  the  Bronx,  Brooklyn  and  Queens. 
Public  schools,  hospitals  and  other  similar 
buildings  are  also  connected  with  the  street- 
box  system,  each  such  building  having  one 
box  assigned  to  it. 

Auxiliary  systems  of  fire  alarm  tele- 
graph, installed  in  convenient  places  in 
buildings,  are  important  as  fire-prevention 
aids.  Boxes  are  placed  in  schools,  for  in- 
stance, near  the  teachers'  desks.  The  box 
has  a  pane  of  glass  in  front  which,  in  case 
of  fire,  is  broken  and  a  ring  inside  pulled 
down.  This  action  operates  a  trip  in  the 
nearest  street  box  and  causes  an  alarm  to 
be  sent  to  fire  headquarters.  Such  an  aux- 
iliary circuit  has  a  special  battery  and  is  not 
connected  electrically  with  the  regular  cir- 
cuits of  the  fire  alarm  system. 

Still  another  class  of  fire  alarm  telegraph 
apparatus  is  that  known  as  the  thermostatic 
group.  In  this  the  materials  or  mechanism 
of  the  thermostats  are  so  sensitive  to  high 
temperatures  that  when  a  certain  degree 
of  heat  is  reached  the  circuit  is  closed  and 
an  alarm  is  automatically  turned  in.  There 
are  many  applications  of  this  principle,  but 
one  of  the  most  widely  known  and  most 
popular,  particularly  in  textile  factory  dis- 
tricts where  it  has  become  a  feature  of  in- 
surance economy  through  "factory  mutual" 
insurance  organizations,  is  the  combination 
of  the  automatic  sprinkler  with  the  thermo- 
static alarm.  The  same  idea  has  also  been 
applied  to  many  stores  and  warehouses  in 
the  cities. 

In  connection  with  the  efficiency  of  auto- 
matic fire  alarms,  the  National  Fire  Pro- 
tective Association  has  gathered  some  val- 
uable statistics  which  give  insight  into  the 
progressive  efficiency  of  fire  alarm  service 
for  the  fifteen  years  from  1897  to  1911  in- 
clusive. It  was  shown  that  where  the  pro- 
tection was  by  watchmen  alone  there  were 
failures  in  10  per  cent  of  the  cases;  by 
sprinkler  alarm  alone,  7  per  cent  of  fail- 
ures, and  thermostats  alone  21  per  cent  of 
failures.  But  in  the  later  years  of  that 
period  the  thermostats  made  great  im- 
provement in  efficiency,  and  in  the  year 
1911  proved  100  per  cent  efficient.  This 
increase  of  efficiency  for  thermostats,  as 
compared  with  their  earlier  records,  is  be- 
cause prior  to  1905  very  few  automatic 
alarm  systems  were  connected  with  central 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


51 


stations  except  in  a  few  cities.  Most  in- 
stallations were  without  either  connection 
or  supervision  by  an  operating  company, 
hence  both  maintenance  and  service  were 
often  deficient.  Only  systems  operating 
through  a  central  station  are  now  approved 
by  the  National  Board  of  Fire  Underwrit- 
ers. Variations  in  interior  fire  alarm  ap- 
paratus have  to  be  sometimes  made  to 
adapt  them  to  the  legislation  of  particular 
states,  and  thus  there  is  a  special  form  of 
such  apparatus  to  operate  on  the  no-volt 
direct-current  underground  circuits  in  New 
York  City. 

Installations  of  automatic  fire  alarm  sys- 
tems are  now  largely  confined  to  city  build- 
ings, where  the  system  is  connected  with  a 
central  station — operated  by  an  alarm 
company — which,  in  turn,  transmits  the 
alarm  to  the  Fire  Department.  The  in- 


stallation of  thermostats  in  outlying  or 
country  risks  has  not  generally  proved  sat- 
isfactory, owing  principally  to  poor  in- 
spection and  maintenance,  rather  than  de- 
fects in  mechanism. 

The  automatic  systems  which,  installed 
and  operated  under  present  underwriters' 
rules,  afford  the  most  complete  protection 
are  those  which  combine  the  automatic 
thermostatic  alarm  with  the  automatic 
sprinkler  system,  thus  extinguishing  or  at 
least  retarding  the  progress  of  the  fire, 
while  giving  effective  alarm  to  bring  as- 
sistance from  the  fire  department. 

In  the  various  applications  of  electricity 
to  the  work  of  fire  alarm  the  world's  most 
useful  servant,  Electricity,  has  brought 
great  and  increasing  efficiency  and  has 
saved  vast  numbers  of  lives  and  untold 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  property. 


When  the  telegraph  was  introduced  into 
use  and  had  demonstrated  its  practicability, 
those  charged  with  the  administration  of 
law  connected  with  the  detection  and  sup- 
pression of  crime  saw  at  once  that  it  had 
great  possibilities  as  a  police  aid.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  earliest  instances  of  the  use  of 
the  telegraph  in  England — and  that  which 
did  most  to  direct  public  attention  to  it  at 
that  time — was  the  forwarding  from  one 
city  to  another  of  a  telegram  describing  an 
escaped  murderer,  who  was  promptly  ar- 
rested by  means  of  the  assistance  thus 
given. 

American  cities  soon  adopted  the  prac- 
tice of  enlisting  telegraph  operators  as 
members  of  the  police  force,  to  transmit 
messages  and  receive  signals  over  wires 
connected  with  the  police  stations  in  the 
various  precincts.  The  usefulness  of  the 
telegraph  was  restricted  by  the  fact  that 
signals  were  based  upon  Morse  Teleg- 
raphy with  the  use  of  the  key  and  sounder, 
as  that  would  require  a  large  and  expensive 
staff  of  operators.  In  1858  a  dial  tele- 
graph was  made  by  the  firm  of  Charles  T. 
and  J.  N.  Chester  for  the  New  York  City 
Police  Department,  and  the  same  device 
was  soon  afterward  adopted  by  the  City  of 
Philadelphia.  This  system  substituted  for 


the  Morse  key  and  sounder  an  electrical 
apparatus,  with  a  keyboard  something  like 
that  of  the  typewriter,  and  enabled  a  mes- 
sage to  be  sent  directly  in  letters  of  the 
alphabet,  thus  avoiding  the  necessity  of 
translating  them  into  dots  and  dashes  and 
then  having  them  translated  back  again. 
But  even  this  work  required  a  certain  de- 
gree of  technical  efficiency  in  manipulation 
that  few  acquired,  and  except  certain  com- 
munications that  could  be  made  by  a  few 
short  signals.  Thus  the  telegraph,  while 
in  many  ways  a  great  help  to  the  police, 
had  severe  limitations  on  its  usefulness. 

The  invention  of  the  telephone,  there- 
fore was  a  great  boon  to  police  administra- 
tion, and  in  1880  John  P.  Barrett,  whose 
previous  position  as  superintendent  of  the 
fire  alarm  telegraph  of  Chicago  had  been 
enlarged  to  that  of  superintendent  of  the 
city  electrical  department,  introduced  the 
combination  of  telegraph  and  telephone  as 
an  auxiliary  to  the  police  force.  In  the  ex- 
haustive census  report  on  "Electrical  In- 
dustries, 1902,"  edited  by  Thomas  Comer- 
ford  Martin  and  published  by  the  Govern- 
ment Census  Bureau  in  1906,  the  early^his- 
tory  of  this  combined  system  is  briefly 
epitomized,  as  follows : 

"The  system  was  first  installed  in  one 
of  the  most  turbulent  districts  of  the  city, 
and  at  once  increased  tremendously  the  ef- 
ficiency of  the  force,  chiefly  in  the  way  of 


52 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


making  a  rapid  concentration  at  any 
troubled  point.  Its  success  was  so  rapid 
that  by  1893  no  fewer  than  one  thousand 
street  stations  had  been  installed  all  over 
Chicago,  and  in  addition  several  hundred 
private  boxes  had  been  put  in,  giving  in- 
stant communication,  at  any  hour  of  the 
day  or  night,  with  all  the  stations  of  every 
precinct  Since  that  time  the  idea  has 
been  carried  even  farther  in  various  ways, 
not  only  in  Chicago,  but  in  other  cities. 
Milwaukee  was  the  second  city  to  adopt 
the  police  telephone  booth,  the  installation 
being  made  in  1883.  Brooklyn  followed 
in  February,  1884,  with  many  improve- 
ments, which  appear  to  have  been  made 
there  for  the  first  time.  Upon  the  sugges- 
tion of  Frank  C.  Mason,  superintendent  of 
the  police  telephone  bureau,  iron  boxes, 
similar  to  those  employed  in  fire  alarm 
telegraphy,  were  used  instead  of  the  un- 
sightly booth.  Philadelphia,  however,  ad- 
hered to  the  booth,  introducing  it  in  July, 
1884.  Since  that  time  the  system -has  been 
extended  year  by  year,  and  some  of  the 
more  modern  street  boxes  have  been  intro- 
duced. 

"As  the  work  in  Chicago  is  typical,  and 
is  the  fundamental  form  from  which  the 
others  have  been  evolved,  a  brief  descrip- 
tion of  it  may  be  given.  A  special  feature 
was  the  adoption,  for  street  stations,  of  an 
octagonal  booth  or  inclosure  about  8  feet 
high  and  2  feet  4  inches  in  diameter.  For 
many  reasons  such  sentry  boxes  are  prefer- 
able to  boxes  on  walls  or  lamp-posts,  as 
the  patrolman,  once  within,  is  secure  from 
interruption  while  communicating  with 
headquarters,  and,  moreover,  the  intelli- 
gence he  wishes  to  convey  can  be  kept  se- 
cret— a  matter  of  considerable  importance 
on  many  occasions.  Keys  which  will  open 
any  of  the  street  stations  and  boxes  are 
given  to  the  patrolmen  of  the  district,  and 
are  also  placed  in  the  hands  of  responsible 
citizens,  the  names  of  the  citizens  and  the 
number  of  the  keys  being  carefully  re- 
corded. The  citizen's  key  only  turns  in  a 
call  for  help,  but  the  patrolman's  key 
gives  him  access  to  the  inner  box,  from 
which  he  can  transmit  calls,  signals,  and 
reports,  by  means  of  telephone  receivers 
and  transmitters,  and  other  apparatus. 

"The  private  boxes  placed  in  residences, 
banks,  hotels,  etc.,  enable  the  persons  using 
them  to  call  up  the  police  at  any  time  by 


simply  turning  in  an  alarm,  by  pulling  the 
lever  or  handle  attached  to  the  box,  so  that 
upon  arrival  the  police  can  immediately  let 
themselves  in  and  proceed  to  business. 
Each  night  the  renter  of  the  alarm  box  can 
make  a  test  of  the  system,  an  answering 
ring  showing  the  line  to  be  in  working 
order;  in  the  same  way,  after  an  alarm  has 
been  sent  in,  a  return  tap  signal  of  the  bell 
gives  assurance  that  the  call  has  been  heard 
and  will  be  attended  to  immediately." 

The  introduction  of  the  telephone  as  a 
major  feature  of  the  police  patrol  systems, 
did  not  do  away  with  other  signalling  feat- 
ures. The  importance  of  being  able  to 
converse  by  telephone  is  very  great,  but 
automatic  signalling,  where  applicable,  is 
safer  because  it  is  not  liable  to  the  misun- 
derstanding which  often  comes  when  an 
excited  dispatcher  and  a  confused  operator 
are  at  the  opposite  ends  of  the  wire. 

In  connection  with  this  police  patrol  sys- 
tem visual  signals  were  introduced,  includ- 
ing semaphores  by  day  and  flashlights  by 
night,  using  either  the  ordinary  lamp- 
posts or  lamps  placed  on  top  of  the  booths ; 
and  the  ringing  of  a  large  bell  was  an  ad- 
ditional feature.  Not  only  are  the  visual 
signals  used  for  registering  the  proper  cir- 
culation of  patrolmen  on  their  beats,  but 
they  have  the  further  advantage  that  they 
can  be  operated  on  all  the  boxes  on  any  one 
circuit. 

Police  patrol  systems  continue  many 
features  of  this  original  system,  the  signal 
box  being  provided  with  a  telephone,  by 
means  of  which  patrolmen  can  communi- 
cate with  police  headquarters.  But  various 
other  devices  for  signalling  and  telegraph 
purposes  have  been  invented  and  are  in  use 
in  various  cities.  Through  one  type  of  box 
the  patrolman  advises  the  central  office  of 
his  being  on  duty  by  opening  the  box  with 
a  special  key,  thus  transmitting  the  number 
of  the  box,  which,  with  the  time,  is  re- 
corded automatically  upon  a  slip  of  paper 
by  an  electric  time  stamp.  These  signals 
are  transmitted  at  a  higher  rate  than  fire 
alarm  signals,  for  the  reason  that  no  heavy 
apparatus,  such  as  a  gong,  is  used.  They 
work  upon  a  principle  similar  to  that  of 
a  watchman's  automatic  registering  sys- 
tem, being  received  at  the  central  office 
without  the  intervention  of  an  operator. 
The  mechanism  of  the  box  is  such  that 
when  a  signal  requiring  immediate  atten- 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


53 


tion  is  sent  in,  a  local  circuit  is  closed  by  a 
bell  magnet,  thus  calling  special  attention 
to  the  incoming  signal,  and  various  other 
modifications  are  made  to  suit  the  various 
conditions  and  emergencies.  I 

Of  a  late  type  are  the  seven  call  boxes 
recently  installed  for  the  police  signal  sys- 
tem of  the  city  of  Winnepeg,  Man.  There 
are  two  distinct  circuits  brought  to  each 
box — one  a  telephone  circuit  and  the  other 
the  signal  or  telegraph  circuit.  The  tele- 
phone instrument  is  an  ordinary  common 
battery-bridging  set,  the  transmitter  being 
mounted  on  the  inner  door.  Included  in 
the  signal  circuit  and  within  the  box  is  an 
electro-mechanical  mechanism  actuated 
either  by  turning  a  key  in  a  special  keyhole 
in  the  outer  door,  or  (after  opening  the 
outer  door)  by  pulling  a  lever.  Either 
operation  automatically  transmits  a  num- 
ber of  impulses,  giving  the  number  of  the 


box  and  the  patrol  wagon  signal.  As  this 
is  the  most  urgent  signal,  no  other  act  is 
necessary  to  secure  this  aid.  There  is  also 
a  movable  pointer,  normally  set  at  wagon 
position,  and  automatically  returning  to 
that  position,  after  having  been  used  at  any 
other  position.  By  its  means  it  is  possible 
to  transmit  automatically  a  fire  or  ambu- 
lance call,  or  the  patrolman's  report  sig- 
nals, three  of  which  are  separately  desig- 
nated. There  is  also  wired  into  this  cir- 
cuit, but  not  exposed  to  the  patrolman,  a 
single  stroke  bell  enabling  the  officer  to 
know  whether  the  line  is  already  in  use; 
a  telegraph  key  for  inspector's  trouble  sig- 
nals, and  automatic  cut-outs  that  operate 
upon  the  closing  of  the  outer  door.  The 
mechanism  is  very  accurate  and  speedy, 
and  represents  the  great  advance  made  in 
such  signalling  service  as  the  result  of 
modern  invention. 


54 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Addition  in  this  buil- 
ding from  1879 '188 1, 
Wlibn  t/wmaf/fi/'  theUjesl- 
em  Electric  Co..  of  New 
York' 8.  Chicago  absorbed 
its  entire  industry. 


Birthplace  ni  II it; 
Telephone  in  1876 
at  tot)  Court  St.. 
Boston, Mass. 


109  Court  Street,  Boston. 


Courtesy  of  A.  Arthur  Zicgler, 


THE    BIRTHPLACE    OF   THE    TELEPHONE    IN    1876 

The    machine    shop    of    Charles    Williams,    Jr.,    as    shown  above   was  the  headquarters   of   Professor   Alex- 
ander Graham  Bell  and  his  faithful  assistants  during  the  months  of  experimentation  with  tele- 
phonic apparatus.    And  from  this  modest  building,  now  reconstructed  as  shown  on  another 
page,  into  a  moving  picture  theatre,  but  forever  famed,  emanated  the  invention  which 
to  this  date  has  probably  done  more  to   expedite   the  world's  affairs  than  any 
other  invention  of  the  human  brain 


CHAPTER    III 
THE  STORY  OF  TELEPHONY 

THE  BEGINNING  AND  SUCCESSFUL  COMPLETION   OF  THE   SYSTEM 
WHICH  HAS  MADE  POSSIBLE  THE   MODERN   BUSINESS   WORLD 

WIRELESS  AND  LONG  DISTANCE  TELEPHONE 


MOST  epoch-marking  inventions 
have  been,  and  those  in  the  future 
doubtless  will  be,  the  subject  of 
protracted  and  often  acrimonious  litiga- 
tion. This  is  due  in  some  instances  to  the 
simultaneous  discovery  of  the  same  prin- 
ciple by  different  inventors,  for  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  "independent  invention." 
In  other  cases,  an  invention  is  attacked  in 
the  courts  as  part  of  a  policy  of  so-called 
business  strategy,  while  in  instances  which 
are  happily  few,  the  raid  on  a  discoverer's 
property  partakes  of  the  nature  of  black- 
mail. Edison  is  said  to  have  described  a 
patent  as  "an  excuse  for  a  fight." 

The  telephone  was  no  exception.  Be- 
fore Bell's  standing  as  the  inventor  of  the 
commercial  telephone  was  established  im- 
mense sums  of  money  were  spent  for  legal 
talent,  competent  witnesses  and  the  manu- 
facture of  models  with  which  to  demon- 
strate the  principles  involved.  The  fact 
was  determined,  however,  beyond  dispute 
that  in  1876,  at  the  time  of  Bell's  invention 
of  the  speaking  telephone,  there  was  not 
in  the  hands  of  the  public  anywhere  in  the 
world  a  single  operative  telephone.  The 
whole  telephone  art  and  industry  dates 
from  1876-1877. 

The  fundamental  basis  of  telephony 
probably  may  be  attributed  to  Page,  an 
American,  who  discovered  in  1837  that  an 
iron  bar  when  magnetized  and  demagne- 
tized at  brief  intervals  of  time  gives  forth 
a  sound  due  to  the  molecular  disturbance 
of  the  mass.  Reis,  a  German,  utilized 


this  principle  and  built  apparatus  for  the 
transmission  of  musical  sounds  to  a  dis- 
tance by  electrical  means.  Prior  to  this, 
however,  the  idea  of  telephony  had  been 
defined  in  a  remarkably  clear  way  by 
Joseph  Bourseul,  a  young  French  soldier, 
in  Algiers.  He  already  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  his  superiors  by  the  mathe- 
matical instruction  which  he  gave  to  his 
fellow  soldiers  in  garrison.  Under  the 
title  of  "Electrical  Telephony"  the  jour- 
nal "L'lllustration  de  Paris,"  August  26, 
1854,  described  Bourseul's  idea  as  follows: 

"No  further  machinery  and  knowledge 
except  a  galvanic  pile  (battery),  two  vi- 
brating plates  and  a  metallic  wire  needle. 
Without  other  preparation  one  would  only 
have  to  talk  against  one  of  the  metallic 
plates,  and  another  would  have  to  hold  his 
ear  against  the  other  -plate.  In  this  way 
they  could  converse  with  each  other." 

In  spite  of  this  wonderfully  lucid  and 
brief  statement  of  the  telephonic  principle, 
it  seems  to  have  been  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  Bourseul's  endeavors.  So  far 
as  can  be  ascertained  he  never  reduced  his 
idea  to  practice  and  no  one  was  ever  found 
who  had  seen  a  telephone  constructed  by 
Bourseul.  There  is  certainly  none  in  ex- 
istence today. 

Reis,  however,  actually  built  apparatus 
which  could  be  made  to  transmit  sounds 
and,  it  was  claimed,  human  speech.  In  his 
biographical  notes,  written  in  1868,  Pro- 
fessor Reis  says : 


55 


56 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


"Incited  thereto  by  my  lessons  in  physics, 
in  the  year  1860  I  attacked  a  work,  begun 
much  earlier,  concerning  the  organs  of 
hearing  and  soon  had  the  joy  of  seeing  my 
pains  rewarded  with  success,  since  I  suc- 
ceeded in  inventing  an  apparatus  by  which 
it  is  possible  to  make  clear  and  evident  the 
functions  of  organs  of  hearing,  and  with 
which,  also,  one  can  reproduce  tones  of  all 
kinds  at  any  desired  distance  by  means  of 
the  galvanic  current.  I  named  the  instru- 
ment telephon.  The  recognition  of  me  on 
so  many  sides  which  has  taken  place  in  con- 
sequence of  this  invention,  especially  at  the 
Naturalists'  Association  at  Gnesen,  has 
continually  helped  to  quicken  my  ardor  for 
study  that  I  may  show  myself  worthy  of 
the  luck  that  has  befallen  me." 

During  the  period  1861-1864  Reis  ex- 
hibited his  apparatus  a  number  of  times 
and  sent  duplicates  to  various  parts  of  the 
world.  In  1865  Professor  Clifton  made 
a  demonstration  with  the  Reis  telephones 
before  the  Manchester  (England)  Liter- 
ary and  Physical  Societies.  The  year  book 
of  the  Physical  Society,  of  Frankfort,  Ger- 
many, for  1 860-6 1  contains  a  discussion 
by  Reis  in  which  he  points  out  that  every 
tone  or  combination  of  tones  entering  the 
human  ear  causes  its  membrane  or  ear- 
drum to  vibrate.  The  sense  of  sound  is 
produced  by  the  motion  of  these  vibra- 
tions, and  every  change  in  the  motion  must 
necessarily  be  accompanied  by  a  change  in 
the  sensation.  Therefore  it  would  be  pos- 
sible to  transmit  such  sounds  electrically, 
set  up  vibrations  or  curves  like  those  of 
any  given  tone  or  combination  of  tones 
and  receive  the  same  impression  as  the  tone 
itself  would  have  produced. 

Reis  elaborated  this  idea  into  an  appa- 
ratus built  upon  the  principles  of  the 
human  ear,  to  which  the  earliest  forms  had 
a  rough  but  striking  resemblance.  His 
first  device  embodied  a  small  cone  covered 
at  its  lesser  end  with  an  animal  membrane 
upon  which  a  small  platinum  strip  was  fas- 
tened with  sealing  wax.  The  receiver  con- 
sisted of  a  violin  upon  which  a  knitting 
needle,  with  a  coil  wound  around  it,  was 
fastened.  When  the  sound  waves  made  the 
membrane  vibrate  the  circuit  was  closed 
as  they  impinged,  and  the  strip  of  platinum 
beat  against  a  tip  of  metal,  the  degree  of 
contact  being  altered  with  each  vibration. 
The  sound  waves  threw  the  electric  cur- 


rent at  the  point  of  variable  contact  into 
pulsations  of  varying  strength,  and  cor- 
responding effects  were  produced  at  the 
receiving  end. 

Twelve  ingenious  forms  of  the  Reis  ap- 
paratus were  worked  out.  All  embodied 
the  idea  of  the  human  ear,  with  its  audi- 
tory tube,  tympanum,  etc.  The  first  device 
used  by  Reis  as  a  receiver  consisted  of  a 
steel  knitting  needle  wound  with  a  spiral 
coil  of  silk-covered  copper  wire.  When 
it  was  determined  that  the  sounds  pro- 
duced by  rapid  magnetization  and  demag- 
netization could  be  improved  by  the  addi- 
tion of  a  sounding  box  the  needle  was 
mounted  upon  the  sounding  board  of  a 
violin.  A  cigar  box  also  was  tried.  The 
final  form  of  the  knitting  needle  receiver 
adopted  by  Reis  was  essentially  of  this 
box  type.  The  needle  and  its  helix  lay  on 
a  rectangular  box  of  thin  pine  wood  and 
the  coil  of  wire  was  mounted  upon  a  light 
wooden  bobbin  instead  of  being  twisted 
around  the  needle  itself.  Two  wooden 
supports  held  the  ends  of  the  needle  and 
over  this  was  placed  a  hinged  box  lid.  In 
the  original  apparatus  this  lid  when  closed 
pressed  tightly  upon  the  steel  needle. 
Reis's  own  instructions  were  to  press  the 
lid  firmly  against  the  needle  in  order  that 
the  sound  might  be  intensified,  as  was  done 
unconsciously  by  the  listener  with  his  ear 
pressed  against  the  lid  in  order  to  hear/ 
more  distinctly.  At  one  end  of  the  soimd^ 
ing  box  was  a  small  telegraph  key  used 
to  interrupt  the  circuit  and  to  telegraph 
signals  back  to  the  transmitting  end  of  the 
line. 

A  great  deal  of  testimony  has  been  pro- 
duced   to    prove    that    not    only    musical 
sounds  but  words  and  phrases  were^actu- 
ally   transmitted   by   this    device,    as    they\ 
can  be  today  in  modern  models  of  the  ap- 
paratus.      But  since  the   invention   rested 
upon    the    make-and-break    principle,    the 
electrical  circuit  having  to  be  made   and 
broken  every  time   a   sound  impulse  was 
transmitted,   it  was  so  extremely  delicate 
that  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  it  in  ad- 
justment for  more  than  the  shortest  space 
of  time.     Reis  himself  said  to  Herr  Gar- 
nier,  to  whom  he  disposed  of  his  instru-/ 
ment  and   tools,    that  he   had   shown   the/ 
world     the    way     to     a     great     inventiom 
which  must  be  left  to  others  to  develop. 
Appreciation    of    the    work    of    Reis    has 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


57 


been  shown  in  this  country  and  in  Europe. 
In  1878  a  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory  in  Frankfort,  the  inscription  on 
which  styled  him  "the  inventor  of  the  tele- 
phone." 

During  the  early  litigation  over  the  in- 
vention of  the  telephone,  one  of  the 
American  judges  said  that,  however  in- 
genious this  pioneer  work  may  have  been, 
a  hundred  years  of  Reis  would  never  have 
given  to  the  world  the  telephonic  art  for 
public  use  as  it  exists  today.  Both  before 
and  after  the  invention  of  the  Bell  tele- 
phone many  attempts  were  made  to  apply 
in  practical  apparatus  the  make-and-break 
principle  of  Reis,  and  some  of  the  work- 
ers in  this  field  devised  transmitters  ap- 
proaching the  modern  microphone,  now 
so  essential.  But,  up  to  1876,  the  tele- 
phone was  utterly  unknown  to  the  public, 
and  the  scientific  apparatus  for  laborator- 
ies and  schools,  formerly  bearing  the 
name,  remains  to  this  day  virtually  incap- 
able of  improvement  that  would  bring  it 
within  the  possibility  of  public  utility. 
Suggestive  and  helpful  as  the  work  of 
Reis  must  have  been  to  all  who  were  fa- 
miliar with  it,  the  art  of  speaking  tele- 
phony had  to  find  its  perfection  and  its 
future  possibilities  in  some  other  direction 
than  the  make-and-break  system  with 
pulsatory  currents. 

United  States  Patent  No.  174465  issued 
on  March  7,  1876,  to  Alexander  Graham 
Bell  marks  the  beginning  of  one  of  the 
important  epochs  in  the  world's  history. 
On  it — "the  most  valuable  single  patent 
ever  issued" — is  founded  one  of  the  farth- 
est-reaching and  highest  developed  of 
man's  industries.  The  unity  of  the  nation 
fairly  may  be  said  to  have  been  cemented 
by  the  invention  and  development  of  the 
Bell  telephone. 

Bell's  application  for  his  original  patent 
was  filed  on  February  14,  1876,  after  a 
great  deal  of  experiment  and  investiga- 
tion. Bell,  who,  as  a  teacher  and  student 
of  vocal  physiology,  had  exceptional  quali- 
fications for  determining  feasible  methods 
of  speech  transmission,  constructed  his 
first  pair  of  magneto  telephones  in  1875. 
Each  of  these  consisted  of  an  electro- 
magnet, a  U-shaped  iron  bar  around  one 
member  of  which  a  coil  of  wire  was 
wound,  while  a  thin  iron  plate  or  arma- 
ture was  hinged  to  the  other  member,  ex- 


tending also  over  the  wire-surrounded 
core.  A  diaphragm  of  membrane, 
stretched  across  the  tube,  served  as  a 
mouthpiece,  being  mounted  in  a  frame 
having  its  center  immediately  opposite  the 
active  pole  of  the  magnet  to  which  the 
iron  armature  was  attached.  All  during 
1875  Bell  experimented  with  apparatus  of 
this  character,  varying  the  proportion  and 
arrangement  of  the  coil,  the  magnets,  the 
armature,  etc.  This  was  virtually  the  ap- 
paratus figured  and  described  in  the 
patent  specifications,  with  the  addition  of 
hollow  cones  attached  to  the  armature 
membranes  in  order  to  concentrate  the 
voice  at  the  transmitting  end  and  to  assist 
the  ear  at  the  receiving  end. 


Professor     Bell's     Single     Pole     Telephone     as 
Shown  at  the    Centennial   Exposition 

A  paper  read  by  Bell  before  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  at  Bos- 
ton on  May  10,  1876,  constitutes  the  first 
published  account  of  the  speaking  tele- 
phone. In  the  summer  of  1876  Bell's 
crude  mechanism  was  exhibited  at  the  Cen- 
tennial Exhibition  at  Philadelphia  and 
won  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the 
world's  leading  physicists,  as  well  as  the 
plaudits  of  the  people.  During  this  same 
year  Bell  tried  the  substitution  of  a  per- 
manent magnet  for  the  electro-magnet  and 
toward  the  end  of  the  year  he  usually  em- 
ployed the  permanent  magnet,  omitting 
the  battery.  Practically  the  same  results 
are  obtainable  with  the  electro-magnet 
and  the  permanent  magnet  over  short  dis- 
tances, but  early  it  was  found  that  the 
magneto  telephone  had  very  definite  limi- 
tations as  to  distance  of  operation  and 
clearness  of  utterance.  The  great  advance 


58 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


that  Bell  now  made  was  to  devise  a  mech- 
anism for  both  kinds  of  apparatus  that 
would  produce  undulations  of  the  electric 
current  in  the  circuit  corresponding  to  the 
sonorous  vibrations  of  the  voice,  thus  ren- 
dering practicable  the  continuous  and  intel- 
ligible transmission  of  human  speech. 
The  principle  so  discovered  and  embodied 


Professor  Bell's  Iron  Box  Telephone  as  Shown  at 
the  Centennial  Exposition 


in  practical  apparatus  was  defined  as  fol- 
lows in  the  specifications  of  the  Bell 
patent: 

"Electrical  undulations  induced  by  the 
vibration  of  a  battery  can  be  represented 
graphically  without  error  by  the  same  sinu- 
soidal curve  which  expresses  the  vibra- 
tions of  the  inducing  battery  itself  and  the 
effect  of  its  vibration  upon  the  air;  for,  as 
above  stated,  the  rate  of  acceleration  in 
the  electrical  current  corresponds  to  the 
rate  of  vibration  of  the  inducing  body, 
that  is,  to  the  pressure  of  sounds  pro- 
duced. The  intensity  of  the  current  varies 
with  the  amplitude  of  the  vibrations,  that 
is,  with  the  loudness  of  the  sound;  and 
the  polarity  of  the  current  corresponds  to 
the  direction  of  the  vibrating  battery,  that 
is,  to  the  condensation  and  rarefaction  of 
the  air  produced  by  the  vibration." 


Claim  5  of  the  patent  sums  up  this  prin- 
ciple as  follows: 

"The  method  of  an  apparatus  for  trans- 
mitting vocal  air  into  sounds  telegraphi- 
cally, as  herein  described,  by  causing  elec- 
trical undulations  similar  in  form  to  the 
vibrations  of  the  air  accompanying  the 
said  vocal  air  into  sound  substitutes  as  set 
forth." 

In  his  "The  History  of  the  Telephone" 
Herbert  N.  Casson  gives  the  following 
account  of  one  of  Bell's  early  experiments : 

"In  that  somewhat  distant  year  1875, 
when  the  telegraph  and  the  Atlantic  cable 
were  the  most  wonderful  things  in  the 
world,  a  tall  young  professor  of  elocution 
was  desperately  busy  in  a  noisy  machine- 
shop  that  stood  in  one  of  the  narrow 
streets  of  Boston,  not  far  from  Scollay 
Square.  It  was  a  very  hot  afternoon  in 
June,  but  the  young  professor  had  forgot- 
ten the  heat  and  the  grime  of  the  work- 
shop. He  was  wholly  absorbed  in  the 
making  of  a  nondescript  machine,  a  sort 
of  crude  harmonica  with  a  clock-spring 
reed,  a  magnet  and  a  wire.  It  was  a  most 
absurd  toy  in  appearance.  It  was  unlike 
any  other  thing  that  had  ever  been  made 
in  any  country.  The  young  professor  had 
been  toiling  over  it  for  three  years  and  it 
had  constantly  baffled  him,  until,  on  this 
hot  afternoon  in  June,  1875,  he  heard  an 
almost  inaudible  sound — a  faint  twang — 
come  from  the  machine  itself. 

"For  an  instant  he  was  stunned.  He 
had  been  expecting  just  such  a  sound  for 
several  months,  but  it  came  so  suddenly  as 
to  give  him  the  sensation  of  surprise.  His 
eyes  blazed  with  delight,  and  he  sprang  in 
a  passion  of  eagerness  to  an  adjoining 
room  in  which  stood  a  young  mechanic 
who  was  assisting  him. 

"  'Snap  that  reed  again,  Watson!'  cried 
the  apparently  irrational  young  professor. 
There  was  one  of  the  odd-looking  ma- 
chines in  each  room,  so  it  appears,  and 
the  two  were  connected  by  an  electric 
wire.  Watson  had  snapped  the  reed  on 
one  of  the  machines  and  the  professor  had 
heard  from  the  other  machine  exactly  the 
same  sound.  It  was  no  more  than  the 
gentle  twang  of  a  clock-spring;  but  it  was 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world 
that  a  complete  sound  had  been  carried 
along  a  wire,  reproduced  perfectly  at  the 


ALEXANDER     GRAHAM     BELL 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


59 


other    end,    and    heard    by    an    expert    in 
acoustics. 

"That  twang  of  the  clock-spring  was 
the  first  tiny  cry  of  the  new-born  tele- 
phone, uttered  in  the  clanging  din  of  a 
machine-shop  and  happily  heard  by  a  man 
whose  ear  had  been  trained  to  recognize 
the  strange  voice  of  the  little  newcomer. 


'  *<• 


The    Harmonic   Machine   of    1875 

There,  amidst  flying  belts  and  jarring 
wheels,  the  baby  telephone  was  born,  as 
feeble  and  helpless  as  any  other  baby,  and 
'with  no  language  but  a  cry.' 

"The  professor-inventor  who  had  thus 
rescued  the  tiny  foundling  of  science  was 
a  young  Scottish-American.  His  name, 
now  known  as  widely  as  the  telephone 
itself,  was  Alexander  Graham  Bell.  He 
was  a  teacher  of  acoustics  and  a  student 
of  electricity,  possibly  the  only  man  in  his 
generation  who  was  able  to  focus  a  knowl- 
edge of  both  subjects  upon  the  problem  of 
the  telephone." 

The  historic  conversation  between  Bell 
and  his  assistant,  Thomas  A.  Watson, 
occurred  on  March  10,  1876,  in  the  ma- 
chine-shop referred  to  above.  It  was  the 
first  time  the  telephone  transmitted  con- 
nected sentences  audibly  and  distinctly.  In 
all  the  early  experiments  Watson,  who 
had  a  peculiarly  keen  sense  of  hearing, 
did  the  listening  while  Bell,  who  was  a 
professional  elocutionist,  did  the  talking. 
On  this  occasion  Watson  was  in  the  base- 
ment of  the  shop  listening  when  Bell  said, 
"Mr.  Watson,  come  here;  I  want  you." 
Watson  took  the  three  flights  of  stairs  on 
the  jump  and  cried  breathlessly  to  Bell: 
"I  can  hear  you  !  I  can  hear  the  words !" 

Rapid  improvements  were  made  in  the 
apparatus  shown  at  the  Centennial  Exhi- 


bition and  the  receiving  part  of  the  mag- 
neto telephone  soon  took  the  shape  which 
has  long  been  familiar.  The  iron  plate 
armature  and  the  connected  diaphragm 
became  one  member  and  a  single  sheet 
iron  diaphragm,  or  disk,  such  as  is  used 
today,  was  adopted.  The  coil  of  wire 
around  the  magnet  was  shortened  until  it 
became  the  flat  bobbin,  or  spool,  that  is 
now  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  receiv- 
ers, placed  at  the  end  of  the  magnet  near- 
est the  diaphragm.  The  speaking  trum- 
pet, or  cone,  of  the  resonating  space  was 
flattened  until  it  became  the  shallow  cup 
which  enables  one  to  rest  the  ear  directly 
upon  the  telephone. 

In  August,  1876,  Bell  performed  a 
lengthy  series  of  experiments  over  a  five- 
mile  telegraph  line  in  Canada.  On  the 
evening  of  October  9,  1876,  the  first  long 
conversation  ever  carried  on  telephoni- 
cally  was  held  over  a  telegraph  line  ex- 
tending from  the  office  of  the  Walworth 
Manufacturing  Company  in  Boston  to 
their  factory  in  Cambridge,  Mass. 


The  Gallows-frame  Telephone  Apparatus 

Every  word  of  this  conversation  was  re- 
corded at  both  ends.  In  November, 
1876,  a  telephone  was  used  over 
200  miles  of  circuit  between  Boston  and 
Salem,  Mass.,  by  way  of  North  Conway, 
N.  H.,  and  a  little  later  a  conversation 
was  carried  on  by  Bell  between  Boston 


60 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


and  New  York  over  a  Western  Union 
telegraph  circuit.  The  apparatus  used  in 
all  these  demonstrations  was  the  magneto 
telephone  as  distinguished  from  the  bat- 
tery type. 

About  this  time  men  with  capital  at 
their  command  began  to  notice  the  new  in- 
vention, and  it  was  deemed  wise  to  invite 
the  support  of  the  public  for  this  radical 
departure  in  methods  of  communication. 


Bell's  First  Hand-telephone 

A  circular  was  issued  which  read  as  fol- 
lows: 

"The  proprietors  of  the  telephone,  the 
invention  of  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  for 
which  patents  have  been  issued  by  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  are  now 
prepared  to  furnish  telephones  for  the 
transmission  of  articulate  speech  through 
instruments  not  more  than  twenty  miles 
apart.  Conversation  can  easily  be  carried 
on  after  slight  practice  and  with  the  occa- 
sional repetition  of  a  word  or  sentence. 
On  first  listening  to  the  telephone,  al- 
though the  sound  is  perfectly  audible,  the 
articulation  seems  to  be  indistinct;  but 


after  a  few  trials  the  ear  becomes  accus- 
tomed to  the  peculiar  sound  and  finds  little 
difficulty  in  understanding  the  words. 

"The  telephone  should  be  set  in  a  quiet 
place,  where  there  is  no  noise  which  would 
interrupt  ordinary  conversation. 

"The  advantages  of  the  telephone  over 
the  telegraph  for  local  business  are: 

"ist.  That  no  skilled  operator  is  re- 
quired, but  direct  communication  may  be 
had  by  speech  without  the  intervention  of 
a  third  person. 

"2nd.  That  the  communication  is  much 
more  rapid,  the  average  number  of  words 
transmitted  in  a  minute  by  the  Morse 
sounder  being  from  fifteen  to  twenty,  by 
telephone  from  one  to  two  hundred. 

"3rd.  That  no  expense  is  required, 
either  for  its  operation,  maintenance  or 
repair.  It  needs  no  battery  and  has  no 
complicated  machinery.  It  is  unsurpassed 
for  economy  and  simplicity. 

"The  terms  for  leasing  two  telephones 
for  social  purposes,  connecting  a  dwelling 
house  with  any  other  building,  will  be  $20 
a  year;  for  business  purposes  $40  a  year, 
payable  semi-annually  in  advance,  with 
the  cost  of  expressage  from  Boston,  New 
York,  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  St.  Louis  or 
San  Francisco.  The  instruments  will  be 
kept  in  good  working  order  by  the  lessors, 
free  of  expense,  except  for  injuries  result- 
ing from  great  carelessness. 

"Several  telephones  can  be  placed  on 
the  same  line  at  an  additional  rental  of 
$10  for  each  instrument,  but  the  use  of 
more  than  two  on  the  same  line  where 
privacy  is  required  is  not  advised.  Any 
person  within  ordinary  hearing  distance 
can  hear  the  voice  calling  through  the  tele- 
phone. If  a  louder  call  is  required,  one 
can  be  furnished  for  $5. 

"Telegraph  lines  will  be  constructed  by 
the  proprietors  if  desired.  The  price  will 
vary  from  $100  to  $150  a  mile;  any  good 
mechanic  can  construct  a  line.  No.  9  wire 
costs  %l/2  cents  a  pound,  320  pounds  to 
the  mile;  34  insulators  at  25  cents  each; 
the  price  of  poles  and  setting  varies  in 
every  locality;  stringing  wire,  $5  per 
mile;  sundries,  $10  per  mile. 

"Parties  leasing  the  telephones  incur  no 
expense  beyond  the  annual  rental  and  the 
repair  of  the  line  wire.  On  the  following 
pages  are  extracts  from  the  press  and 
other  sources  relating  to  the  telephone. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


61 


"Cambridge,  Mass.,  May,  1877." 
Up  to  this  time  the  telephone  had  not 
been  developed  beyond  the  connection  of 
two  stations  by  a  single  wire,  but  it  had 
been  from  the  start  one  of  the  ideas  of 
Bell  that  there  should  be  a  central  office 
having  the  function  of  making  connection 
whenever  desired  between  the  lines  of  the 
several  subscribers.  Bell  and  his  associ- 
ates plainly  set  forth  this  idea  in  lectures 
given  in'  Connecticut  and  New  York  in  the 
spring  of  1877.  They  outlined  in  a  broad 
way  both  the  central  exchange  system  and 
long  distance  telephony. 

The  first  line  ever  built  especially  for 
telephone  service  was  put  in  operation  on 
April  4,  1877,  between  the  factory  of 


bard  and  Thomas  Sanders  had  a  three- 
tenths  interest  each  in  the  patents  and 
Watson  one-tenth.  At  this  time,  August, 
1877,  Bell's  patent  was  sixteen  months  old 
and  there  were  in  use  778  telephones.  Of 
these  four  pioneer  enthusiasts  Sanders 
was  the  only  one  who  had  any  money  and 
his  capital  was  limited.  His  business  was 
cutting  soles  for  shoe  manufacturers  and 
at  no  time  was  it  worth  more  than 
$35,000.  Yet  he  had  furnished  ninety  per 
centof  all  the  moneyspent  on  the  telephone 
from  1874  to  1878.  Bell's  room-rent, 
Watson's  wages,  the  factory  expenses  and 
the  cost  of  showing  the  telephone  at  the 
Centennial  Exhibition  all  had  been  met  by 
Sanders.  His  money  built  the  first  five 


The  Original  Telephone  Exchange  Switch  Board  Designed  and  Used  by  E.  T.  Holmes,  Boston,  May,  1877 


Charles  Williams,  Jr.,  in  Boston,  and  his 
home  at  Somerville,  Mass.  Shortly  after- 
ward a  number  of  other  lines  of  this  char- 
acter were  erected.  The  majority  of  peo- 
ple, however,  regarded  the  telephone  as 
a  toy,  and  its  proprietors  had  great  diffi- 
culty in  enlisting  the  interest  of  investors. 

As  soon  as  enough  persons  appreciated 
the  utility  of  the  invention,  Bell  and  his 
associates  recognized  the  need  of  an  or- 
ganization for  dealing  with  the  commer- 
cial features  of  their  enterprise.  There- 
fore, in  1877,  an  informal,  unincorporated 
association,  known  as  the  Bell  Telephone 
Association,  was  formed.  It  had  no  capi- 
tal and  few  members.  Its  objects  were  to 
assist  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  to  whom,  as 
trustee,  the  Bell  patents  had  been  assigned, 
and  to  devise  the  best  means  for  the  gen- 
eral commercial  introduction  of  tele- 
phones. Under  the  agreement  Bell,  Hub- 


thousand  telephones,  and  before  he  had 
received  any  relief  he  had  strained  his 
credit  almost  to  the  limit  and  had  signed 
notes  aggregating  $110,000.  Later,  when 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company 
attacked  Bell  and  his  associates  and  thus 
greatly  assisted  in  acquainting  the  public 
with  the  merits  of  the  telephone,  a  num- 
ber of  Sanders'  rich  relatives  came  to  his 
rescue  and  financed  the  earliest  telephone 
enterprise,  thus  saving  the  situation  for 
the  pioneers  and  incidentally  making  great 
fortunes  for  themselves. 

Meanwhile,  it  became  necessary  to  de- 
velop some  means  of  furnishing  connec- 
tion between  the  various  telephone  sub- 
scribers in  one  locality.  In  a  crude  man- 
ner the  first  exchange  idea  was  carried  into 
effect  in  May,  1877,  m  Boston,  by  making 
connection  with  the  circuits  of  the  Holmes 
Burglar  Alarm  Company.  Four  or  five 


62 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


lines  communicating  with  banks  were 
brought  to  a  small  switchboard  at  the 
Holmes  central  office  and  the  circuits  were 
repeatedly  interconnected  at  this  board. 
Thus  the  Holmes  system  in  Boston  be- 
came a  telephone  exchange  during  the  day 
and  a  protective  burglar  alarm  system  at 
night.  As  a  matter  of  historical  fact, 


- 


\     \     i    \ 

hi- 


The   First  Telephone    Switchboard    Arranged    for 

Eight  Subscribers   and  Installed   in   the   New 

Haven,   Conn.   Office   in  January,    1878 

however,  the  first  telephone  central  office 
system  was  that  established  at  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  and  opened  for  business  on 
January  25,  1878.  This  was  the  first  fully 
equipped  commercial  telephone  exchange 
ever  established  for  general  or  public 
service.  The  skeptics  who  regarded  the 
telephone  as  a  scientific  toy  were  largely 
converted  by  the  building  of  central  ex- 
changes which  enabled  any  subscriber  to 
talk  with  any  other.  This  was  shown  by 
the  fact  that  three  years  later,  or  in 
March,  1881,  there  were  in  the  United 
States  only  nine  cities  of  more  than  10,000 
inhabitants  and  only  one  of  more  than 
15,000  in  which  a  telephone  exchange  had 
not  been  established. 

The  development  of  the  exchange  sys- 
tem seems  to  have  been  the  turning  point 
in  the  expansion  of  the  telephone  business, 
for  the  growth  now  went  forward  so  rap- 
idly that  a  more  formal  organization  of 
the  new  industry  became  imperative.  As 
a  result  the  New  England  Telephone 
Company,  with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  was 
formed  in  February,  1878.  This  organ- 
ization was  given  exclusive  rights  and 
license  to  use  and  to  manufacture  tele- 
phones in  New  England.  In  July,  1878, 


*  AA  * 

.       P  x p  x    y  s^      x  v, 

4     i     i    "* 


•\      f-i—      & ,  /      f  •  %      Y  ,  — 

'  '.J->.ys  -*^x-  /> 

*^f***  *5^IW*»  «^«^*rf  «*i^^** 

K  '  *     ^ 


$       4 


The    Universal    Switchboard    Manufactured    by   the 

Western   Electric   Co.   under   Charles   E.   Scrib- 

ner's  Patent,  and. from  which  the  Standard 

Switchboard  Developed 

the  Bell  Telephone  Company  was  formed, 
with  a  capital  of  $450,000,  and  exclusive 
rights  for  the  remainder  of  the  United 
States.  In  March,  1879,  these  two  com- 
panies were  combined  into  the  National 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


63 


Bell  Telephone  Company,  with  a  capital 
of  $850,000.  The  commercial  success  of 
the  business  had  by  this  time  become 
assured,  but  it  was  found  that  the  scope  of 
the  National  Bell  Telephone  Company 
was  not  broad  enough  to  meet  the  existing 
situation.  Therefore  the  American  Bell 
Telephone  Company,  with  a  capital  of 
$10,000,000,  was  organized  in  March, 
1880.  This  latter  company,  through  sub- 
sidiary companies,  displayed  great  ability 
in  developing  the  telephone  business  of  the 
United  States  on  a  territorial  license  basis 
and  continued  to  operate  until  1889.  It 
was  then  absorbed  by  the  American  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company  which 
originally  had  been  created  to  handle  the 
long  distance  telephone  business  of  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  original 
circular  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Association 
specified  the  effective  limit  of  speech  as 
20  miles.  This  limit  did  not  long  remain 
fixed.  At  the  beginning  of  1881  the  work 
of  telephonically  connecting  cities  and 
towns  had  been  commenced  and  was  well 
under  way.  Boston  could  talk  with  75 
other  communities,  the  lines  reaching  as 
far  as  Springfield,  Mass.  The  success  of 
the  experimental  long  distance  line  be- 
tween Boston  and  New  York  in  1884  con- 
vinced the  public  that  conversations  over 
distances  of  from  200  to  300  miles  was 
commercially  practicable.  Owing  to  diffi- 
culties in  securing  terminal  facilities  it  was 
1887  before  the  longer  lines  were  opened 
to  public  use.  Extensions  of  these  lines 
were  carried  on  steadily.  On  October  18, 
1902,  the  line  between  New  York  and 
Chicago  was  opened,  while  the  Boston- 
Chicago  line  was  put  in  service  the  fol- 
lowing February.  The  maps  of  the  long 
distance  telephone  lines  as  they  existed  in 
1904  and  as  they  are  today  show  in  a 
strikingly  graphic  manner  the  immense 
growth  of  the  system  and  indicate  the 
principal  cause  for  the  rapid  rise  in  the 
use  of  the  telephone.  The  whole  of  the 
United  States  is  now  a  network  of  long 
distance  telephone  lines  from  Portland, 
Maine,  to  San  Francisco  and  from  the 
Mexican  border  to  the  Canadian  boundary. 

A  share  of  the  early  commercial  devel- 
opment of  the  telephone  industry  was  due 
to  the  competition  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  with  the  Bell  inter- 


ests. In  1877  tne  Western  Union  saw  in 
the  telephone  a  dangerous  rival  to  the  tele- 
graph and  at  once  set  to  work  to  counter- 
act the  new  influence.  It  began  to  develop 
a  telephone  system  of  its  own  based  on  the 
work  of  Edison,  Elisha  Gray,  Dolbear 
and  others  whom  it  employed  for  the  pur- 
pose. Elisha  Gray  had  filed  in  the  Patent 


ELISHA  GRAY 

Professor   Bell's  early  Competitor  and  Founder  of 

the  firm  of  Gray  and  Barton,  now  the  Western 

Electric   Company 

Office  at  Washington  a  caveat  for  "a  new 
art  of  transmitting  vocal  sounds  tele- 
graphically" on  February  14,  1876,  the 
very  same  day  on  which  Bell  had  filed  his 
application.  This  constitutes  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  coincidences  in  the  his- 
tory of  invention.  But  the  Gray  apparatus 
differed  considerably,  however,  from  that 
of  Bell.  The  Gray  caveat  described  a 
liquid  transmitter  so  utilized  that  the  vi- 
brations of  a  plunger,  or  rod,  attached  to 
the  membrane  would  cause  variations  in 
the  resistance  and  consequently  modify 
the  current  passing  through  the  circuit  to 
the  receiver.  In  February,  1876,  Gray 
made  a  pencil  drawing  illustrating  this  in- 
genious idea,  but  the  liquid  transmitters 


64 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


brought  out  by  Gray  and  others  from  time 
to  time  have  never  played  any  part  in  the 
development  of  the  telephone  art. 

Edison,  who  was  then  in  the  service  of 
the  Western  Union,  succeeded  in  produc- 
ing an  excellent  carbon  transmitter.  In 
this  device  the  variations  of  resistance  due 
to  change  of  pressure  in,  or  intimacy  of 
contact  between  the  particles  of  a  mass  of 


The  Carbon  Transmitter 
Produced  by  Thomas  A.  Edison 

carbon  effected  the  necessary  variations  in 
the  electrical  current  carrying  the  impulse 
vibrations.  This  microphonic  principle  is 
a  feature  of  all  the  successful  speech- 
transmitting  apparatus  of  the  present  day. 
Meanwhile,  Emile  Berliner  and  Francis 
Blake  and  Professor  Hughes  had  devel- 
oped efficient  battery  or  carbon  transmit- 
ters for  the  Bell  interests.  In  fact  to  Emile 
Berliner  is  attributed  the  honor  of  having 
invented  the  first  and  original  microphone 
transmitter  in  which  two  electrodes  in  con- 
stant contact  were  arranged  to  have  the  in- 
timacy of  such  contact  and  consequently 
its  resistance,  and  the  current  passing 
through  it  varied  by  the  impact  of  the 
sound  waves  of  the  voice.  Professor 
Hughes  was  also  an  original  inventor  of 
the  same  thing,  although  later;  and  it  is 
to  him  we  owe  the  term  Microphone.  Edi- 
son made  an  essential  step  in  transmitter 


production  when  immediately  after  Ber- 
liner's work  he  determined  for  all  time 
that  carbon  was  the  best  material  for  the 
contact  electrodes.  The  Western  Union 
formed  the  American  Speaking  Telephone 
Company  and  pushed  its  telephone  system 
vigorously  throughout  the  country  until  it 
had  a  large  number  of  exchanges  in 
operation. 

In  September,  1878,  patent  litigation 
between  the  rival  companies  was  inaugu- 
rated. Then  the  Western  Unon,  conced- 
ing the  priority  of  the  Bell  invention,  pro- 
ceeded to  effect  a  famous  agreement  under 
which,  by  agreeing  to  pay  20  per  cent  of 
its  income  to  the  Western  Union  during 
the  life  of  the  contract,  a  period  of  seven- 
teen years,  the  Bell  Company  obtained 
complete  possession  of  the  field  and 
acquired  all  the  telephonic  inventions,  ap- 
paratus and  exchanges  of  the  Western 
Union  system.  This  combination  not  only 
unified  the  commercial  systems  of  the 
whole  country,  but  achieved  the  more  im- 
portant result  of  harmonizing  and  stan- 
dardizing the  apparatus  and  thus  permit- 
ted easier  and  more  rapid  industrial  and 
scientific  development. 

The  Bell  telephone  was,  at  the  very  start, 
immediately  introduced  in  Europe.  There, 
as  in  the  United  States,  the  Bell  patents 
throughout  their  entire  term  of  existence, 
although  frequently  sustained  wholly  or  in 
part,  were  subjected  to  constant  legal  at- 
tack and  competition  in  every  imaginable 
form.  One  of  the  results  directly  trace- 
able to  this  cause  is  that  the  telephonic  art 
has  enjoyed  the  labor  of  many  prominent 
inventors  attracted  by  the  opportunities 
and  rewards  offered  in  this  field.  The  ap- 
paratus used  at  each  end  of  the  circuit  as 
well  as  that  at  the  central  exchange,  which 
at  first  was  very  crude,  necessarily  had  to 
be  developed  commercially.  The  first 
switchboards  used  in  central  telephone  ex- 
changes were  very  similar  in  construction 
and  operation  to  those  used  in  telegraph 
offices.  But  these  were  very  rapidly  out- 
grown and  replaced  with  devices  especially 
created  for  telephone  service.  Many  op- 
portunities were  thus  afforded  for  the  in- 
dependent, and  often  competitive,  inven- 
tor. Beginning  with  the  one  fundamental 
patent  of  Bell,  already  mentioned  as  "the 
most  valuable  single  patent  ever  issued," 
the  Bell  interests  gradually  built  up  a 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


65 


patent  department  which  not  only  was 
charged  with  protecting  the  inventions  of 
the  Bell  staff  but  which  was  constantly  on 
the  alert  to  acquire  inventions  which 
showed  an  advance  in  the  telephonic  art. 
It  is  said  that  at  the  present  time  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany is  the  owner  of  not  far  from  5,000 
patents  relating  directly  and  indirectly  to 
the  telephone. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Bell  and  his  back- 
ers that  they  were  enabled  to  secure  the 


mentally.  His  team-mate,  James  J.  Stor- 
row,  was  physically  small,  with  a  quiet 
manner  and  a  conversational  habit  of  ar- 
gument. He  was  known  as  "an  encyclo- 
paedia of  definite  information."  It  is  re- 
lated that  when  he  first  joined  the  Bell 
staff  he  spent  an  entire  summer  at  his 
country  home  studying  physics  and  elec- 
tricity. The  third  member  of  this  inter- 
esting triumvirate  was  Thomas  D.  Lock- 
wood,  who,  in  1879,  was  appointed  to 
organize  a  patent  department  for  the 


The   Patent  Office   Model   of   Emile   Berliner's   Original   Telephone 


services  of  a  remarkable  triumvirate  of 
men  to  defend  their  patent  rights  from 
the  constant  legal  attacks  to  which  they 
were  subjected.  The  first  of  these  was 
Chauncy  Smith,  a  Boston  lawyer  of  the 
Websterian  type,  whose  resemblance  to 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  often  remarked. 
In  1878,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  de- 
fend the  infant  Bell  interests  against  the 
attack  of  the  powerful  Western  Union,  he 
was  known  as  the  ablest  patent  lawyer  in 
Boston.  He  was  a  big  man  physically  and 


young  Bell  company.  Besides  possessing 
a  great  deal  of  inventive  ability,  Lock- 
wood  was  described  as  having  "a  memory 
like  a  filing  system,"  These  three  men  de- 
fended the  Bell  patents  and  held  off  the 
attackers  while  Theodore  N.  Vail,  the 
General  Manager  of  the  company,  was 
building  up  the  infant  telephone  business 
from  the  commercial  side.  A  writer  on 
the  telephone  has  described  Storrow,  in 
action,  as  a  rapid-fire  Catling  gun,  while 
Smith  was  a  hundred-ton  cannon,  and 


66 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Lockwood  was  the  maker  of  the  ammuni- 
tion. 

The  three  main  arguments  of  the  Bell 
attorneys,  which  were  unanswerable  to 
more  than  fifty  eminent  lawyers  of  the 
day,  were:  First,  Bell's  clear,  frank  story 
of  "how  he  did  it,"  which  almost  invari- 
ably embarrassed  the  pretender.  Second, 
the  fact  that  the  most  eminent  electrical 
scientists  of  Europe  and  the  United  States 
had  seen  and  examined  the  Bell  telephone 
at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  and  had  pro- 
nounced it  new.  Third,  the  most  signifi- 
cant fact  that  no  one  had  attacked  Bell's 
claim  to  be  the  original  inventor  of  the 
telephone  until  his  patent  was  seventeen 
months  old. 

The  original  Bell  patent  proved  to  be 
an  invincible  document.  It  went  through 
an  eleven  years'  war  and  emerged  without 
a  scar.  It  covered  an  entire  art,  and  yet 
is  was  upheld  and  sustained  throughout  its 
seventeen  years  of  life.  The  thirty-two 
words  forming  the  last  sentence  of  the 
Bell  patent  probably  are  the  most  valu- 
able, from  industrial  and  financial  stand- 
points, ever  penned.  They  read:  "The 
method  of,  and  apparatus  for,  transmit- 
ting vocal  or  other  sounds  telegraphically, 
by  causing  electrical  undulations,  similar 
in  form  to  the  vibrations  of  the  air  accom- 
panying the  said  vocal  or  other  sounds." 

From  the  beginning,  the  success  of  the 
telephone  as  a  public  utility  has  been  based 
much  less  upon  a  monopoly  of  patents 
than  upon  the  creation  of  a  thoroughly 
organized  business  with  a  high  conception 
of  the  meaning  of  "service." 

During  the  first  half  of  the  life  of  the 
Bell  patents  a  large  number  of  rival  com- 
panies came  into  existence,  attracted,  no 
doubt,  by  the  financial  rewards  which  were 
apparently  in  view  for  a  successful  tele- 
phone system.  The  greatest  of  these  com- 
petitors, as  already  noted,  was  the  West- 
ern Union  Telegraph  Company.  One 
hundred  and  twenty-five  competing  compa- 
nies were  launched  in  three  years  in  open 
defiance  of  the  Bell  patents.  Few,  if  any, 
except  the  Western  Union,  had  any  idea 
of  supplying  telephone  service.  Their  se- 
curities bore  a  face  value  of  $225,000,000 
and  were  freely  offered  to  the  investing 
public.  One  company  without  patents  or 
funds  was  capitalized  at  $15,000,000.  It 
is  estimated  that,  at  one  time  and  another, 


companies  whose  paper  value  was  $500,- 
000,000  were  organized  to  break  up  the 
Bell  system. 

As  the  term  of  the  fundamental  Bell 
patents  approached  its  end  the  practical 
monopoly  which  the  Bell  company  had  en- 
joyed since  it  acquired  the  telephone  busi- 
ness of  the  Western  Union  again  attracted 
competition  and  numerous  "independent" 
exchanges  were  started  in  various  parts  of 
the  country.  Cities  and  towns  which  had 
not  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  telephone  ser- 
vice were  the  first  to  be  supplied  by  the 
"independents."  A  large  number  of 
"rural  lines"  also  sprung  up  in  farming 
and  sparsely  settled  communities.  Later 
the  larger  cities  were  invaded  and  inde- 
pendent exchanges  were  to  be  found  in  suc- 
cessful operation  in  Chicago,  Philadelphia, 
St.  Louis,  Cleveland,  Seattle,  Indianapolis 
and  many  other  places.  The  best  paying 
lines  established  by  the  independent  move- 
ment were,  however,  those  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. A  vast  network  of  exchanges  and 
interconnecting  lines  was  created  and  a 
considerable  number  of  manufacturers  of 
independent  apparatus  went  into  business. 

Previous  to  this  time  the  Bell  people 
had  devoted  great  energy  and  foresight  to 
the  standardization  of  telephone  equip- 
ment. Now  the  market  was  flooded  with 
apparatus  of  all  sorts  and  designs.  In 
many  places  the  business  man  was  forced 
to  use  two  telephone  services  —  the  Bell 
and  the  independent — with  all  the  lost  mo- 
tion and  inefficiency  which  such  a  situation 
involved.  In  this  way,  under  the  guise  of 
competition,  the  waste  of  duplication 
began  generally  throughout  the  country. 
In  a  few  years  after  the  expiration  of  the 
original  Bell  patents  there  were  over  6,000 
independent  companies,  little  and  big.  By 
1901  there  were  more  than  1,000,000  in- 
dependent telephones  in  use.  The  fact 
that  the  great  majority  of  these  independ- 
ent companies  survived  and  continued  to 
do  business  proved  that  they  were  neces- 
sary and  that  there  was  a  demand  for  their 
service.  They  did  a  great  deal  toward  ex- 
panding the  telephone  business  into  new 
territory.  Some  of  them  built  up  com- 
plete plants  and  gave  good  local  service. 
The  people  in  many  cities  came  to  regard 
the  establishment  of  a  duplicate  telephone 
system  as  a  desirable  innovation,  and  one 
promoter  observed  that  "we  have  two 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


67 


ears.  Why  not  have  two  telephones?" 
Herbert  N.  Casson  refers  to  this  phase  of 
telephone  history  as  follows: 

''This  duplication  went  merrily  on  for 
years  before  it  was  generally  discovered 
that  the  telephone  is  not  an  ear,  but  a 
nerve  system;  and  that  such  an  experiment 
as  a  duplicate  nerve  system  has  never  been 
attempted  by  Nature,  even  in  her  most 
frivolous  moods.  Most  people  fancied 
that  a  telephone  system  was  practically  the 
same  as  a  gas  or  electric  light  system, 
which  can  often  be  duplicated  with  the  re- 
sult of  cheaper  rates  and  better  service. 
They  did  not  for  years  discover  that  two 
telephone  companies  in  one  city  means 
either  half  service  or  double  cost,  just  as 
two  fire  departments  or  two  post  offices 
would." 

An  investigation  made  in  twelve  single- 
system  cities  and  twenty-seven  double-sys- 
tem cities  demonstrated  that  there  were 
about  eleven  per  cent  more  telephones 
under  the  double  system,  and  that  where 
the  duplicate  system  is  installed  every  fifth 
user  is  obliged  to  pay  for  two  telephones. 
The  rates  were  alike,  whether  the  city  had 
one  or  two  systems.  Duplicating  compa- 
nies raised  their  rates  in  sixteen  cities  out 
of  the  twenty-seven  and  lowered  them  in 
one. 

The  independent  telephone  movement 
was  undoubtedly  for  several  years  a  stimu- 
lant to  the  Bell  company  and  its  subsidia- 
ries; but  it  did  not  bring  to  its  promoters 
the  promised  cheap  rates,  improved  ser- 
vice and  big  dividends.  Nothing  new  in 
telephone  apparatus  resulted  from  it  ex- 
cept the  automatic  switchboard  which, 
however,  is  not  found  in  service  in  Bell  ex- 
changes even  today.  The  movement  may 
be  called  a  progressive  one  among  the 
rural  population  and  reactionary  in  the 
cities. 

The  independent  companies  began  to 
appreciate  the  limitations  of  their  isola- 
tion and  by  1907  asked  to  be  linked  up 
with  the  Bell  system.  In  that  year  the 
Bell  companies  took  over  458,000  inde- 
pendent telephones  and  350,000  more  in 
the  following  year.  This  experience  has 
been  repeated  from  year  to  year  until  at 
the  present  time  the  Bell  companies  are 
furnishing  practically  the  entire  telephone 
service  for  the  whole  country.  Through- 
out the  farming  districts  of  the  United 


States  there  are  thousands  of  groups  of 
farmers  with  a  mutual  telephone  system 
all  connected  to  the  vast  network  of  the 
Bell  system  so  that  they  are  in  as  close 
touch  with  the  big  cities  as  they  are  with 
their  neighbors. 

Theodore  N.  Vail,  who  had  practically 
created   the   telephone  business   from   the 


The   Blake  Transmitter 
Invention  of  the  late  Francis  Blake 

commercial  side  in  1878,  had  been  for 
twenty  years  in  South  America  engaged  in 
public  utility  projects  of  his  own.  In  1907, 
just  as  the  independent  movement  was  be- 
ginning to  realize  its  isolation,  he  accepted 
the  presidency  of  the  associated  Bell  com- 
panies to  push  forward  to  final  success  the 
completion  of  the  universal  telephone  sys- 
tem which  he  had  visualized  when  the 
telephone  was  only  three  years  old. 

The  development  of  the  art  of  tele- 
phony in  the  United  States,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  a  bird's-eye  view,  conveniently 
may  be  divided  into  four  periods  as  fol- 
lows: 

1876-1886.  The  Period  of  Experi- 
ment. Probably  the  most  prolific  decade 
in  the  invention  of  fundamentals.  Every 
telephone  man  was  a  law  unto  himself. 
There  were  few  engineers  and  no  experts. 
The  period  of  iron  wire,  tentative  appa- 


r,8 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


ratus,  peg  and  similar  switchboards,  local 
batteries  and  overhead  lines. 

1886-1896.  The  Period  of  Develop- 
ment. Amateurs  became  engineers.  Proper 
apparatus  was  discovered  and  developed 
to  high  efficiency.  The  period  of  the  mul- 
tiple switchboard,  girl  operators,  copper 
wire,  underground  cables,  common  battery 
system,  metallic  circuits  and  long  distance 
lines. 

1896-1906.  The  Period  of  Expansion. 
This  was  the  harvest  time  in  which  the 
men  behind  the  telephone  and  the  public 
began  to  reap  the  results  of  twenty  years 
of  hard  work  and  financial  investment 
The  period  of  message  rates,  pay  stations, 
farm  lines  and  private  branch  exchanges. 

1906-1916.  The  Period  of  Organiza- 
tion. With  the  increasing  use  of  the  long 
distance  service  the  telephone  became 
more  national  in  character.  It  taught  the 
telegraph  to  cooperate.  It  got  itself  in 
closer  touch  with  the  desires  and  needs  of 
the  public.  It  organized  for  standardiza- 
tion, efficiency  and  service. 

The  Bureau  of  the  Census,  of  the 
United  States  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  first  recognized  the  telephone 
industry  in  1880.  The  published  figures 
for  that  year,  while  incomplete,  show  that 
there  were  148  telephone  systems  in  op- 
eration, serving  48,414  subscribers  over 
34,305  miles  of  wire,  through  43  public 
exchanges.  The  par  value  of  the  author- 
ized capital  stock  of  all  the  companies  was 
$17,386,700,  of  which  $15,702,135  was 
outstanding.  This  whole  business  was 
carried  on  by  3,338  employees. 

The  last  annual  report  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  as  of 
December  31,  1917,  shows  that  on  that 
date  there  was  one  Bell  telephone  station 
to  each  ten  of  the  total  population  of  the 
country.  There  are  in  the  United  States 
approximately  11,200  separate  companies 
giving  telephone  service.  Of  them  37  are 
Bell  companies,  9,129  independent  compa- 
nies connecting  with  the  Bell  system,  and 
about  2,000  independent  companies  not 
connecting  with  the  Bell  system.  There 
are  also  a  large  number  of  rural  lines  and 
systems  which  connect  with  these  com- 
panies, 22,299  °f  which  are  connected  with 
the  Bell  System. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  the  number  of 
telephone  stations  which  constituted  the 


Bell  System  in  the  United  States  was  10,- 
475,678,  an  increase  during  the  year  of 
628,486,  of  which  increase  486,040  were 
owned  by  the  Bell  companies  and  142,446 
were  Bell  connected  stations.  Of  the  to- 
tal number  of  stations  in  the  system  7,031,- 
530  were  owned  and  operated  by  Bell 
companies  and  3,444,148  by  local,  co- 
operative and  rural  independent  compa- 
nies or  associations  having  sublicense  or 
connection  contracts;  the  socalled  connect- 
ing companies. 

In  addition  to  these  there  are  about 
1,300,000  stations  operated  by  indepen- 
dent companies  not  connected  with  the  Bell 
System. 

The  assets  of  the  company  totaled 
$1,276,503,468.  The  capital  stock  out- 
standing was  $505,403,777  and  the 
funded  debt  was  $407,434,080.  The  sur- 
plus and  reserves  amounted  to  $303,- 
525,651  and  the  employees'  benefit  fund 
was  $9,219,143. 

In  1900  the  net  revenue  of  the  company 
was  $5,486,058,  of  which  $4,078,601 
was  paid  in  dividends,  $937,258  was 
added  to  reserves  and  $470,199  was 
added  to  surplus. 

In  1917  the  net  revenue  of  the  company 
was  $50,714,211,  of  which  $36,862,582 
was  paid  in  dividends  and  $13,851,629 
was  added  to  surplus. 

The  range  of  speech  over  long  distance 
telephone  lines  was  for  a  long  time  limited 
by  detrimental  electrical  effects  of  a  char- 
acter unavoidable  in  the  use  of  insulated 
wires  twisted  together  in  pairs,  in  which 
the  wires  are  in  close  proximity  to  each 
other  and  to  other  pairs  of  wires  forming 
the  same  cable.  As  an  example,  the  loss  in 
speech  transmission  in  one  mile  of  No.  19 
B.  &  S.  gauge  wire,  with  a  diameter  of 
.0359  inch,  in  cable  of  the  ordinary  type, 
is  equivalent  to  that  in  a  little  more  than 
eight  miles  of  No.  12  B.  &  S.  gauge  cop- 
per wire,  diameter  .0808  inch,  strung  as  an 
overhead  metallic  circuit  on  poles  with  the 
standard  spacing  of  12  inches  between  the 
two  members  of  the  circuit.  As  practical 
efficiency  and  economy  require  the  use  of 
cables,  instead  of  a  multitude  of  overhead 
exposed  metallic  circuits,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  problem  of  overcoming  these  re- 
tarding electrical  effects  was  of  the  great- 
est importance.  It  was  solved  in  a  most 
ingenious  manner  by  a  mathematical  inves- 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


69 


tigation  carried. out  by  Dr.  M.  I.  Pupin, 
of  Columbia  University,  New  York  City, 
who  took  out  a  number  of  patents  covering 
the  method  which  he  evolved.  Under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  John  J.  Carty,  chief 
engineer  of  the  American  Telephone  & 
Telegraph  Company,  and  his  staff,  Dr. 
Pupin's  method  was  placed  on  a  practical 
commercial  basis  and  at  present  conversa- 
tion between  New  York  and  San  Francisco 
is  carried  on  largely  through  the  use  of 
lines  which  are  "loaded"  at  intervals  with 
the  Pupin  device.  The  transmission  over  a 
loaded  No.  14  B.  &  S.  gauge  pair  of  wires 
forming  part  of  a  cable,  such  as  is  used  in 
the  long  distance  circuit  between  Chicago 
and  Milwaukee,  88^4  miles  in  length,  is 
as  good  as  would  be  obtained  over  an  un- 
loaded cable  circuit  which  uses  wire  of  the 
same  size  but  is  only  18  miles  long.  The 
practical  effect  of  installing  this  type  of 
loaded  cable  for  circuits  of  this  kind  is  to 
protect  the  wires  from  the  influence  of  the 
weather,  which  on  overhead  wire  lines 
might  at  any  time  absolutely  interrupt  the 
important  service  given,  or  reduce  the 
efficiency  of  transmission.  The  conditions 
of  the  cable  circuit  are  practically  con- 
stant, so  that  their  installation  represents 
an  exceedingly  valuable  improvement  in 
the  facilities  for  handling  a  traffic  consist- 
ing of  important  messages,  heavily  con- 
centrated between  two  points.  Loading 
overhead  long  distance  telephone  lines 
also  has  reached  a  high  stage  of  develop- 
ment. 

For  a  long  time  after  the  first  telephone 
lines  were  installed,  a  circuit  consisted  of  a 
single  wire  extending  from  a  grounded 
terminal  at  the  central  office  to  a  ground 
connection  at  the  distant  terminal  of  the 
telephone  instrument  at  the  subscriber's 
station.  The  electric  current  followed  the 
wire  and  completed  its  circuit  through  the 
earth.  Such  grounded  circuits  were  used 
to  a  large  extent  between  central  offices 
for  the  transmission  of  messages  from  one 
exchange  district  to  another,  but  later 
were  replaced  with  metallic,  two-wire 
lines,  to  secure  improved  transmission. 

The  copper  wire  which  carries  the  mes- 
sages forms  a  large  proportion  of  the 
fixed  investment  in  a  long  distance  tele- 
phone system.  In  the  early  days  the  rev- 
enues from  long  distance  business  were 
limited  by  the  inability  to  use  the  two 


wires  of  a  line  for  more  than  one  message 
at  a  time.  Several  important  inventions 
which  were  commercially  developed  about 
1905,  made  it  possible  to  use  two  pairs  of 
wires  to  carry  simultaneously  three  tele- 
phone messages,  the  lines  being  adapted 
for  this  service  by  the  connection  of  special 
coils  of  wire  wound  upon  iron  cores  at 
each  end  of  the  respective  circuits.  Not 
only  is  it  possible  to  use  a  pair  of  wires  to 
transmit  a  telephone  message,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  telegraph  message  may  be 
sent  over  one  of  the  wires,  or  each  of  the 
two  wires  may  be  used  to  carry  a  separate 
telegraph  message,  without  interfering 
with  the  telephone  conversation  which  is 
at  the  same  time  passing  over  the  circuit. 
The  highest  development  of  this  remark- 
able achievement  shows  that,  through 
duplex  and  quadruplex  telegraphy,  four  or 
eight  telegraph  messages  may  be  transmit- 
ted over  each  pair  of  wires  without  inter- 
fering with  their  use  as  a  talking  circuit. 

By  means  of  inductance  and  other  elec- 
trical actions,  it  is  possible  to  create  a  third 
circuit  without  stringing  any  additional 
wires.  As  this  third  circuit  has  no  physical 
existence  apart  from  the  two  original 
pairs  of  wires,  the  early  inventors  called 
it  a  "phantom"  circuit,  a  most  appropriate 
name  and  one  now  constantly  used.  Be- 
sides the  coils  and  a  small  amount  of 
special  wiring  at  the  ends  of  circuits,  the 
only  additional  investment  required  to  pro- 
duce a  phantom  circuit  is  that  necessary 
for  a  rearrrangement  of  wires  on  poles  at 
intervals  throughout  their  length  to  pre- 
vent confusion  of  speech  in  the  lines.  It  is 
impossible,  however,  to  create  a  phantom 
of  two  circuits  which  are  not  absolutely 
similar.  A  copper  circuit  and  a  pair  of 
iron  wires  might  be  of  the  same  size  and 
length,  but  the  differences  in  the  molecular 
character  of  the  two  metals  would  prevent 
them  from  being  combined  to  produce  a 
good  phantom  circuit.  It  is  also  necessary 
to  keep  wires  which  are  phantomed  espe- 
cially clear  of  trees  and  other  influences 
which  would  tend  to  reduce  insulation. 
Such  circuits  must  be  kept  in  first-class  con- 
dition. In  spite  of  the  extra  care  required, 
this  device  has  made,  in  the  aggregate, 
thousands  of  miles  of  lines  more  profitable 
than  before  its  adoption,  by  adding  a  po- 
tential advance  in  returns  of  50  per  cent 
at  the  cost  of  a  comparatively  insignificant 


70 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


investment,   with  no  harmful   effect  upon 
the  service. 

Telephone  companies  now  carry  on  a 
large  part  of  the  communication  relating 
to  their  own  business  by  telegraph,  over 
circuits  which  at  the  same  moment  are 
earning  revenue  by  carrying  messages  for 
subscribers.  For  a  long  time  one  of  the 
elements  entering  into  the  cost  of  long  dis- 
tance telephone  service  was  the  use  of  the 
wire  by  operators  in  making  appointments 
necessary  for  completing  connection  previ- 
ous to  the  establishment  of  communication 


the  pair,  and  a  third  leasing  the  other 
wire,  the  two  latter  being  users  of  tele- 
graph service. 

The  wireless  telephone,  although  it  has 
not  been  regularly  applied  to  commercial 
service,  has  been  repeatedly  demonstrated 
practically  and  represents,  from  a  scien- 
tific standpoint,  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
art  of  speech  transmission.  The  principle 
upon  which  it  operates  involves  the  mod- 
ulation of  continuous  trains  of  electro- 
magnetic waves,  in  correspondence  with 
the  intricate  variations  of  sound  waves 


109  Court  Street,  Boston 


Courtesy  of  A.  Arthur  Ziegler 


The  Birthplace  of  the  Telephone  as  it  Appears  Today  in  Contrast  to  the  Original  View 

on  Page  5&ir 


between  subscribers.  Where  the  necessary 
information  is  transmitted  by  telegraph 
over  a  phantomed  telephone  circuit,  one 
paying  message  can  follow  another  as  rap- 
idly as  the  wire  can  be  released.  By  leas- 
ing the  use  of  a  telegraph  line  formed  in 
this  way  to  outside  persons,  a  telephone 
company  may  at  any  given  instant  be  de- 
riving from  a  particular  pair  of  wires 
income  from  three  separate  persons — one 
telephoning,  a  second  leasing  one  wire  of 


which  impinge  against  the  diaphragm  of 
a  transmitter.  These  electro-magnetic 
waves,  at  the  receiving  end,  pass  through 
a  detector  which  gathers  out  the  variations 
and  retransforms  their  special  type  of  en- 
ergy into  variations  of  electric  current 
capable  of  causing  vibrations  in  the  dia- 
phragm of  a  telephone  receiver  and  thus 
reproducing  speech.  Although  there  is  no 
commercial  wireless  telephone  service  in 
existence  today,  speech  has  been  success- 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


71 


fully  transmitted  by  means  of  radio  com- 
munication across  the  Atlantic  Ocean  from 
Washington  to  Paris,  and  from  Washing- 
ton across  the  North  American  Continent 
and  over  the  Pacific  Ocean  as  far  as 
Hawaii.  Telephone  communication  has 
also  been  established  with  a  battleship  at 
sea,  in  which  the  land  lines  of  the  Bell  Sys- 
tem were  used  in  combination  with  its  radio 
telephone  system,  which  bridged  the  gap 
between  the  seaboard  and  the  ship. 
Studies,  based  upon  these  and  many  other 
tests,  have  indicated  that  the  true  field  of 
wireless  telephony  is  to  extend  the  wire 
system  to  points  where  telephone  wires 
cannot  be  constructed  and  maintained, 
rather  than  for  uses  where  wire  systems 
can  be  employed. 

No  single  factor  has  played  so  great  a 
part  in  the  amelioration  of  the  conditions 
of  farm  life  in  the  United  States  as  has 
the  telephone.  Many  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  telephones  are  today  installed  in 
the  farm  houses  of  this  country — so  many 
and  so  widely  distributed  that  it  is  next  to 
impossible  to  secure  accurate  statistics  of 
their  number.  The  National  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company,  in  a  rate  circular  issued 
April  26,  1879,  recognized  in  a  prophetic, 
anticipatory  way  the  needs  of  these  iso- 
lated communities  in  the  rural  districts. 
Special  rates  were  made  for  lessees  of  a 
telephone  "for  use  between  residences 
when  connected  on  a  single  line  or  circuit 
for  social  purposes  exclusively."  Another 
rate  was  given  for  leases  for  "club  pur- 
poses," which  were  defined  as  covering 
cases  where  the  residences,  offices,  etc.,  of 
different  parties  were  connected  on  any 
single  line  or  circuit.  These  were  not  ex- 
change telephones,  but  represented  an  at- 
tempt to  serve  a  purely  neighborhood 
group.  Under  this  form  of  lease  a  group 
of  farmers  could  establish  a  line  and  each 
talk  with  all  the  others  on  the  same  line, 


although,  as  they  were  not  connected  to 
an  exchange,  they  could  not  talk  with  any 
person  connected  to  another  line. 

The  late  Morris  F.  Tyler,  when  presi- 
dent of  the  Southern  New  England  Tele- 
phone Co.,  operating  in  Connecticut,  about 
1 88 1  began  to  develop  this  kind  of  tele- 
phone use  and  carried  it  to  its  next  logical 
step,  the  connection  of  these  lines  to  the 
nearest  exchange  belonging  to  the  com- 
pany. An  annual  rental  was  charged  for 
the  use  of  the  instruments  and  lines  within 
the  group  of  neighbors,  because  in  Con- 
necticut the  lines  had  been  built  by  the 
company  and  not  by  the  farmers.  A  small 
toll  charge  also  was  made  whenever  any 
of  the  club  subscribers  desired  to  reach 
the  exchange  with  which  their  circuit  was 
connected. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  develop- 
ment of  telephone  service  in  the  United 
States  outside  of  the  strictly  urban  dis- 
tricts. The  methods  above  described  were 
soon  utilized  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
During  the  next  few  years,  however,  com- 
paratively little  was  done  to  push  this 
form  of  service,  as  the  extraordinary  de- 
mand for  telephones  in  the  cities  and 
larger  towns  not  only  took  all  the  time  and 
attention  of  the  executive  but  made  such 
demands  upon  financial  resources  that  it 
was  impossible  to  devote  any  money  to  the 
development  of  rural  service. 

In  1893,  after  the  expiration  of  the  fun- 
damental patents  on  the  telephone  a  num- 
ber of  companies  began  the  manufacture 
of  telephone  instruments.  Inasmuch  as 
the  demand  in  the  cities  was  at  that  time 
fairly  well  met,  these  manufacturers 
undertook  to  aid  in  the  development  of 
rural  lines  as  a  market  for  their  instru- 
ments. The  movement  was  successful  and 
the  number  of  telephones  on  farms  was 
greatly  increased.  The  growth  has  been 
constant  ever  since. 


72 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


832  1917, 

IN  A  SHILLING  ON  THIS  SITE  AN  ELECTRIC 
PLANT  SUPPLYING  THE  FIRST"  EDISON 
UHDEilGI-  ENTRAL  STATION  SYSTi 

JN'TfflS  COUNWAN'P  FORMING  THE  ORIGIN 
OF  1  KWYOKjCS  f^l         ELECTRICAL  SYSTEM 
BEG/JI  OPES  SEPT.  4, 

/-CCOI^-  C2IVEI 

BY   . 


882 


HOlVf 


TO 


TABLET    (' 


Photographic  Bureau  New  York  Edison  Co. 

Memorial  Tablet  unveiled  at  the  New  York  Electrical    Exposition    Oct.    18,    1917.      Now 

Permanently  Located  on  the  Site  "of  the  first  Edison  Generating  Station 

at  257  Pearl  Street,  New  York 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE    CENTRAL  STATION 

_ 

THE   BIRTH   OF   COMMERCIAL  ACTIVITY   IN   ELECTRIC   LIGHTING 
THE  RIVALRIES  IN  A  NEW  INDUSTRY. 


WHAT  would  the  Story  of  Elec- 
tricity be  without  the  Story  of  the 
Central  Station?   Surely,  it  would 
be  minor  in  detail  and  devoid  of  much  that 
fascinates    and    interests    the    student    of 
electricity  of  today. 

In  the  midst  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
electrical  properties  of  today  it  is  hard  to 
carry  the  imagination  back  to  the  time 
when  no  central  station  existed  or  had  even 
been  conceived — a  time  of  only  the  span 
of  one  generation  and  well  within  the 
memory  of  men  still  living  and  active. 

The  First  Central  Station. 

The  year  1882  marks  the  constructed 
conception  of  the  first  Edison  station — the 
first  to  fulfill  our  present  conception  of  a 
Central  Station,  that  is,  a  source  of  electric 
supply,  divisible  for  sale  to  each  and  all 
for  every  use.  The  standard  of  that  sta- 
tion was  not  maintained  in  some  few  suc- 
ceeding years  but  its  salient  features  orig- 
inated and  still  constitute  the  most  pri- 
mary and  vital  features  of  Central  Station 
practice  to  this  date,  which  is  an  extraor- 
dinary tribute  to  the  inventor,  the  more  so 
when  one  realizes  the  state  of  the  prior  art. 

For  the  preceding  eighty  years  a  series 
of  apparently  unrelated  electrical  discov- 
eries had  been  an  aimless  progress  with 
no  commercial  impetus.  Steam  as  a  mo- 
tive power  had  become  available  through 
the  invention  of  the  steam  engine  by  Watt 
in  1769.  Dynamic  electricity,  as  generated 
by  chemical  batteries,  was  discovered  in 
1800.  The  dynamo  originated  in  1831 
with  the  discovery  of  electro-magnetic  rota- 


tion by  Faraday.  He  demonstrated  it  by 
the  spinning  of  a  little  copper  disc  between 
the  poles  of  a  permanent  magnet.  The 
armature  was  first  wire-wound  and  the  first 
commutator  built  in  1832  by  Pixii.  The 
field  was  first  energized  by  a  wire-wound 
electro-magnet  in  1845.  The  dynamo  field 
was  first  made  of  the  multipolar  type  and 
the  fields  first  compounded  in  1881.  The 
arc  light  was  first  produced  in  1802  by 
Davy  and  it  was  first  publicly  exhibited  by 
him  in  1810,  chemical  batteries  furnishing 
the  necessary  current.  These  lights  at- 
tained little  commercial  importance  until 
1876,  when  Chas.  F.  Brush  completed  his 
"system"  of  dynamo,  arc  lamps,  regu- 
lator and  accessories.  The  Thomson- 
Houston  "system"  was  completed  likewise 
soon  afterward.  The  electric  motor  was 
built  first  in  1833,  antedating  the  dynamo, 
and  a  motor  built  in  1838  propelled  a 
small  boat.  Various  motors  were  built  in 
the  following  years,  but  not  in  a  large, 
commercial  way  until  the  introduction  of 
the  Sprague  motor  in  1884.  The  in- 
candescent lamp  of  high  resistance  type, 
the  basis  of  modern  illumination,  was 
invented  in  1879.  A  miniature  elec- 
tric railway  carried  passengers  at  an 
Exposition  in  1879.  The  first  storage 
battery,  then  called  a  "box  of  elec- 
tricity," was  built  in  1881.  No  units 
of  electrical  measurement  were  authorita- 
tively defined  until  the  Paris  Electrical 
Congress  of  1881  adopted  the  ampere,  the 
ohm  and  the  volt.  These  various  advances 
then  had  no  commercial  importance.  All 
the  devices  were  built  of  small  size  and 
were  not  suitable  for  commercial  use.  The 


73 


74 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


familiar  construction  materials  of  today 
were  not  available,  the  inventor  had  even 
to  insulate  his  own  wire. 

The   Birth   of   Commercial  Activity. 

The  Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadel- 
phia in  1876  marked  the  birth  of  commer- 
cial activity  in  electrical  enterprises.  No 
such  activity  had  existed  previously  except 
in  the  telegraph. 

The  telephone  invented  by  Bell  was  first 
exhibited  to  the  public  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition  in  1876.  Great  public  interest 
was  aroused.  Commercial  expansion  re- 
quired something  more  than  the  telephone 
alone;  that  is,  it  required  the  counterpart 
of  the  central  station,  or  the  telephone 
exchange.  The  first  exchange  was  built 
in  1878,  and  from  that  date  to  this  the 
expansion  in  the  use  of  the  telephone  has 
been  no  less  marvelous  than  that  of  its 
kindred,  the  central  industry. 

The  arc  light  was  the  next  electrical  ap- 
plication to  secure  a  commercial  start. 
More  illumination  in  public  streets  than 
gas  afforded  was  needed;  arc  lights  became 
the  new  fad,  and  hundreds  of  street  light- 
ing plants  were  built,  supplying  cities  and 
towns  everywhere.  The  movement  had 
its  greatest  force  from  1880  to  1893,  or 
up  to  the  time  of  the  Chicago  Exposition. 

The  development  was  accomplished  by 
"systems"  ;  that  is,  each  inventor,  dozens  of 
them,  invented  his  particular  dynamo,  arc 
lamps,  regulators  and  accessories,  known 
as  a  "system,"  each  exploited  by  its  par- 
ticular manufacturing  company,  and  all 
competing  intensively  with  each  other. 
Each  local  company  was  organized  to  se- 
cure, or  organized  on  the  basis  of  having 
secured,  one  contract;  that  is,  the  municipal 
street  lighting  contract  of  its  own  city.  The 
contracts  were  for  street  lights  of  "2,000" 
or  "1,200"  candle  power,  later  qualified 
as  "nominal,"  and  otherwise  much  of  the 
form  still  prevailing;  that  is,  for  periods 
of  one  to  ten  years,  for  hours  of  the  night 
from  at  or  near  sunset  to  at  or  near  sun- 
rise, or  to  ii  P.  M.,  or  to  12  P.  M.,  or 
excepting  moonlight  hours,  variously 
called  all  night,  half  night  and  moonlight 
schedules,  each  with  various  qualifications. 
These  companies  owned,  operated,  main- 
tained and  trimmed  these  arc  lamps,  most- 
ly located  in  the  streets,  a  few  in  stores  and 


public  buildings,  and  sold  light  as  distin- 
guished from  electricity.  These  com- 
panies formed  the  nucleus,  however,  from 
which  in  later  years  was  developed  the 
central  station  industry. 

The  hours  of  lighting  fixed  the  hours  of 
station  operation,  varying  from  1,500  to 
4,500  hours  per  year;  hence,  they  fixed 
many  expenses.  The  idle,  non-revenue 
daylight  hours  of  the  many  arc  street  light- 
ing investments  were  an  acute  handicap  to 
a  great  body  of  ambitious  men  who  wanted 
to  broaden  the  service;  and  this  handicap 
operated  later,  more  forcibly  than  any 
other  visible  conditions,  to  stimulate  and 
co-ordinate  electrical  undertakings  and  to 
crystallize  them  into  the  modern  central 
station. 

Edison  was  finishing  his  brilliant  inven- 
tions in  the  telegraph  field  when  the  arc 
lighting  systems  were  being  exploited, 
and  turned  his  attention  to  incandescent 
lighting,  power,  railway  and  other  appli- 
cations of  electricity.  He  was  active  in 
various  directions,  building  a  dynamo  in 
1878,  but  his  crowning  invention  on  Octo- 
ber 21,  1879,  was  the  high  resistance  in- 
candescent lamp,  the  first  incandescent  lamp 
built  for  parallel  operation.  This  was 
called  "dividing"  electricity,  in  the  phrase 
of  that  day,  and  created  the  greatest  public 
interest  and  excitement.  The  system  was 
condemned  by  many  leading  scientists,  oth- 
erwise very  competent  men.  This  "divid- 
ing" of  electricity  made  a  permanent  im- 
pression on  the  public  mind.  Today  it  is 
the  standard  of  distribution  the  world 
over.  As  the  champion  of  the  divided  sup- 
ply of  electricity,  and  with  his  small  in- 
candescent lamps,  Edison  proceeded  with 
the  greatest  courage  to  put  his  concep- 
tions into  concrete  expression. 

Two  Edison  stations  were  started  in 
1 88 1-2.  One  in  New  York  City,  operated 
by  steam;  the  other,  in  Appleton,  Wis- 
consin, operated  by  water  power.  The 
station  designer  of  today  who  has  to  select 
an  appropriate  collection  of  apparatus  to 
be  contained  in  a  suitable  building,  does 
not  realize  what  designing  meant  in  those 
days.  With  little  or  no  precedent  for  a 
guide  Edison  had  to  conceive  the  necessi- 
ties, invent,  design  and  build  not  only  the 
dynamos  but  the  station  rheostats,  switch- 
es, ammeters,  voltmeters,  regulators,  fuses 
and  all  the  numerous  other  things  required 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


75 


within  the  plant.  Nor  did  his  labors  stop 
there,  for  he  had  also  to  create  all  the 
various  devices  required  in  the  distribution 
system,  including  fuses,  switches,  sockets 
and  the  like.  And  the  miracle  is  that  he 
made  a  complete  workable  system. 

The  New  York  station  of  1882  operated 
in  "parallel"  at  no  volts  direct  current, 
the  engines  were  directly  connected  to  dy- 
namos, the  boilers  were  water  tube  type, 
Babcock  &  Wilcox  make,  and  the  distribu- 
tion system  was  underground.  Strange,  is 
it  not,  that  this  first  American  central  sta- 
tion initiated  some  of  the  best  practice  of 
today,  thirty-seven  years  later,  when  over 
5,000  central  stations  are  operating  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Edison  system  was  installed  in 
some  scores  of  cities  during  the  next  few 
years.  All  these  early  Edison  plants 
operated  incandescent  lamps  almost  ex- 
clusively. The  current  could  be  measured 
by  meters  of  an  electrolytic  type,  but  not 
many  plants  used  them.  The  meter  plates 
were  weighed  and  the  deposit  of  metal  was 
expressed  in  "lamp-hours."  One  cent  a 
lamp  hour  was  considered  a  very  fair 
charge,  equivalent  to  about  14  cents  per 
kilowatt  hour  (our  familiar  friend,  the 
kilowatt  hour  was  not  christened  or  legal 
until  1893-4).  Most  lamps  were  charged 
for  at  a  monthly  rate.  In  form,  then,  the 
early  Edison  stations  sold  illumination, 
and  not  current.  Arc  lamps  were  rare  on 
these  circuits. 

The  Sprague  motor  for  Edison  circuits 
was  first  produced  commercially  in  1884. 
The  introduction  of  these  motors  was  the 
first  distinct  broadening  of  the  Edison 
commercial  field.  The  service  was  suitable 
for  a  great  variety  of  uses,  and  in  a  way, 
although  a  minor  one,  was  beginning  to 
determine  a  wider  usage. 

The  commercial  situation  had  developed 
to  this  point  in  1886.  The  arc  light  com- 
panies located  in  every  city  could  extend 
their  circuits  for  some  miles  and  reach 
every  part  of  the  city,  but  only  could  sell 
arc  illumination  and  were  hungry  for  a 
wider  field  of  service.  The  Edison  Com- 
panies located  in  few  cities  only,  could  sup- 
ply in  principle  every  need  with  the  220- 
volt  direct  current  service,  but  could  de- 
liver current  only  a  short  distance,  a  very 
few  thousand  feet  from  the  station. 


The  foregoing  situation  was  revolution- 
ized by  the  next  development.  The  first 
alternating  current  system  with  transform- 
ers and  parallel  distribution  built  in  this 
country  was  constructed  in  1885  at  Great 
Harrington,  Mass.,  by  William  Stanley. 
The  Westinghouse  Company  had  initiated 
the  development  in  this  country.  The  arc 


Edison's  first  Generating  Station  at  Appleton,  Wis. 

light  companies  quickly  recognized  the  op- 
portunity to  add  indoor  incandescent  light- 
ing to  their  service,  and  within  a  few  years 
hundreds  of  high  voltage  alternators  were 
set  up  alongside  the  older  arc  dyna- 
mos, primary  wires  erected  alongside 
the  arc  circuits,  and  alternating  cur- 
rent distributed  for  incandescent  light- 
ing without  those  limitations  of  dis- 
tance that  were  so  restricting  to  the 
Edison  companies.  The  arc  companies 
had  now  made  the  definite  start  toward 
furnishing  a  complete  central  station  ser- 
vice. The  allied  modern  hydro-electric 
development  was  started  in  1890  by  build- 
ing a  long  distance  line  in  the  West  to 
transmit  alternating  current  from  a  water 
power  station.  All  these  earlier  alternat- 
ing systems  were  of  high  frequency;  that 
is,  125  or  133  cycles  per  second.  Inte- 
grating watt  meters  to  measure  the  sales 
of  alternating  current  became  available 
with  the  inventions  around  1888  of  Shal- 
lenberger  and  Thomson.  One  more  great 
invention  was  necessary  to  start  the  unifi- 
cation of  these  various  electric  systems  and 
to  promote  the  universality  of  electric 
supply. 

Nikola  Tesla  had  been  annoyed  in  some 
early  work  by  the  sparking  of  a  dynamo 
commutator  and  his  study  of  such  phe- 


76 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


nomena  was  to  be  rewarded  by  one  of  the 
greatest  of  inventions.  The  fruition  came 
in  1888  with  his  polyphase  apparatus  giv- 
ing us  the  commutatorless  alternating  cur- 
rent motor,  with  better  means  of  extending 
the  limits  of  transmission,  and  of  corre- 
lating the  work  of  alternating  and  direct 
currents  without  restricting  the  usefulness 
of  either.  The  invention  of  Tesla  marked 
a  great  step  onward,  but  was  not  fully 
appreciated  in  the  midst  of  other  activities 


The    present    Central    Station    of    the    New    York 
Edison  Co. 


of  that  date  or  of  this.    Thereafter  hydro- 
electric developments  had  a  new  and  in- 
calculable value. 

Central  station  progress  can  hardly  be 
understood  without  some  knowledge  of 
concurrent  commercial  conditions.  In  the 
earlier  years  there  had  been  great  rivalry 
among  the  arc  systems,  and  these  then  had 
little  in  common  with  the  Edison  system. 
The  electric  railways  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon with  either.  The  telephone  compa- 
nies sought  to  prevent  the  introduction  of 
electric  railway  systems  with  grounded  cir- 
cuits, as  these  nearly  ruined  the  telephone 
service  which  then  operated  also  with 
grounded  circuits.  The  Edison  inter- 


ests opposed  the  introduction  of  high 
voltage  alternating  systems  then  insulated 
with  some  uncertainty,  and  sought  patent 
control  of  incandescent  lighting.  But  this 
manufacturing  rivalry  and  patent  litigation 
had  to  yield  to  the  compelling  force  of 
central  station  progress.  The  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company,  then  having 
acquired  control  of  most  American  arc 
systems,  and  prominent  in  electric  railway 
installation,  and  the  Edison  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  always  the  great  champion 
of  low  voltage  direct  current  supply,  con- 
solidated in  1892  to  form  the  present  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  The  latter  in  turn 
agreed  with  the  Westinghouse  Company, 
at  that  time,  as  now,  a  distinctive  leader 
in  alternating  work,  to  pool  patent  rights, 
and  thus  the  field  was  cleared  for  the  next 
stage  of  central  station  growth. 

The  unification  of  electric  supply,  that 
is,  supplying  from  one  station  and  one 
type  of  generator  electricity  for  each  and 
every  purpose,  had  become  possible  with 
the  preceding  inventions;  manufacturing 
and  patent  interests  had  been  harmonized 
to  an  important  degree,  professional  re- 
lations were  more  friendly,  and  the  ten 
years  from  1893  to  I9°3>  while  partly 
years  of  business  depression,  were  marked 
principally  as  the  active  years  of  develop- 
ing central  station  inventions  and  methods 
and  absorbing  them  into  general  practice. 
Central  stations  were  becoming  larger  and 
more  truly  performing  their  full  functions. 
Many  such  plants  were  built.  At  the  same 
time  further  needed  inventions  were  made. 
One  in  particular  helped  to  simplify  sta- 
tion design.  The  old  "open"  series  arcs 
had  required  numerous  small  dynamos  in 
the  stations,  these  dynamos  not  ordinarily 
exceeding  a  capacity  of  25  kw.  These 
dynamos  had  been  driven  by  steam  en- 
gines, later  by  electric  motors,  in  both 
cases  crowding  the  stations  with  small 
units.  With  the  invention  of  "enclosed"  arc 
lamps,  current  was  taken  from  the  main 
generators,  without  its  mechanical  trans- 
formation, the  small  generating  units  were 
abolished,  and  generating  units  were  con- 
solidated. Many  engineering  practices 
were  also  standardized  and  developed. 
The  periodicity  of  alternating  circuits  be- 
came standardized,  generally  at  60  cycles 
per  second,  in  lieu  of  the  earlier  higher 
frequencies.  Transmission  potentials  in- 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


77 


creased  from  ten  up  to  sixty  kilovolts  and 
distances  of  transmission  from  thirty  miles 
to  over  one  hundred  miles;  and  the  prac- 
tice of  delivering  current  to  substations  be- 
came common.  The  uses  of  electricity 
broadened  in  character  and  increased  in 
volume. 

All  these  conditions  helped  the  central 
station  industry  immensely.  The  direct 
connection  of  generator  to  engine  became 
the  established  practice.  Previously,  for 
various  reasons,  electrical  and  otherwise, 


reduced  from  somewhat  over  four  to  some- 
what under  three  watts  per  candle.  Never- 
theless its  great  convenience  and  the  small- 
ness  of  units  maintained  its  position  for  in- 
door use  against  the  far  more  efficient  arc 
lamp.  But  in  1906  the  tungsten  filament 
lamp  was  introduced,  and  later  the  nitrogen 
filled  lamp,  these  having  some  three  times 
the  illumination  per  watt  of  the  carbon 
lamp.  A  prejudicial  effect  was  feared, 
namely  that  the  central  stations  would 
suffer  decreased  electric  consumption  and 


The   Fisk   Street  Station  of   the   Commonwealth    Edison    Company   of    Chicago,    111. 


belted  generators  were  the  practice,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  original  Edi- 
son station  in  New  York  was  designed  and 
built  with  direct  connected  "Jumbo"  units. 
The  growth  of  switchboard  practice  to 
handle  a  greater  energy  and  higher  volt- 
ages was  another  feature.  The  higher 
transmission  voltages  permitted  the  build- 
ing and  use  of  hydro-electric  plants  at 
increasing  distances.  Lighting  stations, 
so-called,  began  to  supply  street  railway 
current.  In  general,  the  central  station  in- 
dustry began  to  be  unified,  not  only  by  in- 
tention but  by  accomplishment. 

Incandescent  lighting  had  been  estab- 
lished with  the  carbon  filament  lamp,  and 
in  the  course  of  its  use  from  1882  to  1906 
no  marked  increase  of  efficiency  had  been 
effected — its  current  consumption  had  been 


correspondingly  decreased  earnings.  For- 
tunately these  lamps  so  stimulated  illumina- 
tion that  on  the  other  hand  electric  sales 
have  increased  tremendously,  stabilizing 
and  swelling  the  central  station  income. 

No  great  inventions  in  electric  motors, 
other  than  those  of  Tesla,  had  occurred 
since  the  central  station  industry  started, 
but  the  advances  in  engineering  design,  the 
decreased  cost,  the  application  to  new  uses, 
the  constantly  growing  appreciation  of 
their  convenience  and  economy,  all  pushed 
by  aggressive  managements  of  the  local 
companies,  had  caused  stationary  motor 
consumption  of  current  to  increase  at  a 
higher  rate  than  that  of  lighting  current. 

The  growth  of  central  station  output 
due  to  the  cumulative  effect  of  more  and 
more  lighting,  motor  service  and  other 


78 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


uses,  combined  with  larger  areas  of  supply, 
had  reached  such  a  point  by  1903,  that  the 
more  important  local  companies  could  not 
get  engines  large  enough  to  keep  the  gen- 
erating units  in  a  station  within  the  limits 
preferred  for  the  best  economic  results.  At 
that  time  steam  turbines  of  a  few  hundred 
kilowatt  capacity  had  been  developed  to 
drive  electric  generators,  and  a  few  had 
been  installed  in  central  stations.  It  was 
not  then  realized  what  a  part  the  steam 
turbine  would  soon  play  in  the  larger  cen- 


half.  Realize  what  this  means  as  the 
furthest  present  reach  in  the  expansion  of 
the  industry.  The  earlier  stations  were 
often  under  100  kw.  capacity,  the  latest 
approach  200,000  kw.  capacity. 

This  review  has  dealt  with  the  stages  of 
progress,  their  causes  and  living  economic 
results  rather  than  with  the  four  station 
walls  and  the  throbbing  masses  therein  of 
steel,  copper  and  insulation  wrought  into 
such  mysterious  usefulness.  A  few  words 
about  station  practice  is  interesting. 


Interior  of  a   Modern   Power  House— The   Essex   Station  of   the   Public   Service   Company  of   New  Jersey 

Two  25,000  KW  Curtis  Steam  Turbines 


tral  station  practice.  At  last  one  coura- 
geous captain  of  industry  insisted  on  a  five 
thousand-kilowatt  unit,  and  the  rest  of  the 
story  is  short.  The  first  all-turbine  central 
station  was  built  in  1903  in  Chicago  with 
5,000  kw.  units.  To-day  35,000  kw.  units 
are  available,  and  I  suppose  larger  ones 
could  be  built  if  needed.  Mechanical  and 
electrical  limitations  on  the  size  of  central 
stations  are  now  remote  so  far  as  any 
present  or  prospective  need  is  evident. 
Likewise  boilers  are  larger,  steam  pres- 
sures are  higher,  vacuums  are  better,  steam 
is  superheated,  and  many  other  improve- 
ments have  been  made.  Not  only  has  the 
steam  turbine  removed  restrictions  of  size 
for  central  stations,  but  it  has  reduced  the 
steam  consumption  per  kw.  hour  about  one- 


The  location  of  the  earlier  station  was 
close  to  the  "load,"  without  regard  to  coal 
deliveries  by  rail  or  condensing  water  sup- 
ply. The  outputs  were  diminutive,  hours 
short,  and  engines  non-condensing.  The 
housing  of  the  earliest  stations  was  often 
in  the  cheapest  wooden  structure,  some- 
times partly  of  corrugated  iron,  sometimes 
a  basement  or  other  factory  space,  occa- 
sionally a  brick  building,  and  never  with 
any  architectural  effect.  The  steam  supply 
came  from  horizontal  return  tubular  boil- 
ers, with  cheap  iron  stacks,  in  sizes  of  75 
to  125  h.p.  and  operated  at  about  80  Ibs. 
The  motive  power  was  secured  from  high 
speed  engines,  horizontal,  center  or  side 
crank,  of  60  to  125  h.p.  and  with  econo- 
mies, low  at  best,  dependent  on  valves  of 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


79 


uncertain  tightness.  The  dynamos  were 
all  belted;  those  for  Edison  incandescent 
system  were  of  30  to  60  k.w.  each;  those 
for  arc  systems,  of  30  to  50  lights  (15  to 
30  kw. )  each;  those  for  railway,  of  60  or 
62  kw.  each.  The  switchboard  instru- 
ments had  wooden  backs  and  were  screwed 
to  wooden  frames  or  walls.  'No  watt 
meters  were  available  to  measure  output, 
nor  any  recording  instruments.  As  sta- 
tions, grew  there  followed  an  uncomfort- 
able multiplication  of  boilers,  engines  and 


water  tube  boilers,  140  Ibs.  working  pres- 
sure, compound  condensing  engines,  26 
inches  vacuum,  direct  connected  generators 
and  marble  or  slate  switchboards,  all 
housed  in  a  fireproof  station  of  attractive 
design.  Station  outputs  were  outgrowing 
the  economic  capacity  of  steam  or  gas  en- 
gines, and  the  steam  turbine  came  to  the 
rescue.  Those  built  about  1900  were  of 
100,  200,  then  500  kw.  capacity;  in  1903 
they  jumped  to  5,000  kw.  capacity  and 
now  to  35,000  kw.,  as  previously  stated. 


35,000  KW  Curtis  Steam  Turbine  in  the  Centra      1  Station  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company 


dynamos.  The  above  represented  ordi- 
nary practice  up  to  1903  with  important 
exceptions.  The  Edison  station  practice 
was  much  more  advanced;  it  had  better 
engineering  talent  and  more  opportunity  to 
use  it.  Many  of  the  larger  arc  stations 
began  to  use  Corliss  engines  and  counter- 
shafts after  1893  to  drive  groups  of 
dynamos.  As  outputs  grew,  stations  were 
located  alongside  railroad  spurs  and  acces- 
sible to  condensing  water.  All  these  prac- 
tices improved  gradually  in  the  aggregate 
as  new  stations  were  built  and  old  ones  re- 
constructed and  consolidated.  By  1903 
good  practice  in  new  stations  required 


The  condenser  usually  of  the  jet  type  for 
steam  engines  gave  all  needed  vacuum  at 
26  inches.  The  highest  possible  vacuum 
is  advantageous  for  turbines,  and  con- 
denser engineering  meets  the  need  with 
surface  condensers  capable  of«  29  inches 
under  stated  conditions. 

Stations  today  are  untrammeled  by  in- 
ternal conditions.  Single  boilers  operated 
at  well  over  200  Ibs.  can  furnish  steam 
for  not  less  than  10,000  kw.  output.  Single 
steam  turbines  will  generate  over  35,000 
kw.  The  dynamo,  formerly  the  conspicu- 
ous object  in  the  station,  is  now  lost  among 
auxiliaries,  transformers  and  switchboards. 


80 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Any  needed  output  can  be  supplied,  sta- 
tions of  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  kilo- 
watts are  readily  built.  The  problems  are 
external.  To  find  enough  condensing 
water  and  coal  storage  are  the  essentials. 
The  feature  of  the  last  ten  or  fifteen 
years  has  been  the  great  expansion  of  cen- 
tral station  service.  To  make  all  the  mag- 
nificent inventions  permitting  the  creation 
of  the  industry  has  been  a  great  task  but 
one  requiring  the  services  of  but  few  great 
men;  to  overcome  the  inertia  of  the  gen- 
eral public,  to  educate  it,  to  make  it  as- 
similate and  absorb  the  invented  appliances 
actuated  by  so  unknown  an  agency,  has 
been  a  greater  task,  and  one  requiring  the 
services  of  many  men  of  the  most  varied 
ability.  It  came  to  be  realized  by  1903 
that  small  local  service  companies  operat- 
ing independently  could  not  most  fully 
serve  their  communities.  Such  a  company 
could  not  risk  the  investment  for  the  sup- 
ply of  power  to  the  larger  local  manufac- 
turers; it  could  not  command  funds  freely 
for  other  extensions ;  it  could  not'  afford 
the  many  specialists  needed  for  the  inten- 
sive development  of  new  services;  its 
smaller  station  could  not  generate  current 
cheaply;  it  could  not  afford  the  best  en- 
gineers to  keep  down  its  expenses  or  to 
plan  and  direct  its  construction  work.  A 
continuation  of  these  conditions  would 
have  throttled  the  industry.  How  has  the 
situation  been  met?  A  large  share,  say 
four-fifths,  of  the  present  volume  of  cen- 
tral station  business  has  been  united  under 
the  control  of  perhaps  100  companies, 
either  large  ones  within  important  cities 
or  "Holding  Companies."  The  latter  are 
so  designated  as  being  the  holders  of  the 
securities,  or  the  property,  of  local  oper- 
ating central  stations.  These  local  prop- 
erties are  sometimes  contiguous,  and  joined 
by  transmission  lines,  sometimes  largely 
in  one  State,  or  sometimes  widely  scattered 
through  many  States,  but  in  any  case  one 
central  management  guides  all,  combines 
the  purchases,  finances  the  growth  and 
standardizes  the  construction.  In  union 
there  is  strength.  Compared  with  the  sep- 
arate local  companies  the  "Holding  Com- 
pany" management  is  better,  purchases  are 
made  in  quantity  cheaper,  the  financing  is 
adequate,  the  construction  is  superior.  In 
particular,  the  Igrowth  is  stimulated  in- 
tensively by  specialists  to  the  advantage  of 


the  Company  and  the  still  greater  advan- 
tage of  the  public. 

These  big  city  companies  and  holding 
companies  have  extended  transmission 
lines  to  interconnect  steam  and  hydro 
plants  and  urban  services  until  these  cir- 
cuits now  form  an  almost  continuous  net 
work  from  Montreal  to  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico and  thence  to  Chicago.  Electric  ser- 
vice is  now  visualized,  not  as  bounded  by 
urban  limits  but  in  state-wide  terms.  The 
movement  came  most  opportunely.  Not 
sooner.  Could  the  large  capital  necessary 
have  been  secured,  nor  sooner  could  such 
able  experienced  and  energetic  men  have 
been  available  for  the  work.  The  exten- 
sion of  electric  service  has  been  tremen- 
dously beneficial  to  the  general  public,  al- 
though the  value  of  the  service  and  the 
effective  labors  of  the  "Holding  Com- 
panies" have  been  little  appreciated.  This 
period  should  be  considered  as  the  latest 
and  greatest  of  the  central  station  industry. 

The  central  station  industry,  unknown 
thirty-six  years  ago,  was  created  by  a  few 
pioneers,  often  unrewarded  for  their  work, 
which  now  ranks  among  the  great  services 
to  humanity.  Hardly  a  business  or  home 
but  uses  the  electric  supply.  As  an  illumi- 
nant  it  preserves  the  purity  of  the  air  we 
breathe;  as  an  ozonator,  of  the  water  we 
drink;  as  a  heat  source,  of  the  food  we 
eat.  It  conserves  human  and  animal  labor 
and  does  many  things  neither  could  do. 
It  transmits  power  from  its  point  of  origin 
instantaneously  to  any  selected  point  of 
use.  Electricity  is  indispensable  to  modern 
life.  Its  usefulness  cannot  be  measured. 

The  whole  electrical  industry  in  1914 
was  exceeded  by  three  industries  only  and 
was  growing  faster  than  they.  The  three 
were — food,  textiles  and  iron.  The  values 
of  electrical  products  were  about  half 
those  of  food,  two-thirds  those  of  textiles 
and  two-thirds  those  of  iron  with  steel. 

Statistics  afford  a  measure  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  industry.  Full  census  figures 
are  not  available  earlier  than  1902  nor 
later  than  1912. 

The  investment  in  central  stations,  ex- 
cluding electric  railways  and  plants  oper- 
ated privately  by  factories,  hotels,  etc., 
was  well  over  two  billion  dollars  in  1912. 

A  tabulation  of  census  figures  for  1912, 
1907  and  1902  gives  the  clearest  picture 
of  growth : 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


81 


Each  five  years  has  seen  a  doubling  of 

Statistics.                       1912  1907                      1902 

Output  in  KWH.   11,532,963,006.  5,862,276,737.      2,507,051,115. 

[ncome  in  Dollars        302,115,599.  175,642,338.           85,700  605. 

Generators  in  KW           5,134,689.  2,709,225.              1,212,235. 

Av.   Size  in   KW.                     408.  223.                         97. 


of 


The  growth  has  been  slight  in  number 


Stations     .  . 
Generators 


5,221. 
12,597. 


3,620. 
12,484. 


The  entrance  and  adoption  into  the  in- 
dustry  of   alternating   current   generators 


The  central  station  industry  doubles, 
doubles  and  doubles  again  in  magniture 
with  such  ease  and  quietness  that  scarcely 
anyone  now  appreciates  the  growth  and  its 
influence  not  only  on  industry  but  on  our 
very  civilization.  It  is  becoming  the  pre- 
dominating material  influence  as  the  basis 
of  our  civilization.  The  future  sees  no 
end  to  the  growth  of  the  central  station 
industry.  As  respects  territorial  expan- 


The  River  Station  of  the  Buffalo  General   Electric  Company 
(A  Descriptive  Article  of  this  great  Station  Appears  on  a  later   Page  of  this   Volume) 


(and  their  per  cent  in  respect  to  other 
types)  and  of  steam  and  water  turbines  is 
shown  thus : 

A.  C.  Generators..  4,661,199.  2,221,773.  736,304. 

%to  all  types 91%  81%                       61% 

Steam    Turbines..  3,054,456.  817,410.  nominal 

Water    Turbines..  2,471,081.  1,349,087.  438,472. 

The  connected  load  on  all  central  (and 
railway)  stations  follows: 

Arc    Lamps...  560,981.  635,815.  419,561. 

Incandescents 85,557,819.  45,991,836.  19,636,729. 

Motors     435,473.  187,652.  111,113. 

Motor  H.  P 4,130,619.  1,807,949.  473,693. 

Meters   3,617,189.  1,897,803.  639,290. 

The  latest  figures  above  are  for  the  in- 
dustry five  years  ago.  In  the  subsequent 
six  years  to  date  the  industry  has  grown 
as  never  before  and  it  is  believed  these 
1912  figures  have  again  been  doubled. 


sion,  all  urban  homes  and  industries  al- 
ready have  electric  service.  Many  lines 
already  join  groups  of  cities  and  towns. 
Transmission  lines  are  becoming  continu- 
ous. As  more  water  powers  are  developed 
the  net  work  will  grow.  As  more  rail- 
roads are  electrified  the  service  will  be 
spread  immensely.  Before  many  years 
every  city  and  town,  all  important  rail- 
roads and  many  farms  will  have  electric 
service  available.  Do  not  the  railroads 
and  the  farmers  need  it? 

The  great  value  of  electric  power  for 
steam  railroads  has  been  most  convincingly 
demonstrated  on  a  large  scale  in  recent 
years.  The  principal  problem  is  the  one 
of  finance.  For  agricultural  use  there  are 


82 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


numerous  applications  to  lighten  the  bur- 
den of  the  farmer.  Invention  and  engi- 
neering practice  are  adequate  already  and 
it  remains  for  our  economic  life  to  as- 
similate and  apply  a  greatly  increased  vol- 
ume of  applications.  These  may  proceed 
in  an  orderly  and  systematic  way  which 
may  be  foreseen  and  predicted  as  to  char- 
acter and  extent,  but  not  in  rapidity,  the 
latter  depending  on  financial  conditions. 
We  may  look  forward  confidently  to  the 
time  a  few  decades  hence  when  all  fac- 
tories, all  steam  railroads  and  many  farm- 
ers will  use  electric  service  and  innumer- 
able other  uses  for  power,  heating,  etc., 
will  multiply  station  output.  The  central 
stations  will  then  pump  current  into  vast 
transmission  net  works  from  a  relatively 
few  stations  of  great  size  and  economy, 
and  the  present  output  will  be  multiplied 
many  fold.  But  what  will  the  inventor  do  ? 
Certainly  not  remain  idle.  Who  can  fore- 
tell the  character  of  coming  inventions? 
Fantastic  conceptions  are  necessary  to  fit 
the  case.  Tesla  may  realize  his  dream  of 
transmitting  unlimiting  power  through  ter- 
restrial distances  without  wires  and  a  fit- 
ting corollary  would  be  to  gather  the 
energy  from  celestial  space. 

No  other  industry  so  enormous  has  at- 
tained such  proportions  in  so  few  years. 
It  has  absorbed  the  life  energy  of  many 
men.  Dealing  with  so  invisible  an  agency 
has  required  great  and  peculiar  qualifica- 
tions of  its  developers.  To  appraise  their 
work  adequately  is  impossible. 

Edison  is  the  father  of  the  industry.  He 
conceived  the  central  station  idea  and  em- 
bodied it  in  the  Pioneer  plant.  He  at- 
tracted able  assistants,  among  them  Insull, 
Kruesi,  Andrews,  Leonard,  Lieb  and 
Edgar. 

Thomson  and  Brush  aided  the  later 
rapid  spread  of  the  industry  through  the 
arc  stations  of  their  systems  which  took 
up  the  central  station  service. 

Westinghouse  first  promoted  the  alter- 
nating system  and  Stanley  installed  the 
first  alternating  plant. 

Tesla,  by  the  polyphase  current  and  the 
rotating  field,  made  the  first  commercial 
alternating  current  motor,  harmonized  the 
conflict  of  types  of  apparatus  and  removed 
restrictions  of  distance  in  transmission. 

Curtiss  removed  restrictions  in  size  of 


stations  by  inventing  that  type  of  turbine 
with  which  the  first  all-turbine  station  was 
equipped,  the  type  since  so  largely  used, 
and  Emmett  has  performed  signal  service 
in  its  development. 

Coffin  stands  supreme  as  contributing 
more  to  create  the  magnitude  of  the  whole 
electrical  industry  than  any  one  or  many 
men  by  his  encouragement  of  invention 
along  useful  lines,  by  his  financial  powers, 
by  his  talent  for  organization,  by  his  tire- 
less energy,  by  his  courage  in  introducing 
and  his  abilities  in  selling  new  apparatus. 

For  many  years  in  large  cities  the  long 
established  Edison  companies,  now  grown 
to  enormous  proportions,  have  been  de- 
veloped and  managed  by  able  men,  such  as 
Insull  of  Chicago,  Lieb  and  Williams  of 
New  York,  Edgar  of  Boston,  Dow  of  De- 
troit, men  who  were  pioneers  in  the  indus- 
try more  than  thirty  years  ago,  men  who 
have  worked  with  sound  judgment,  and 
contributed  immensely  to  the  promotion  of 
the  service.  In  later  years  the  great  hold- 
ing companies  that  have  spread  the  gospel 
of  electric  service  far  and  wide  so  effect- 
ively have  found  their  inspiration  in  such 
men  as  Mitchell,  Doherty  and  Byllesby. 

Sargent  is  the  engineer  who  has  led  the 
way  in  the  advance  of  central  station  de- 
sign. Chicago  is  the  location  of  the  monu- 
ments, greatest  of  his  creations  and  of  all 
the  world.  Chicago  knew  no  central  sta- 
tion when  we  once  worked  there  together. 

Finally,  but  foremost,  is  Samuel  Insull 
of  Chicago.  Starting  as  an  aide  to  Edison 
before  the  first  station  was  built,  he  has 
always  been  identified  with  the  industry. 
Cumulatively,  in  recent  years,  he  has  typi- 
fied what  is  biggest  and  best.  Builder  of 
the  first  all-turbine  steam  central  station, 
now  leader  in  many  electrical  enterprises, 
with  rare  vision  and  faith  he  is  the  bold 
pilot  to  a  stupendous  future. 

Why  cannot  these  constructive  labors 
to  conserve  and  enrich  human  life  be  ap- 
preciated and  honored  more  publicly  than 
the  destructive  efforts  of  many  so-called 
social  reformers. 

It  has  been  my  great  privilege  to  serve 
in  this  industry,  to  watch  its  birth  and 
growth  and  to  know  all  the  men  above 
mentioned  (except  two)  and  to  know  a 
number  of  them  intimately. 

THEODORE  STEBBINS. 


THE   STORY 


ELECTRICITY 


83 


THE  ORIGINAL  XUFJES  AND  REGULATIONS  ON 


ELECTRICAL 

The  effort  to  control  the  electrical  fire 
hazard  in  the  city  of  New  York  by  the 
Fire  Underwriters  dates  back  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  commercial  use  of  electricity 
as  a  source  of  light  and  power.  Rules  and 
regulations  according  to  which  electric 
wiring  and  apparatus  should  be  installed 
were  drafted  by  the  Underwriters  in  con- 
sultation with  the  electrical  interests  as 
early  as  1881.  These  rules  have  been 
regularly  and  periodically  revised  since 
that  time  in  order  to  keep  pace  with  pro- 
gress in  the  art,  and  to  meet  developments 
found  to  be  necessary  by  experience  in  the 
field. 

It  may  be  of  some  historical  interest  to 
place  in  this  permanent  record  a  complete 
copy  of  the  Rules  above  referred  to  as 
having  been  drafted  in  1881,  and  which 
were  as  follows : 

NEW  YORK  BOARD  FIRE  UNDERWRITERS 
(Boreel  Building) 

115   Broadway 
Rooms  Nos.  32  to  38 
New  York,  October  19,  1881. 
The  New  York  Board  of  Fire  Under- 
writers at  a  meeting  held  this  day,  adopted 
the  following  standard  for  Electric  Light 
Wires,  Lamps,  etc.,  subject  to  future  addi- 
tions. 

1.  Wires  to  have  50  per  cent  excess  of 
conductivity  above  the  amount  calculated 
as  necessary  for  the  number  of  lights  to  be 
supplied  by  the  wire. 

2.  Wires  to  be  thoroughly  insulated  and 
doubly  coated  with  some  approved  mate- 
rial. 

3.  All  wires  to  be  securely  fastened  by 
some   approved   non-conducting   fastening 
and  to  be  placed  at  least  2^2   inches  for 
Incandescent  lights,  and  8  inches  for  Arc 
lights,  from  each  other,  and  8  inches  from 
all  other  wires  and  from  all  metal  or  other 
conducting  substance,  and  to  be  placed  in 
a  manner  to  be  thoroughly  and  easily  in- 
spected by  surveyors. 

When  it  becomes  necessary  to  carry 
wires  through  partitions  and  floors,  they 
must  be  secured  against  contact  with  metal 
or  other  conducting  substance  in  a  manner 
approved  by  the  Inspector  of  the  Board. 


FIRE  HAZARD 

4.  All  Arc  lights  must  be  protected  by 
glass  globes  enclosed  at  the  bottom  to  ef- 
fectually prevent  sparks  or  particles  of  the 
carbons  from  falling  from  the  lamps,  and 
in  show  windows,  mills  and  other  places 
where  there  are  materials  of  an  inflam- 
mable nature,  chimneys  with  spark  arrest- 
ors  shall  be  placed  at  the  top  of  the  globe. 
Open  lights  positively  prohibited. 

The  conducting  frame  work  of  chande- 
liers must  be  insulated  and  covered  the 
same  as  wires. 

5.  Where  electricity  is  conducted  into  a 
building    (from    sources    other    than    the 
building  in  which  it  is  used)  a  shut  off  must 
be  placed  at  the  point  of  entrance  to  each 
building,  and  the  supply  turned  off  when 
the  lights  are  not  in  use. 

Applications  for  permission  to  use  elec- 
tric lights  must  be  accompanied  with  a 
statement  of  the  number  and  kind  of 
lamps  to  be  used,  the  estimate  of  some 
known  electrician  of  the  quantity  of  elec- 
tricity required,  and  a  sample  of  the  wire 
(at  least  three  feet  in  length)  to  be  used, 
with  a  certificate  of  said  electrician  of  the 
carrying  capacity  of  said  wire.  The  appli- 
cations should  also  state  where  the  elec- 
tricity is  generated,  whether  the  connection 
will  have  metallic  or  ground  circuit,  and 
as  far  as  possible  give  full  details  of  man- 
ner in  which  it  is  proposed  to  equip  the 
building. 

Applications  should  be  sent  to  Wm.  M. 
Randell,  Secretary  of  the  Committee  on 
Police  and  Origin  of  Fires. 

WM.  W.  HENSHAW,  Secretary. 

The  National  Electrical  Code  was 
originally  drawn  in  1897  as  the  result  of 
the  united  efforts  of  the  various  Insurance, 
Electrical,  Architectural  and  Allied  inter- 
ests; and  is  published  by  the  National 
Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  and  distrib- 
uted free  of  cost  to  every  one  interested 
in  the  subject.  These  rules  almost  with- 
out exception  form  the  basis  of  all  State, 
municipal,  or  other  electrical  inspection  de- 
partment requirements  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  and  are  under 
the  direction  of  the  Electrical  Committee 
of  the  National  Fire  Protection  Asso- 
ciation. 


84 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


THE   STEAM   BOILER  AND   ITS   RELATION  TO 
THE  ELECTRICAL  INDUSTRY 


The  following  article  prepared  on  the 
Babcock  &  Wilcox  Co.  is  particularly 
appropriate  in  this  chapter  on  the  Central 
Station. 

By  far  the  most  important  branch  of 
the  electrical  industry  is  the  generation  of 
current  for  light  and  power  purposes,  and 
there  is  no  industry  so  closely  related  to 
this  branch  as  that  of  steam  production. 
Electric  generators  are  almost  universally 
driven  by  one  form  or  another  of  steam 
prime  movers.  It  is  true  that  within  the 
past  few  years  water  power  has  been  used 
to  a  greater  extent  as  a  source  of  energy 
for  the  generation  of  current,  but  a  fact 
frequently  overlooked  is  that,  almost 
without  exception,  water  power  plants  are 
supplemented  by  steam  plants  of  equal 
capacity  to  obviate  the  possibility  of  inter- 
ruption of  service.  Further,  the  modern 
steam  plant  is  generating  power  as 
cheaply,  if  not  more  cheaply,  than  water 
power  plants  under  conditions  most  favor- 
able to  the  latter. 

In  1878  and  1879  Siemens  and  Jab- 
lochkoff,  in  Paris,  were  demonstrating  the 
practical  application  of  electric  current  to 
lighting  purposes,  and  in  1879  Brush  and 
Thomson  were  developing  arc  lighting  sys- 
tems in  this  country. 

Thomas  A.  Edison  revolutionized  elec- 
tric lighting  methods  by  the  introduction 
of  the  incandescent  light  and  a  compre- 
hensive system  of  generation  and  distribu- 
tion of  electricity.  His  experiments  pre- 
ceding the  introduction  of  his  system  were 
conducted  at  Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  in  1878 
and  1879,  and  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that 
the  source  of  his  power  was  a  boiler  of 
the  water  tube  type  rated  at  75  horse- 
power and  manufactured  by  Babcock  & 
Wilcox,  engineers. 

Edison's  incandescent  lamp  was  first 
shown  outside  his  laboratory  in  1880,  and 
in  the  late  fall  of  that  year  the  laboratory, 
workshops  and  many  of  the  surrounding 
private  houses  were  lighted  each  night  by 
the  new  system. 

In  1880  Edison  equipped  a  building  at 
Menlo  Park  for  the  manufacture  of  in- 
candescent lamps,  and  for  a  period  of 
some  months  the  light  and  power  was  sup- 
plied to  this  factory  from  the  laboratory 


by  an  overhead  line.  In  the  early  part  of 
1 88 1  the  "lamp  works"  was  equipped  with 
its  own  power  plant,  a  Babcock  &  Wilcox 
boiler  of  75  rated  horsepower  being  sup- 
plied for  steam  generation.  The  "lamp 
works"  were  moved  complete  to  Harri- 
son, New  Jersey,  in  May  1882,  and  later 
additional  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers  were 
installed  in  the  new  plant. 

The  first  central  station  for  incandescent 
lighting  established  in  the  world  was  that 
erected  at  57  Holborn  Viaduct,  London, 
in  ^i 88 1  and  1882.  A  Babcock  &  Wilcox 
boiler  of  146  horsepower  supplied  the 
steam  for  the  Porter-Allen  engine  which 
was  direct  connected  to  the  No.  2  Edison 
"Jumbo"  generator.  This  unit  was  first 
started  January  12,  1882,  and  after  the 
addition  of  a  second  unit  the  Holborn  Via- 
duct was  started  in  practical  operation  on 
April  1 2th  of  the  same  year. 

The  Holborn  Viaduct  station  was  in 
reality  an  exhibition  central  station  plant, 
primarily  for  the  purpose  of  demonstrat- 
ing abroad  the  practicability  of  the  Edison 
system.  Having  fulfilled  the  purpose  for 
which  it  was  installed,  it  was  dismantled 
about  1884. 

The  first  central  station  for  the  com- 
mercial distribution  of  electricity  for  in- 
candescent lighting  was  the  historic  Pearl 
Street  station  of  the  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Company  of  New  York  (now 
the  New  York  Edison  Company),  which 
was  placed  in  commercial  operation  Sep- 
tember 14,  1882.  In  referring  to  this  sta- 
tion, "Edisonia,  a  Brief  History  of  the 
Early  Edison  Electric  Lighting  System," 
compiled  and  published  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Committee  on  St.  Louis  Exposition 
of  the  Association  of  Edison  Electric 
Illuminating  Companies,  says : 

"This  was  the  station  which  did  the 
remarkable  work  of  demonstrating 
not  only  the  practicability,  but  also 
the  commercial  success  of  the  Edison 
multiple  arc  system — that  epoch- 
making  series  of  Mr.  Edison's  inven- 
tions from  the  steam  dynamo  to  the 
lamp,  including  the  dynamos,  regula- 
tors, feeder  and  main  system,  under- 
ground distributing  system,  safety 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


85 


fuses,  cut-outs,  switches,  sockets, 
meters  and,  last  but  not  least,  the 
crowning  achievement  —  the  incan- 
descent lamp." 

This  station  contained  six  dynamos  of 
the  Edison  "Jumbo"  type,  each  with  a 
capacity  of  1200  "A"  or  16  candle-power 
lamps  of  110  volts,  0.75  amperes,  or 
approximately  100  kilowatts  per  unit. 


the  day,  on  the  basis  of  1 1  square  feet  per 
horsepower,  or  216  horsepower  each. 
The  drum  heads  were  of  cast  iron,  as  were 
the  headers.  The  boilers  were  built  for 
a  safe  working  pressure  of  150  pounds 
and  the  safety  valves  were  set  at  140 
pounds,  a  figure  considerably  in  excess  of 
the  pressure  ordinarily  carried  at  that 
time.  The  boilers  were  hand  fired,  and  it 


Figure  1.     Photograph  of  the  Model  of  the  old  Pearl    Street  Station  Exhibited  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition 


The  dynamos  were  originally  driven  by 
Porter-Allen  engines,  which  were  subse- 
quently replaced  by  Armington  &  Sims 
engines. 

Steam  was  supplied  by  four  Babcock  & 
Wilcox  water  tube  boilers,  thus  establish- 
ing at  the  very  beginning  of  central  sta- 
tion practice  the  close  relation  between  this 
boiler  and  the  electrical  industry. 

Each  boiler  consisted  of  14  sections  of 
8  tubes  1 8  feet  long,  connected  to  two 
36-inch  drums  and  containing  2400  square 
feet  of  heating  surface.  The  boilers  were 
rated,  in  accordance  with  the  practice  of 


is  probable  that  the  capacities  developed 
were  little,  if  any,  greater  than  their  nor- 
mal rating. 

"Edisonia,"    quoted    above,    refers    to 
these    boilers    in    the    following    manner: 

"As  an  evidence  of  the  life  of  this 
class  of  apparatus  (Babcock  &  Wil- 
cox boilers),  it  may  be  of  interest  to 
note  that  from  the  time  this  station 
was  put  into  service  September  4, 
1882,  until  March  31,  1894,  they 
were  in  constant  service  at  this  sta- 
tion under  very  severe  conditions; 
they  were  then  removed  and  put  into 


86 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


service  at  the  53rd  Street  station, 
where  they  continued  in  regular  serv- 
ice until  May  22,  1902,  nearly  twenty 
years  of  practically  continuous  hard 
service." 

An  idea  of  the  general  layout  and  size 
of  this,  the  first  commercial  central  sta- 
tion, may  he  obtained  from  Fig.  i,  which 
is  reproduced  from  a  photograph  of  a 
model  exhibited  in  1904  at  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition. 

Some  idea  of  the  truly  remarkable 
increase  in  power  developed  in  central  sta- 
tions may  be  obtained  from  a  comparison 
of  the  Pearl  Street  station  capacity  and 
that  of  the  New  York  Edison  stations  as 
they  exist  today.  Against  the  total  rated 
output  of  the  Pearl  Street  station  of  600 
kilowatts,  the  New  York  Edison  Company 
stations  today  have  a  total  rated  capacity 
of  315,000  kilowatts.  Against  a  total 
rated  capacity  of  864  boiler  horsepower 
for  the  original  stations,  the  present  New 
York  Edison  plants  have  a  rated  capacity 
of  123,000  boiler  horsepower,  and  all 
of  these  boilers  were  manufactured  by 
the  Babcock  &  Wilcox  Company.  It  is 
to  be  remembered,  too,  that  while  in  the 
original  plant  ratings  above  normal  were 
not  sought  or  obtained,  in  the  present 
plants  ratings  of  250  to  350  per  cent  are 
regularly  obtained  over  peak  load  periods. 
A  more  detailed  comparison  of  the 
boiler  and  prime  mover  equipment  of  the 
first  central  station  and  a  modern  plant  is 
of  interest,  and  for  such  comparison  the 
various  stations  of  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  of  Chicago  may  be  taken 
as  typical  of  present  day  practice. 

The  first  of  the  units  installed  for  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  erected 
in  1902  and  1903,  indicate  the  remarkable 
advance  in  power  plant  equipment  and 
operation  in  the  twenty  years  following 
the  Pearl  Street  station.  At  this  time  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company  installed 
the  first  5000  kilowatt  turbine  erected  in 
this  country,  and  for  this  unit,  which  had 
a  maximum  rated  output  of  6000  kilo- 
watts, eight  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers 
were  supplied,  each  nominally  rated  at  500 
horsepower,  or  a  total  of  4000  rated 
horsepower.  These  boilers  were  of 
wrought  steel  construction,  built  for  a 
working  pressure  of  200  pounds,  each 
boiler  being  made  up  of  18  sections  of  14 


tubes  1 8  feet  long  and  connected  to  two 
42-inch  drums.  The  increase  in  the  size 
of  the  turbine  and  boiler  units,  together 
with  the  boiler  capacity  furnished  per  unit, 
is  shown  in  the  following  table  and  gives 
ample  proof  of  the  truly  remarkable 
advance  in  central  station  practice  : 


Max.  Rat-  Number 

Rated 

ing  of  Tur- 

of 

Rated  H.P.  Boiler  H.P. 

Date 

bine  —  Kw.  ! 

Boilers 

i  Each 

Total 

per.  Kw. 

1903 

6,000 

8 

500 

4000 

.666 

1905 

12,000 

8 

500 

4000 

.333 

1908 

14,000 

8 

500 

4000 

.286 

1910 

20,000 

10 

568 

5680 

.284 

1912 

20,000 

4 

1220 

4880 

.244 

1912 

25,000 

4 

1220 

4880 

.195 

1915 

30,000 

5 

1220 

6100 

.203 

1916 

30,000 

4 

1351 

5404 

.180 

1916 

35,000 

5 

1220 

6100 

.174 

1916 

35,000 

4 

1351 

5404 

.154 

An  idea  of  the  change  in  boiler  room 
practice  and  appearance  between  1882 
and  the  present  time  may  be  seen  from  a 
comparison  of  Fig.  2,  a  portion  of  the 
boiler  room  of  one  of  the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company's  plants,  and  the  illustra- 
tion of  the  Pearl  Street  station. 

The  first  Commonwealth  installation  as 
compared  with  the  Pearl  Street  boilers  and 
successive  Commonwealth  installations 
indicate  not  only  a  tendency  toward 
increased  unit  size  but  also  the  capacities 
expected  from  a  given  amount  of  boiler 
heating  surface.  In  the  Pearl  Street  sta- 
tion of  1882,  864  rated  boiler  horsepower 
were  furnished  for  a  total  rated  output  of 
600  kilowatts,  or  1.44  rated  boiler  horse- 
power per  kilowatt.  In  the  1903  installa- 
tion at  the  Commonwealth  Edison  Com- 
pany 4000  rated  boiler  horsepower  were 
supplied  for  a  6000  kilowatt  generator 
set,  or  .666  rated  horsepower  per  kilowatt 
output.  The  two  latest  installations  of 
35,000  kilowatt  sets  show  .174  and  .154 
rated  boiler  horsepower  supplied  per  kilo- 
watt output  for  the  five  1220  and  the  four 
1350  boiler  horsepower  units  respectively, 
or,  in  the  latter  case,  about  one-ninth  the 
rated  boiler  capacity  per  kilowatt  output 
supplied  for  the  Pearl  Street  station. 

The  1350  horsepower  Babcock  &  Wil- 
cox boilers  represent  the  highest  state  of 
development  in  large  central  station  boiler 
units.  These  boilers  are  made  up  of  42 
sections  of  15  tubes  20  feet  long  and  con- 
nected to  a  cross  drum  of  the  marine  type, 
60  inches  in  diameter.  They  are  of 
wrought  steel  construction  throughout  and 
are  built  for  a  working  pressure  of  260 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


87 


pounds  to  conform  to  other  units  in  the 
plant.  Other  Babcock  &  Wilcox  boilers 
of  this  design  for  350  pounds  working 
pressure  have  been  built  and  are  in  suc- 
cessful operation.  Each  boiler,  which  is 
steel  cased,  is  equipped  with  an  integral 
Babcock  &  Wilcox  superheater  designed 
to  give  200  degrees  of  superheat  at  a  rate 
of  evaporation  of  110,000  pounds  per 


boilers,  with  its  grates,  exclusive  of  brick- 
work, weighed  approximately  51,400 
pounds.  One  of  the  latest  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  boilers,  with  its  super- 
heater, stokers  and  casing,  exclusive  of 
brickwork,  weighs  524,200  pounds. 

As  against  the  capacity  of  the  Pearl 
Street  station,  namely,  600  kilowatts  and 
864  boiler  horsepower,  the  five  Common- 


Figure  2.     A  Section  of  the  Modern    Boiler    Room  in   One   of   the   Commonwealth   Edison   Company's 
Chicago  Plants  as  Compared  with  the  old  Pearl  Street  Station  Shown  on  a  Preceding  Page 


hour.  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this 
steam  output  with  that  of  the  Pearl  Street 
boilers,  each  of  which  delivered  approxi- 
mately 6500  pounds  of  steam  per  hour. 
Each  of  these  boilers  is  fired  by  two  Bab- 
cock &  Wilcox  chain  grate  stokers,  having 
a  total  of  333  square  feet  of  grate  surface, 
and  the  capacity  given  above  is  obtained 
when  burning  a  low  grade  of  Illinois  coal. 

A  comparison  of  the  weight  of  one  of 
these  units  with  that  of  one  of  the  Pearl 
Street  boilers  perhaps  gives  an  idea  of  the 
difference  in  size.  Each  of  the  Pearl  Street 


wealth  plants,  all  located  in  the  city  of  Chi- 
cago, have  a  total  rated  boiler  capacity  of 
126,000  horsepower  and  a  total  output  of 
440,000  kilowatts. 

It  is  true  that  the  Commonwealth  plants 
are  among  the  largest  central  station 
plants  in  the  world.  The  practice  of  the 
Commonwealth  Edison  Company,  how- 
ever, as  to  generators,  prime  movers  and 
boiler  equipment  and  operation  is  typical 
of  the  central  station  practice  of  the  day, 
and  the  boilers  manufactured  by  the  Bab- 
cock &  Wilcox  Company  are  universally 


88 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


accepted  as  the  standard  for  this  class  of 
work.  It  is  impossible  to  state  the  total 
capacity  of  these  boilers  producing  steam 
for  the  generation  of  electrical  energy  in 
all  branches  of  power  plant  work,  but  the 
very  close  relation  of  the  boiler  to  the  elec- 
trical industry  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 


there  are  in  operation  today  in  electric 
railroad,  light  and  power  stations  alone — 
that  is,  central  stations  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  generating  current  for  light  and  power 
as  distinguished  from  manufacturing 
plants — over  2,868,515  horsepower  of 
boilers  manufactured  by  the  Babcock  & 
Wilcox  Company. 


CHAPTER    V 
ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERING  AS  A  PROFESSION 


THE  idea  of  human  control  of  elec- 
tricity seems  to  have  existed,  at 
least  in  its  negative  form,  in  the 
earliest  days  of  recorded  history.  It  does 
not  appear  that  the  ancients  had  any  con- 
ception of  the  electric  current  except  as  it 
forced  itself  on  their  recognition  in  its 
most  visible  manifestation  in  the  lightnings 
which  then,  as  now,  awed  humanity.  Thus 
circumscribed,  the  ancient  view  of  it  was 
that  this,  at  least,  was  a  force  that  was 
uncontrollable.  The  Book  of  Job  (thought 
by  many  scholars  to  be  the  most  ancient 
remnant  of  Hebrew  literature)  presents 
Jehovah  as  including  in  a  summary  of 
Job's  human  limitations  this  query: 
"Can'st  thou  send  lightnings  that  they 

may  go, 

And  say  unto  thee,  'Here  we  are?'  ' 
Three  thousand  or  more  years  later  this 
ancient  inquiry  received  its  first  partially 
affirmative  answer  from  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin's experiments  in  1747-50.  Other  an- 
swers have  since  come  through  other  in- 
vestigations :  at  first  gropingly,  but  in  more 
recent  years  with  increasing  confidence 
through  the  science  and  art  of  electrical 
engineering. 

Whether  we  contemplate  electricity 
from  the  viewpoint  of  the  physicist,  as  a 
form  of  matter,  or  from  that  of  the  elec- 
trical engineer,  as  a  form  of  energy,  it  is 
the  treatment  of  it  from  the  latter  stand- 
point that  has  made  it  a  rejuvenating  and 
reconstructive  force  in  the  world's  indus- 
trial and  social  life  and  activity. 

The  term  "electrical  engineer"  is  of 
very  modern  origin,  although  one  now 
representing,  more  than  any  other  profes- 
sional title,  the  progressive  aspect  of  mod- 
ern industry.  In  fact,  until  about  the 


middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  tei*n 
"Engineer"  itself  was  a  purely  military 
one  applied  to  those  who  devised  and  con- 
structed engines  of  war  or  executed  works 
intended  for  military  purposes.  It  was  in 
1747  that  the  first  technical  school  was 
established  as  a  drawing-school  —  the 
Ecole  des  Ponts  et  Chaussee.  It  was  re- 
organized into  a  school  for  the  training  of 
engineers  for  the  Government  service. 
The  Ecole  Polytechnique,  founded  in 
1794,  primarily  to  fit  men  for  the  engineer 
and  artillery  corps  of  the  French  Army, 
set  a  high  scientific  standing  for  that  serv- 
ice, but  also  had  a  marked  effect  upon  civil 
practice  because  many  of  its  graduates 
made  their  way  into  private  pursuits. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury engineering  of  works  of  a  non-military 
character  began  to  be  recognized  as  a  dis- 
tinct profession  and  as  the  age  of  machin- 
ery opened  up  those  who  became  techni- 
cally proficient  in  such  matters  began  to  be 
called  "mechanical  engineers,"  although 
at  first  merely  as  a  specialty  of  individual 
civil  engineers.  The  training  of  the  civil 
engineer,  except  in  the  two  primarily  mili- 
tary French  schools  before  named,  was 
not  in  college  or  technical  school.  It  was 
scarcely  recognized  as  a  separate  profes- 
sion, but  was  usually  combined  with  that 
of  architect  in  England  and  America.  Sir 
Mark  I.  Brunei,  who  was  trained  in  France 
(Ecole  des  Ponts  et  Chausees)  and  served 
in  the  French  Navy,  afterward  practiced 
as  "architect  and  civil  engineer"  in  New 
York,  before  going  to  fame  and  knight- 
hood as  a  great  engineer  in  England;  and 
his  famous  son,  I.  K.  Brunei,  designer  of 
the  Great  Britain,  the  first  ocean  screw 
steamer;  the  Great  Eastern,  long  the  larg- 


89 


90 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


est  vessel  in  the  world,  and  many  great 
docks,  bridges  and  railways,  was  also 
French  educated,  though  English  born. 
John  Smeaton,  who  planned  Eddystone 
lighthouse,  was  a  lawyer,  who  studied  en- 
gineering by  travel  and  observation,  and 
founded  in  1771,  after  he  had  made  his 
fame,  the  first  engineers'  club  in  the  world, 
afterward  and  still  known  as  the  Institu- 
tion of  Civil  Engineers.  Of  the  great  in- 
ventors, Newcomer,  who  invented  the  first 
practical  steam  engine,  was  a  blacksmith; 
James  Watt,  who  so  improved  it  as  to 
make  steam  attain  world-wide  acceptance 
as  a  motive  force,  was  a  mathematical- 
instrument  maker;  and  George  Stephen- 
son  was  operative  engineer  when  he  con- 
structed the  locomotive  which  earned  him 
the  title  of  "father  of  railways."  He 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  of  the  great 
engineers  to  be  specifically  known  as  a 
"mechanical  engineer,"  and  was  the 
founder  (1847)  and  first  president  of  the 
Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers. 

The  profession  of  Mechanical  Engineer 
acquired  great  prominence,  its  importance 
increasing  with  each  decade  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  which  became  distinctively 
the  Age  of  Machinery.  Following  the  dis- 
tinctive creation  of  Mechanical  Engineer- 
ing as  a  separate  profession  came  another 
form,  which  partook  of  the  character  of 
both  civil  and  mechanical  engineering  as 
applied  to  mines,  with  much  specialization 
in  mineralogy,  metallurgy  and  in  more  re- 
cent years  of  chemistry.  The  profession 
of  Mining  Engineer  gained  recognition  as 
a  special  branch.  So  far  as  technical  edu- 
cation is  concerned,  it  was  first  recognized 
in  Germany.  The  first  institution  in  that 
country  having  any  of  the  characteristics 
of  a  modern  engineering  school  was  the 
School  of  Mines,  founded  at  Freiburg  in 
order  to  develop  engineers  for  working 
the  mines  in  the  neighborhood. 

The  growth  in  importance  of  engineer- 
ing branches  has  been  fairly  marked,  or 
rather  followed,  by  the  institution  of  tech- 
nical schools.  In  the  United  States  the 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute  was 
founded  in  1824  by  Stephen  Van  Rensel- 
aer  as  a  school  of  theoretical  and  applied 
science,  and  it  has  been  almost  exclusively 
devoted  to  the  training  of  civil  engineers. 
The  demand  for  scientific  training  in  uni- 
versities led  to  the  foundation  of  the  Shef- 


field Scientific  School  at  Yale  in  1847, 
the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at  Harvard 
in  1848.  The  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  was  chartered  in  1861,  but 
because  of  the  Civil  War  did  not  organize 
its  first  classes  until  1865.  The  Worcester 
Polytechnic  Institute,  opened  to  students 
in  1867,  made  a  notable  departure  by  pro- 
viding systematic  instruction  in  workshop 
practice  as  an  essential  part  of  the  course 
in  mechanical  engineering,  a  feature  that 
has  been  copied  in  practically  all  the  tech- 
nical schools  of  collegiate  grade  now  giv- 
ing instruction  in  mechanical  and  electrical 
engineering  in  the  United  States.  The 
School  of  Mines  of  Columbia  College 
(now  University)  was  organized  in  1864, 
and  under  its  general  jurisdiction  have 
been  organized  the  several  technical  and 
engineering  schools  of  that  institution. 
The  opening  of  the  Stevens  Institute  of 
Technology  at  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  in  1871 
and  the  Sibley  College  of  Mechanic  Arts 
of  Cornell  University  in  1872  was  the  be- 
ginning of  the  rapid  development  of 
schools  of  technology  all  over  the  United 
States,  the  earlier  ones  including  Purdue 
University,  Lafayette,  Ind. ;  Rose  Poly- 
technic Institute,  Terre  Haute,  Ind. ;  the 
Michigan  School  of  Mines,  Houghton, 
Mich. ;  Case  School  of  Applied  Science, 
Cleveland,  Ohio;  Armour  Institute  of 
Technology,  Chicago,  111. ;  besides  the  en- 
gineering departments  of  Lehigh  Univer- 
sity, Ohio  State  University,  Washington 
University  (St.  Louis),  and  the  Universi- 
ties of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Pennsyl- 
vania, California,  Illinois  and  other 
States.  In  nearly  all  of  these  institutions 
special  schools  or  departments,  or  at  least 
special  chairs,  of  electrical  engineering  are 
a  prominent  feature,  with  full  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  Electrical  Engineering  con- 
stitutes a  distinct  profession. 

Great  scientists  had  discovered  many  of 
the  principles  and  phenomena  of  electrical 
science  long  before  the  mechanical  activi- 
ties based  upon  them  were  formulated  into 
practice.  The  telegraph,  the  electric  prin- 
ciples of  which  were  based  upon  a  series 
of  discoveries,  was  made  practical  by 
Morse  and  came  into  world-wide  use, 
spanning  oceans,  before  the  other  mani- 
festations of  electric  energy  as  applied  to 
the  generation  and  distribution  of  light 
and  power  had  been  made  practically 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


91 


available,  and  before  even  the  term  "elec- 
trical engineer"  had  come  into  general 
use.  It  appears  that  in  1868  W.  N.  Tiddy 
established  at  12  Prince's  Street,  Hanover 
Square,  London,  a  "School  of  Telegraphy 
and  Electrical  Engineering."  It  seems  to 
have  been  chiefly  a  telegraph  school  at 
first,  specializing  in  submarine  telegraphy, 
but  by  the  year  1884  its  courses  also  in- 
cluded "electric  lighting,  including  the 
management  of  prime  motors,  arc  and  in- 
candescent lamps,  accumulators,  etc.,  and 
instruction  in  the  various  applications  of 
telephony  that  have  been  carried  into  prac- 
tice." 

In  "Edison:  His  Life  and  Inventions" 
(Dyer  &  Martin,  New  York,  1910)  the 
advertisement  is  reproduced  in  facsimile 
from  the  Telegrapher,  of  October  I, 
1869,  of  Pope,  Edison  &  Co.,  as  "elec- 
trical engineers."  This  was  the  first 
"professional  card,"  if  it  may  be  so  de- 
scribed, ever  issued  in  America  or  any- 
where else,  by  a  firm  of  practicing  electri- 
cal engineers.  The  members  of  the  firm 
were  Thomas  A.  Edison  and  Franklin  L. 
Pope,  a  distinguished  inventor,  writer  and 
expert,  who  became  president  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
in  1886.  This  enterprising  young  concern 
was  active  and  prosperous,  while  it  lasted, 
and  before  the  partners  drew  away  into 
distinctive  orbits;  but  its  practice  would 
appear  to  have  been  limited  to  telegraphic 
problems  and  inventions. 

An  article  on  "Instruction  in  Electrical 
Engineering"  in  the  Electrical  World  of 
October  4,  1884,  says:  "We  are  glad  to 
see  that  the  Stevens  Institute,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity and  one  or  two  other  places  are 
paying  to  practice  the  attention  it  requires, 
and  from  their  classes  many  valuable  ac- 
cessions to  the  ranks  of  electrical  engineers 
are  now  to  be  expected." 

In  a  reminiscent  paper  read  to  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society  on  November  25, 
1912,  the  late  Horatio  A.  Foster  tells  how, 
in  October,  1884,  having  been  connected 
with  a  railroad  contractor  in  Eastern 
Pennsylvania  "as  paymaster,  bookkeeper, 
and  incidentally  engineer,"  he  received  a 
copy  of  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Repub- 
lican in  which  was  a  short  paragraph 
headed  "New  Occupation  for  Young  Men 
— Electrical  Engineer."  He  goes  on  to 
say  that  this  was  an  entirely  new  occupa- 


tion to  him,  and  the  first  time  he  had  seen 
the  combination  "electrical  engineer,"  but 
the  article  interested  him,  and  he  showed 
it  to  his  contractor-employer  with  the  re- 
mark that  he  would  like  to  go  into  the  pro- 
fession it  described.  The  contractor  read 
the  article  and  told  Mr.  Foster  that  the 
matter  could  be  easily  arranged,  as  his 
partner  had  made  a  large  investment  in 
the  Daft  Electric  Motor  Company  and 
would  doubtless  take  pleasure  in  introduc- 
ing him  to  the  officials  of  that  corporation. 
Thus  he  entered  the  electrical  profession, 
his  first  jobs  being  winding  field  magnet 
coils,  assisting  in  armature  winding,  ma- 
chine testing,  assembling,  etc.  He  said: 
"There  were  no  schools  at  that  date  fur- 
nishing an  electrical  education.  I  was  ad- 
vised by  Mr.  Daft  to  purchase  Kempe's 
'Telegraph  Engineer,'  Gordon's  'Electricity 
and  Magnetism,'  and,  much  to  the  surprise 
and  pleasure  of  everyone,  found  a  book, 
Thompson's  'Elementary  Lessons  in  Elec- 
tricity,' which  has  continued  to  be,  in  its 
numerous  editions,  an  important  text- 
book. This,  together  with  work  in  the 
office  or  in  testing,  and  through  talking 
with  such  few  electrical  engineers  as  there 
were  at  that  time,  comprised  practically 
all  the  education  that  one  could  then  ac- 
quire before  going  into  the  field." 

The  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  was  established  in  May,  1884, 
and  in  1885  the  society  had  three  hundred 
members  and  associates,  but  at  that  time 
the  profession  had  not  become  fully  spe- 
cialized and  of  its  members  many,  if  not 
most,  were  mechanical  engineers  who  re- 
garded electrical  engineering  as  a  branch 
or  specialty  of  their  main  profession.  This 
was  the  general  view  at  that  time,  just  as, 
a  quarter  century  before,  mechanical  engi- 
neering had  been  looked  upon  as  a  branch 
of  the  profession  of  civil  engineer. 

About  1882  Dr.  Werner  Siemens  spoke, 
at  a  meeting  of  the  German  Electrical  So- 
ciety, upon  the  desirability  of  founding,  in 
all  the  technical  colleges,  professorships 
for  electrical  engineering.  The  sugges- 
tion was  taken  up  by  the  technical  colleges 
and  professional  schools  of  Germany  so 
eagerly  that  Dr.  Siemens,  speaking  before 
the  same  society  a  few  years  later,  de- 
clared that  his  suggestion  had  been  mis- 
understood as  if  he  had  advocated  the 
establishing  of  professorships  for  the  pur- 


92 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


pose  of  educating  a  special  class  of  engi- 
neers, viz.,  electrical  engineers.  It  was 
Dr.  Siemens'  idea  that  electrical  engineer- 
ing was  not  a  separate  profession  but  a 
branch  of  that  of  the  mechanical  engineer. 
The  instruction  in  German  universities,  at 
that  time,  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  theo- 
retical, but  at  Cornell,  Yale,  Harvard, 
Stevens  Institute  and  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  the  course  was 
very  practical,  being  the  course  in  me- 
chanical engineering  chiefly  up  to  the  third 
year,  with  very  thorough  specialization  in 
electrical  subjects  during  the  fourth  year. 

But  from  1890  on  the  electrical  indus- 
try expanded  so  rapidly  that  there  was  im- 
perative call  for  men  of  the  right  training 
and  proper  caliber  to  undertake  the  put- 
ting into  concrete  shape  and  appropriate 
application  the  new  ideas  that  were  con- 
stantly widening  the  scope  of  usefulness  of 
electricity.  The  need  was  for  closer  spe- 
cialization, and  a  large  number  of  young 
men,  starting  active  careers  in  the  last 
decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  made 
rapid  progress  to  prominence  because  of 
specialization  in  a  particular  branch  of  the 
electrical  industry.  In  the  development  of 
the  electrical  profession  the  value  of  tech- 
nical training  has  been  amply  demon- 
strated. Electrical  corporations  have,  not 
without  reason,  shown  marked  preference 
for  electrical  engineers  who  have  gradu- 
ated from  a  college  or  technical  school. 

Professor  Francis  B.  Crocker,  in  an  ar- 
ticle in  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  June 
22,  1901,  tells  how,  having  personally  fol- 
lowed the  careers  of  several  hundred  men 
in  electricity,  he  had  become  convinced 
that  they  had  gone  ahead  more  rapidly 
than  would  have  been  possible  in  any 
other  line  of  human  effort.  He  estimated 
that  nearly  all  of  them  make  a  good  living 
within  a  year  or  two  after  they  graduate, 
and  achieve  substantial  success  within 
three  or  four  years.  He  cited  instances  of 
young  men  who  reached  prominent  posi- 
tions and  won  national  reputation  within 
five  years  after  their  graduation  from 
Columbia  University.  One  of  these  had 
become  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Niagara 
plant,  the  largest  in  the  world;  another 
was  professor  of  electrical  engineering  in 
a  prominent  university,  another  had  be- 
come chief  engineer  of  a  well-known 


manufacturing  company  in  less  than  two 
years  after  graduation. 

One  of  the  reasons  for  the  rapid  ad- 
vancement of  electrical  engineers  as  seen 
by  Professor  Crocker  was  the  fact  that  the 
industry  was  new  and  had  expanded  enor- 
mously, forcing  men  ahead.  Another  was 
that  electricity  is  a  peculiar  subject.  Per- 
haps analysis  of  the  endowment  required 
for  eminence  in  the  profession  of  electrical 
engineering  has  never  been  better  pre- 
sented than  in  the  following  paragraph 
from  Professor  Crocker's  article: 

"In  its  pursuit  general  intelligence  or 
knowledge  is  not  sufficient  for  pronounced 
success.  A  man  possessing  special  taste 
for  it  soon  differentiates  himself  from  the 
others  working  alongside  who  may  not  be 
endowed  with  the  same  advantages.  Such 
a  man  will  forge  ahead  of  his  fellows  at 
a  rate  that  is  absolutely  impossible  in  any 
other  calling  in  the  world.  The  successful 
engineer  has  more  than  mere  ability.  He 
is  gifted  with  special  talent,  like  the  suc- 
cessful artist  or  musician.  Electricity  is, 
to  my  mind,  the  only  mechanical  pursuit 
that  has  'soul.'  The  successful  electrician 
is  born.  Many  of  the  qualities  that  are  his 
are  intangible,  just  as  the  fine  musician's 
are.  But  there  must  also  be  tangible  qual- 
ities, certain  fixed  mental  traits.  He  must 
have  great  mental  alertness;  the  ability  to 
think  quickly,  to  grasp  a  given  situation  at 
once.  He  must  be  of  an  analytical  turn 
of  mind — that  is,  be  able  to  reason  from 
cause  to  effect  and  vice  versa.  In  electric- 
ity one  thing  follows  from  another  with 
absolute  certainty." 

It  was  stated  as  Professor  Crocker's  be- 
lief that  the  proper  attitude  of  the  electric 
worker  is  that  of  willingness  to  accept  in- 
novation, and  not  of  prejudice  against  it. 
"It  is  the  first  duty  of  an  electrical  worker 
to  fall  in  with  rapid  advances  and  radical 
departures.  Therefore  a  necessary  quali- 
fication for  the  successful  electrician  is  an 
interest  in  things  that  are  new  because  they 
are  new.  Any  one  with  a  strong  conserva- 
tive tendency  would  be  at  a  disadvantage 
in  the  electrical  field.  This  is  probably  the 
reason  why  Americans  have  got  along 
faster  than  any  other  nation  in  the  devel- 
opment and  use  of  electricity.  An  Amer- 
ican prefers  a  thing  that  is  new,  whereas 
a  foreigner  considers  newness  in  itself  an 
objection.  The  man  who  is  interested  in 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


93 


ancient  literature  or  in  archaeology  cares 
little  for  electricity.  That  is  a  fact  I  have 
observed  among  my  own  friends." 

With  the  progress  of  the  years,  electri- 
cal engineering  has  reached  a  point  where 
it  does  not  have  to  argue  about  its  profes- 
sional standing.  In  consequence  of  its 
many  new  phases  it  now  represents  count- 
less activities  which,  first  welcomed  as  con- 
veniences, have  so  favorably  impressed 
themselves  in  their  reactions  upon  life  and 
industry  as  to  entitle  them  to  be  consid- 
ered as  necessities  of  our  broadened  civil- 
ization. As  a  matter  of  fact  the  electrical 
engineer  has  advanced  to  a  position  that 
is  paramount  among  the  various  branches 
of  modern  engineering.  The  latest  edition 
of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  after  dis- 
cussing the  several  subdivisions  of  the  en- 
gineering professions,  enumerating  mili- 
tary, civil,  mechanical,  naval,  sanitary,  gas 
and  chemical  engineering,  says:  "The  last 
great  new  branch  is  electrical  engineering, 
which  touches  on  the  older  branches  at  so 
many  points  that  it  has  been  said  that  all 
engineers  must  be  electricians." 

Yet  the  profession  is  still  a  young  one, 
and  some  of  those  who  are  rated  as  vet- 
erans in  it  are  scarcely  middle-aged. 
Among  the  most  prominent  are  men  whose 
courses  of  preliminary  training  showed 
great  diversity.  Among  them  are  not  a 
few  who,  having  begun  their  business  life 
in  other  vocations,  afterward  entered  the 
electrical  field  because  of  the  sudden 
growth  of  electrical  business  and  attractive 
opportunities  offered  by  it,  while  others 
have  come  into  it  by  the  regular  course  of 
training  in  college  or  professional  school, 
followed  by  experience  in  shop  and  field. 
It  used  to  be  a  matter  of  argument  as  to 
whether  the  so-called  "practical"  man, 
who  graduated  from  the  machine  shop,  or 
the  graduate  of  university  or  professional 
school  was  the  better  prepared.  In  the 
past,  especially  in  the  period  from  1885 
onward,  some  of  the  most  successful  elec- 
trical engineers  were  indisputably  of  the 
class  of  practical  men  with  little  or  no 
theoretical  training.  The  conditions  have 
very  greatly  changed  since  the  days  they 
became  prominent.  In  the  early  days  of 
the  electrical  profession  there  was  com- 
paratively little  of  settled  theory  or  pre- 
determined data  of  results.  Such  data  as 
were  used  were  mere  approximations  and 


much  of  the  work  was  mere  guesswork. 
But  in  the  progress  of  electrical  science 
such  development  in  exactness  has  been  at- 
tained that  no  excuse  remains  for  rule-of- 
thumb  methods,  and  exact  theory  enters 
into  all  work.  Where  an  art  is  in  a  sta- 
tionary condition  a  practical  man  may  by 
long  familiarity  become  so  familiar  with 
its  apparatus  and  processes  as  to  be  quali- 
fied for  engineering  practice.  But  in  elec- 
trical engineering  the  rapidity  of  growth 
of  the  art  surpasses  all  precedent.  New 
discoveries  cause  changes  and  elaboration 
of  electrical  theory  which  lead  to  constant 
change,  modification  and  improvement  in 
the  design,  construction  and  operation  of 
electrical  machinery. 

Under  these  circumstances  of  constant 
revision  and  expansion  the  man  whose 
knowledge  is  based  only  upon  his  practical 
experience  is  at  a  disadvantage.  Many 
men  who  in  the  earlier  years  of  the  profes- 
sion attained  prominence  in  it  have  found 
themselves  wholly  unable  to  keep  up  with 
its  rapid  progress.  Not  that  all  those 
whose  entry  upon  the  profession  was  with- 
out theoretical  training  have  been  left  be- 
hind. Professor  John  Perry,  F.R.S., 
former  president  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers  of  Great  Britain, 
speaking  upon  this  identical  subject,  re- 
ferred to  a  very  important  class  of  engi- 
neers when  he  said,  in  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress: 

"Some  of  the  best  engineers  I  know  are 
so  exceptional  that  one  must  class  them  as 
geniuses.  They  have  faculty  and  charac- 
ter, and  so  they  have  become  engineers 
even  under  the  most  unfavorable  circum- 
stances. They  have  passed  through  ordi- 
nary schools,  and  yet  have  developed  com- 
mon sense.  They  were  pitchforked  into 
practical  work,  and  their  liking  for  the 
work,  as  well  as  some  curious  kind  of  in- 
stinct, led  them  to  pick  up  all  sorts  of 
knowledge  which  has  become  part  of 
their  mental  machinery.  They  continue  to 
pick  up  new  kinds  of  knowledge  when 
these  become  necessary  for  their  profes- 
sional work. 

"Unfortunately  these  mien  do  not  real- 
ize how  exceptional  they  are,  and  they 
advise  boys  to  go  direct  from  schools  into 
works.  They  forget  that  the  other  99  per 
cent  of  men  treated  in  the  same  way  as 
themselves  can  only  become  the  hewers  of 


94 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


wood  and  drawers  of  water  to  real  engi- 
neers.    Treated  in  this  way,  average  boys 
are  just  like  so  many  sheep;  they  learn 
just  what  seems  absolutely  necessary  and 
no  more;  their  acquaintance  with  the  sci- 
entific principles  underlying  their  trade  is 
a  hand-to-mouth  knowledge  which  becomes 
useless  when  their  trade  undergoes  devel- 
opment.    Such  men  are  soon  left  behind." 
There  are  among  the  men  who  entered 
the  electrical  engineering  profession  from 
the  practical  work  in  shops  some  who  not 
only  rank  evenly  with  their   college-bred 
confreres   as   professional  engineers   with 
reference  to   their  practice,   but  who   are 
also  as  familiar  as  any  of  them  with  the 
underlying   electrical    science.      But   their 
road  to  that  goal  has  been  much  harder 
than    that    of    the    man    who    has    gone 
through  the  "regular  courses  of  technical 
instruction  and  has  taken  up  the  practical 
work  after  graduation.    The  mind  trained 
to  scientific  reasoning  and  theoretical  study 
finds  it  more  easy  to  adapt  its  mental  proc- 
esses to  the  changes  that  come  from  new 
discovery  and  deeper  knowledge  than  does 
one  who  has  never  had  the  benefit  of  such 
training.     With  the  great  advance  in  the 
science  itself  the  course  of  study  required 
for  adequate  preparation  has  taken  on  a 
wider    range.      Electrical    engineering    is 
now  the  most  scientific  of  all  engineering 
professions.     The  successful  electrical  en- 
gineer  must   have    a    special   training    in 
mathematics,   physics,   chemistry  and  me- 
chanics, as  well  as  a  complete  course  of 
studies  in  theoretical  electricity  and  mag- 
netism,   and    in    thermodynamics.      Daily 
practical  work  with  machinery  operating 
by  the  principles  covered  by  and  illustrat- 
ing the  phenomena  incident  to  the  theory 
he  is  studying  will  impress  it  upon  his  mind 
much  more  firmly  than  the  definitions  of 
the  text-book.     One  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  the  making  of  the  American  elec- 
trical engineer  has  been  the  plan  of  follow- 
ing up  his  graduation  with  an  apprentice 
course  in  one  of  the  large  electrical  manu- 
facturing establishments,  where  the  young 
engineer's  knowledge   is   rounded   out  by 
opportunity  to   operate   and  study  larger 
machines  and  a  greater  diversity  of  them 
than  can  possibly  be  available  at  any  of  the 
colleges,  besides  experience  in  the  design- 
ing departments  where  plans  and  details 


are  made  for  every  kind  of  electrical  ap- 
paratus. 

It  has  often  been  noted  in  relation  to 
college  courses  of  every  kind  that  the  grad- 
uate is  likely  to  look  upon  his  sheepskin 
as  a  certificate  that  he  knows  all  there  is 
to  be  known  of  the  subjects  covered  in  his 
course.  This  is,  of  course,  a  very  erro- 
neous view  on  the  part  of  every  young 
graduate  who  entertains  it,  but  especially 
so  in  the  case  of  the  newly  diploma- 
invested  electrical  engineer,  and  the  entry 
upon  the  apprentice  course  is  especially 
valuable  as  a  means  to  set  him  right  on 
that  subject.  It  is  almost  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  those  who  have  written  upon 
this  subject  that  the  work  of  the  appren- 
tice course,  while  it  may  mean  a  smaller 
income  for  the  graduate  for  the  year  after 
his  graduation,  means  in  almost  every  case 
a  much  higher  position  at  the  end  of  five 
years,  and  greater  emoluments.  The  year 
or  so  in  the  drafting  room,  testing  depart- 
ment and  shops  will  also  often  give  a  lead 
to  the  young  engineer  as  to  the  specialty 
he  would  like  to  follow. 

If  he  is  to  become  one  of  the  greater 
and  more  successful  engineers  he  will  spe- 
cialize.    For  the  range  open  to  the  work 
of  electrical  engineers  is  wider  than  that 
of  any  other  mechanical  profession.     He 
may  not  hope  for  a  practice  to  cover  it  all. 
It  is  the  spirit  of  specialization  that  has 
brought  to  pass  the  many  and  great  devel- 
opments of  electrical  science.       It  is  the 
specialist  who  is  putting  an  electrical  im- 
press on  all  kinds  of  activities  and  opera- 
tions.    Edison  and  some  of  the  other  im- 
mortals of  the  profession  have  covered  a 
diversified  range,  but  those  so  distinguished 
were  all  pioneer  workers  who  wrought  in 
new  fields  that  were  practically  virgin,  and 
whose  researches  led  them  to  basic  facts 
and  original   inventions   in  large   variety. 
Now  the  progressive  engineer,  ambitious 
for  mastery,  does  not  go  so  far  afield,  but 
is  fortified  by  the  most  wonderful  accumu- 
lation of  workable  data  to  guide  his  way 
to  new  discovery.     He  usually  confines  his 
professional  endeavors  within  some  well- 
defined  limits,  for  it  is  the  specialist  who 
comes  to  the  front  in  the  electrical  indus- 
try.    But,  specialize  as  he  may,  no  electri- 
cal engineer  can  keep  up  with  the  march 
of  progress  in  electrical  engineering  unless 
he  continues,  by  constant  study,  to  add  to 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


95 


his  store  of  education  a  scientific  knowl- 
edge of  new  principles  and  applications  in 
the  electrical  field.     No  electrical  engineer 
may  boast  that  his  technical  education  is 
complete.     Each  year  adds  to  the  store  of 
vital  truths   and  novel  demonstrations   in 
electrical  science.     Each  year  new  indus- 
tries find  that  their  manufacturing  equip- 
ment may  be   improved   or  processes   re- 
formed' by  electrical  equipment.     Electric- 
ity is  the  world's  energy-of-all-work,  the 
ubiquitous    Mercury    transporting    speech 
or  written  word  instantaneously  in  all  di- 
rections; distributor  of  light  with  profuse 
bounty  in  darkened  areas;  picking  up  the 
power  of  the  cataract  and  delivering  it,  in 
quantities  as  ordered,  to  turn  the  wheels 
of   transportation    and    of   industry;    run- 
ning,   lighting    and    warming    trains    and 
ships ;    welding    metals    together    with    a 
strength  and  firmness  unapproached  by  any 
other  means;   aiding  the  metallurgist  by 
extracting  metals  from  their  ores  and  by 
electro-chemical  separation  from  their  al- 
loys,  isolation  of  aluminum   from   corun- 
dum, and  by  processes  of  deposition  of  the 
finer  metals   upon  the   surfaces   of  baser 
metals  (electroplating  and  electrotyping)  ; 
aiding   chemistry   in   the   manufacture   of 
various  chemical  products  employed  in  the 
arts,    such   as   alkalis    and   chlorine   from 
common  salt,  chlorate  of  potash  by  elec- 
trolysis,   calcium    chloride,    carborundum, 
phosphorous     by      electrolysis,      artificial 
graphite  from  coal,  processes  for  the  tan- 
ning of  hides,  the  ageing  of  wines,  the  eco- 
nomical production  of  oxygen  and  many 
more,  coming  under  the  head  of  electro- 
chemistry; purifying  milk  by  the  process 
of  pasteurization,  water  by  the  action  of 
actinic    rays    generated    and    distributed 
through  mercury  vapor,  the  neutralization 
of  sewage  and  many  other  good  offices  ex- 
erted in  behalf  of  hygiene  and  sanitation; 
enlarging  the  equipment  and  increasing  the 
horrors  of  war  by  its  terrible  military  effi- 
ciency; acting  as  more  efficient  substitute 
for  sunlight  in  the  processes  of  photogra- 
phy and  blue-printing;  working  in  horti- 
culture and  floriculture  in  many  ways,  in- 
cluding electric  stimulus  to  the  soil  which 
makes    plants    grow    larger,    better    and 
earlier;  doing  farm  work  by  motors  that 
drive  corn  hoists,  portable  elevators   for 
hoisting  and  piling  bales  of  hay,  fodder, 
etc.,  ensilage  cutters,  threshers;  apparatus 


to  heat  the  incubators,  light  the  house  and 
barn,  milk  the  cows,  run  the  churn,  work 
the  pumps  for  house  and  farm,  run 
farm  and  greenhouse  sprinkling  systems, 
lighten  household  labor  by  furnishing 
power  for  washer  and  dryer,  heat  for  the 
ironer,  power  for  sewing  machine,  ice- 
cream freezer,  fans,  and  all  the  various 
modern  machines  for  domestic  use;  fur- 
nishes light,  heat  and  power,  for  homes, 
offices,  warehouses,  elevators,  automobiles, 
fans  and  innumerable  other  activities,  in- 
cluding motors  for  operating  machines  in 
every  industry;  in  medicine,  a  series  of 
electric  applications  which  make  electro- 
therapeutics the  foremost  modern  triumph 
of  medical  achievement. 

The  things  that  electricity  does  are  only 
dimly  mirrored  in  this  enumeration,  and 
the  manufacture  of  the  machines  and  ap- 
paratus, the  operation  of  the  processes,  the 
installation  of  electrically  equipped  plants, 
the  design,  operation  and  management 
of  central  stations  for  the  generation  and 
distribution  of  the  electric  current;  all  of 
this  and  more  is  included  in  the  scope  of 
electrical  engineering.  It  also  presents  in 
an  emphatic  way  the  startling  advance 
wrought  by  electricity  in  a  few  decades. 
By  way  of  contrast,  let  us  again  quote 
from  the  statements  of  Professor  John 
Perry,  F.R.S.,  who,  in  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress to  the  British  Institution  of  Electri- 
cal Engineers  in  November,  1900,  told 
how  in  1867,  when  he  was  an  apprentice, 
he  was  "chaffed  in  drawing-office  and  pat- 
tern-shop for  studying  such  a  non-paying, 
non-practical  subject  as  electricity."  He 
further  stated  that  when  he  published  his 
first  electrical  paper  in  1874  before  the 
Royal  Society,  and  even  some  years  after, 
"the  real  students  of  electricity  could  be 
counted  on  one's  fingers'  ends." 

This  is  doubtless  a  fair  summary  of 
conditions  in  England,  and,  while  a  slightly 
earlier  start  was  made  in  the  United 
States,  the  contrast  of  fifty  years  is  fully 
as  great  because  of  the  fact  that  this  coun- 
try has  advanced  even  more  than  any 
others  by  reason  of  its  larger  participation 
in  electrical  discovery  and  invention  and 
the  readier  acceptance  of  electrical  equip- 
ment by  the  industries  and  people  of  the 
United  States. 

Under  each  of  the  heads  of  present  elec- 
trical use  it  would  be  possible  to  tell  a 


96 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


graphic  story  of  accomplishment  by  scien- 
tists and  engineers.  Much  of  it  appears 
in  other  chapters  in  this  book  and  in  indi- 
vidual mention  of  the  achievements  of 
some  of  the  leaders  in  these  electrical 
activities,  which  have,  however,  been  men- 
tioned here  chiefly  to  point  to  the  oppor- 
tunity and  the  need  for  even  greater  spe- 
cialization. Not  one  of  the  numerous 
branches,  enumerated  or  otherwise,  of 
electrical  practice  has  reached  the  stage  of 
completion.  There  is  no  electrical  engi- 
neer in  any  branch  of  the  profession,  how- 
ever great  and  effective  its  present  condi- 
tion, who  would  claim  for  it  the  prestige 
of  a  perfected  art,  nor  even  one  in  which 
new  discoveries  and  wider  applications 
may  not  be  and  are  not  expected. 

Another  feature  in  the  electrical  engi- 
neering profession  is  the  fact  that  manu- 
facturing    distribution      and     even      the 
planning  and  completion  of  electrical  in- 
stallations are,  to  a  large  extent,   organ- 
ized in  strong  corporate  enterprises.    This 
is    necessarily    so    because    the    interests 
involved     are     colossal,     diversified     but 
closely  interrelated,  and  depend  for  their 
highest  success  upon  their  operation  under 
a  unified  policy  as  interdependent  parts  of 
a  harmonious  whole.     In  these  great  or- 
ganizations there  are  numerous  technical 
and     manufacturing     departments,     each 
under    the    direction    of    superintendents 
chosen   for  their  expert  knowledge,    plus 
certain  qualities  which  are  requisite  for  suc- 
cess in  other  professions  as  well  as  this  for 
men   charged   with   large   managerial    re- 
sponsibilities.    They  include  executive  abil- 
ity, business  knowledge,  an  alert  mind,  re- 
sourceful in  sudden  emergencies,  ability  to 
handle    men.       Above    these    department 
heads    are    the    general    executive    officers 
who,    with    the    directors,    formulate    the 
policies  of  the  corporation.     In  many  in- 
dustries   these    might    be    capitalists    and 
hard-headed    business     men     who    might 
know  little,  if  anything,  of  the  technical  or 
practical   end   of   the   business.      But   the 
electrical  business  is  developed  to  such  a 
degree  of  exactness,  and  the  value  of  elec- 
trical apparatus  and  machinery  so  strongly 
depends  upon  absolute  accuracy,  that  it  is 
usually  the  case  that  the  general  as  well 
as  department  executives  of  the  electrical 
industries  are  for  the  greater  part  chosen 


from  men  who  have  had  an  appropriate 
technical  training. 

Electrical   engineering  may  be   said   to 
have      begun      with      the      invention      of 
Gramme's  dynamo  in  1870.     Investigation 
of  electrical  phenomena  had  been  carried 
on  extensively  by  scientific  observers  from 
the  beginning  of  the  Seventeenth  Century, 
but  mechanical  applications,   except  those 
connected  with  telegraphy,  and  certain  ap- 
plications of  the  galvanic  battery,  did  not 
make  any  general  appearance  until  the  last 
half,  and  not  to  any  important  extent  until 
the  last  quarter,  of  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury.     The   principle   of   electro-magnetic 
induction     discovered     independently     by 
Michael  Faraday  in  England  and  Joseph 
Henry  in  America  in  the  period  1829-1831 
led  to  the  evolution  of  dynamo-electrical 
machinery  and  the  whole  range  of  electric 
machines  and  applications,  the  construction 
and   development  of   which   brought   into 
play  the  energies  and  abilities  of  men  who, 
having  prepared   themselves,   have   intro- 
duced an  entirely  new  body  of  experts  who 
have  evolved  service  of  the  highest  value 
and  utility  for  the  benefit  of  the  world. 
Gramme's  invention  was  slow  in  making 
an  impression  on  this  side  of  the  ocean. 
There  were  only  two  electric  light  exhibits 
at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  at  Philadel- 
phia in  1876.     But  with  the  invention  of 
the   Brush   arc   system   of   lighting   intro- 
duced by  Charles  F.  Brush  in  1879,  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Thomson-Houston  sys- 
tem about  the  same  time,  and  the  Edison 
incandescent  system  soon  following,  a  vo- 
cation was  made  for  engineers  to  supply  a 
demand  that  has   increased   progressively 
from  that  time  to  the  present. 

Improvement  in  dynamo-electrical  ma- 
chinery also  went  on  apace,  and  the  devel- 
opment of  alternating  current  machinery 
and  installations  greatly  enlarged  the  use 
of  the  electric  light.  The  use  of  transmit- 
ted electric  power  increased  as  it  became 
evident  that  it  was  more  economical,  more 
dependable  and  more  controllable  than 
any  other.  Electrical  engineers  began  to 
be  trained  in  technical  schools  and  came 
out  with  a  better  preliminary  equipment 
for  the  profession  than  many  of  those  pio- 
neer engineers  who,  with  far  less  educa- 
tional advantages,  had  been  prominent 
aids  and  many  of  them  among  the  leaders 
in  the  foundation  of  the  electrical  indus- 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


97 


try.  Many  minds  were  working  on  the 
problems  of  electricity,  or  rather  the  prac- 
tical problems  of  electrical  applications, 
where  only  a  few  had  been  working  be- 
fore. At  first  the  industrial  application  of 
the  electric  motor  was  practically  a  mere 
substitution  for  the  steam  engine.  It  had 
its  advantages,  especially  where  the  enter- 
prise was  large  enough  to  support  an  iso- 
lated plant,  but  not  enough,  in  the  view  of 
many  owners  of  mills  and  factories,  to  in- 
duce them  to  undertake  the  initial  expense 
of  reorganizing  the  entire  plant.  But  as, 
in  the  improvement  of  dynamo-electric 
machinery  by  the  introduction  of  the  indi- 
vidual motor  drive,  electrical  engineers 
worked  out  not  only  a  much  more  efficient 
but  also  a  more  economical  way  of  con- 
ducting industries,  the  motor-driven  plant 
became  more  popular,  and  is  now  the 
standard  of  industrial  efficiency.  Perhaps 
this  evolution  may  be  best  described  by  an 
illustration  contained  in  an  address  by  Mr. 
Samuel  Insull  at  Camp  Cooperation  in 
1913: 

UA  mere  substitution  may  increase  effi- 
ciency, may  be  an  advantage,  but  if  the 
mere  substitution  of  the  electric  motor  in- 
creased economy,  then  the  reorganization 
of  that  industry  to  adapt  its  operation  to 
the  maximum  economic  efficiency  of  the 
electric  motor  would  naturally  be  still 
more  economical.  I  have  seen  this  devel- 
opment in  the  organization  of  the  cotton 
industry,  from  the  steam  engine  to  the 
electric  motor.  There  a  prominent  elec- 
trical engineer  had  made  it  his  life  work 
to  study  the  problem  and  to  solve  it.  I 
refer  to  Mr.  S.  B.  Paine,  the  pioneer  in 
electrical  operation  of  cotton  mills.  I  re- 
member in  1894  when  the  first  electrical 
power  transmission  in  the  cotton  mills  of 
the  South  was  introduced.  The  steam  en- 
gine, driving  the  old  mill,  was  replaced  by 
one  big  synchronous  motor,  driving  the 
same  mass  of  shafting  and  countershafting 
and  belting  that  was  driven  before.  A  new 
mill  on  the  same  system  that  was  being 
opened  did  not  have  the  big  amount  of 
shafting  and  belting,  but  had  hundred 
horse-power  induction  motors,  each  driv- 
ing a  single  line  of  shafting.  Now  even 
that  has  gone,  and  individual  motors  drive 
individual  machinery  and  so  realize  the 
maximum  economic  efficiency  of  the  elec- 
tric power.  You  see,  with  steam  that  is 


impossible.  You  could  not  have  a  steam 
engine  or  a  gas  engine  for  every  loom,  but 
you  can  have  an  electric  motor.  And  so, 
you  see,  the  mill  industry  has  moved  from 
the  New  England  States,  and  the  steam 
engine,  driving  shafting  and  belting,  to  the 
Southern  States,  near  the  source  of  supply, 
the  field  of  abundant  cheap  water  power, 
to  the  individual  motor  drive.  Here  we 
have,  in  the  relatively  short  time  of  twenty 
years,  seen  the  reorganization  of  an  indus- 
try which  is  more  complex  than  many 
other  industries,  a  rearrangement  or  reor- 
ganization to  suit  a  different  kind  of 
power." 

The  work  done  by  this  engineer  in  the 
textile  field  is  typical  of  that  accomplished 
bv  other  electrical  engineers,  each  accord- 
ing to  his  abilities  and  opportunities,  in 
other  avenues  of  human  endeavor.  Mr. 
Insull  in  the  quoted  paragraph  shows  the 
transforming  effect  of  the  electrical  engi- 
neer's work  in  the  cotton  industry,  but  the 
same  effect  of  transformation,  some  in  less 
but  some  in  even  greater  degree,  is  visible 
in  the  work  of  the  electrical  engineer  in 
connection  with  most  of  the  other  in- 
dustries. 

Electric  lighting  progressed  under  the 
inventive  genius  of  Edison,  Brush,  Elihu 
Thomson,  Weston,  Wood,  Hochhausen, 
and  in  the  new  era  Nikola  Tesla,  Stanley, 
Bradley,  Steinmetz,  Hewitt  and  others,  but 
besides  these  hundreds  or  thousands  of 
electrical  engineers  have  helped  from  the 
results  of  their  informing  experience  or  in- 
ventive genius  to  bring  to  high  efficiency 
the  lighting  service  of  civilized  places 
large  enough  to  support  or  near  enough 
to  become  auxiliary  to  a  central  plant. 
But  the  work  of  expansion  still  goes  on. 
Even  country  roads  in  the  better  settled 
sections  are  electric  lighted,  and  yet,  great 
as  the  improvement  in  lighting  is,  there  is 
still  quantitative  work  for  the  illuminating 
engineer,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  even  in 
the  United  States,  which  uses  electricity  in 
larger  measure  than  any  other  country, 
only  about  thirty  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion has  the  benefit  of  electric  light  service. 
Even  as  to  the  quality  of  light  and  meth- 
ods of  distribution  the  possibilities  of  im- 
provement have  not  been  closed,  and  the 
field  of  opportunity  in  the  lighting  section 
of  the  electrical  engineering  is  still  a  wide 


one. 


98 


THE   STORY  OF   ELECTRICITY 


But  the  stimulus  given  to  electrical  engi- 
neering in  the  last  quarter  of  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  was  not  circumscribed  by 
concentration  upon  electric  lighting  and 
factory  power.  As  improvements  made 
dynamo-electric  machinery  more  practical 
it  became  evident  that  applications  to  rail- 
way operation  would  offer  one  of  the 
most  valuable  fields  of  its  usefulness.  Ex- 
periments on  electric  railways  antedated 
the  dynamo,  and  several  successful  experi- 
ments in  electric  propulsion  had  been  made 
— successful  in  the  sense  that  electric  loco- 
motives had  been  built  which  moved  along 
railroad  tracks  by  energy  derived  from 
chemical  batteries.  But  the  expense  of 
that  mode  of  generation  made  their  use  in 
actual  railway  service  prohibitive,  and  the 
commercially  practical  electric  railway  did 
not  appear  until  after  the  invention  of  the 
dynamo.  Improvements  to  adapt  this  in- 
vention were  sought  by  numerous  inven- 
tors, and  the  first  demonstration  of  a 
working  electric  railway  of  full  size  was 
made  at  the  Berlin  International  Exposi- 
tion by  Siemens  and  Halske.  It  was  an 
exhibition  line,  1,000  feet  long,  and  propul- 
sion was  effected  by  a  dynamo  constructed 
by  Werner  Siemens,  connected  by  double 
reduction  gearing  to  the  axle  of  a  car 
capable  of  carrying  twenty  passengers. 
Thomas  A.  Edison  and  Stephen  D.  Field, 
in  America,  began  their  experiments  in 
1880,  but  a  contention  between  them  over 
the  priority  of  patents  delayed  real  results 
until  1883,  when  the  interests  of  the  two 
were  consolidated  and  an  exhibition  line 
1,500  feet  in  length  was  installed  at  the 
Exhibition  of  Railway  Appliances  at  Chi- 
cago, where  an  electric  locomotive  was 
run,  taking  current  from  a  third  rail,  with 
joints  bonded  to  improve  its  conductivity. 
Later  in  the  same  year  an  overhead  experi- 
mental line  was  exhibited  in  Chicago  by 
C.  J.  Van  Depoele,  the  inventor  of  the 
trolley  system,  which,  with  great  rapidity, 
passed  into  extended  use  all  over  this  and 
other  countries,  and  after  the  patents  were 
sold  to  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric 
Company  was,  with  the  larger  resources 
of  that  company  and  its  successor  the 
General  Electric  Company,  developed 
into  one  of  the  most  important  de- 
partments of  electrical  industry.  About 
the  same  time  that  Mr.  Van  Depoele 
was  introducing  the  trolley  system, 


Leo  Daft  was  building  a  third  rail  line 
from  Saratoga  Springs  to  Mount  Mc- 
Gregor, N.  Y. ;  and  E.  H.  Bentley  and 
Walter  Knight  built  a  conduit  line  in 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  later  one  in  New 
York  and  one  in  Boston.  But  electric 
traction  received  its  most  remarkable  im- 
petus from  the  contract  made  by  the  Union 
Passenger  Railway  Company,  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  with  Frank  J.  Sprague  to 
equip  its  thirteen-mile  system  of  street  rail- 
ways for  electric  traction.  Capitalists  as 
well  as  inventive  electrical  engineers  be- 
came interested  in  electric  railroad  prob- 
lems and  electric  railways  underwent  rapid 
expansion  and  improvement  until  today  all 
other  methods  of  railway  traction  for 
intra-urban  and  interurban  passenger 
transportation  have  been  eliminated  in 
favor  of  electrical  methods.  As  these  lines 
and  systems  increase  in  number  and  mile- 
age the  field  of  opportunity  for  the  electri- 
cal engineer  correspondingly  enlarges.  It 
is  not  only  in  convenience  to  the  traveling 
public  and  the  emolument  of  owners  and 
workers  on  the  electric  lines  themselves 
that  the  transformation  wrought  by  elec- 
tric railways  can  be  gauged.  Dr.  Charles 
P.  Steinmetz  has  justly  characterized  the 
larger  social  and  industrial  value  of  the 
trolley  system  in  an  address  from  which 
we  quote  as  follows: 

"We  are  not  impressed  when  we  see  the 
every-day  trolley  car  passing  by  us ;  we  do 
not  realize,  because  familiarity  breeds 
contempt,  that  this  insignificant  trolley  car 
is  really  bringing  about,  and  has  brought 
about,  a  social  revolution  in  modern  life 
difficult  to  realize,  a  revolution  which  the 
dweller  in  the  big  city  does  not  realize,  but 
which  you  realize  when  you  look  over  the 
country  and  its  industries.  What  the  elec- 
tric railway  does  and  has  done  is  to  take 
away  the  population  from  the  cities  and 
bring  them  back  again  to  the  country.  The 
problem  which  our  Socialists  have  been 
helpless  to  solve,  the  crowding  of  the  peo- 
ple into  the  cities  and  the  depopulation  of 
the  country,  with  the  resulting  deteriora- 
tion of  the  nation,  is  solving  itself  before 
our  eyes  by  the  work  of  the  trolley  car, 
which  brings  the  city  dweller  back  to  the 
country,  by  making  the  country  available 
for  his  residence  and  which  makes  the 
superior  working  conditions  of  the  city 
available  without  leaving  the  country. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


99 


The  trolley  car  has  taken  the  industries 
away  from  the  crowded  cities  to  the  coun- 
try town.  Industrial  cities,  like  Schenec- 
tady,  could  not  exist  without  the  trolley 
lines.  It  would  not  be  possible  to  have  an 
industry,  employing  20,000  skilled  men, 
exist  in  a  country  town  without  the  electric 
railway  as  a  means  of  quick  and  cheap 
transportation,  so  that  the  population  can 
cover  a  sufficient  territory  to  get  decent 
living  conditions.  Without  the  trolley  car 
it  would  mean  to  supply  the  employees  of 
the  factory  from  a  population  crowded  to- 
gether in  a  small  territory,  within  walking 
distance,  in  crowded  tenements,  with  the 
resultant  degeneration  and  deterioration 
of  the  conditions  of  living,  and  with  the  re- 
sultant change  in  the  character  of  the 
working  population.  Instead  of  a  law- 
abiding  American  city  we  would  have  an 
industrial  town  of  the  character  that  has 
become  notorious  in  the  past  few  years  by 
outbreaks  which  might  almost  be  called 
local  civil  war.  This  improvement,  from 
a  factory  town  to  an  industrial  city,  the 
trolley  car  is  bringing  about." 

Heavy  railway  work  is  still  chiefly  ac- 
complished under  steam.  Steam  railways 
have  not  yet  been  electrified,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  cases  where  special  condi- 
tions existed,  such  as  tunnel  operation, 
mountain  railways,  and  terminal  work 
chiefly  in  cuts  and  subways  of  the  greater 
cities.  But  in  the  aggregate  the  electric 
railways  of  the  country  have  grown  to 
such  large  importance  that  they  consume 
a  larger  total  amount  of  power  than  the 
aggregate  of  all  the  steam  power  used  by 
the  steam  railroads.  Such  is  the  vastness 
of  the  great  railway  industry  built  up  by 
the  electrical  engineers  of  the  country 
within  the  compass  of  three  decades. 

Another  field  in  which  the  skill  of  the 
electrical  engineer  has  worked  wonders,  or 
rather  two  fields  which  may  be  grouped  to- 
gether because  of  the  similar  way  in  which 
electricity  has  been  applied  to  them,  is  in 
its  results  in  chemistry  and  metallurgy. 
Here  is  a  group  which  has  been  chiefly  re- 
markable for  what  has  resulted  from  the 
superior  capacity  of  electricity  for  the  con- 
centration of  energy.  Many  of  these 
results  could  never  have  been  accomplished 
through  any  other  than  electric  agency.  It 
is  possible  to  separate  iron  from  its  ore  by 
means  of  the  chemical  energy  of  fuel 


(coal)  aided  by  the  hot-air  blast  in  the 
blast  furnace.  But  this  is  not  sufficient 
energy  to  separate  aluminum  from  its  ore, 
for  which  we  must  depend  upon  the 
higher  concentration  of  electric  energy. 
So  that  to  the  advance  of  electric  science 
and  the  skill  of  the  electrical  engineer  we 
owe  the  fact  that  aluminum  is  practically 
available,  and  in  like  measure  we  are  in- 
debted to  the  same  source  for  the  com- 
mercial availability  of  calcium  carbide, 
silicon,  chromium,  cyanide  and  nitrate 
fertilizers,  ozone  and  other  products  made 
practically  available  only  by  electric  en- 
ergy. To  the  electric  furnace,  with  its 
concentration  of  energy,  we  also  owe  the 
discovery  and  popular  use  of  carborun- 
dum and  of  artificial  graphite  of  a  purity 
unknown  in  natural  graphites.  Other 
products  of  importance  formerly  only  ob- 
tained by  roundabout  and  expensive  chem- 
ical methods  are  now  procured  by  the  en- 
ergy concentration  of  electricity,  including 
caustic  alkali,  chlorides,  phosphorous  and 
others.  So  also  copper  refining,  iron 
smelting  and  other  metallic  reductions  and 
processes  which  can  be  accomplished  by 
fuel  energy  and  other  means  can  be 
effected  more  economically  and  with  fewer 
disturbing  factors,  a  truth  which  is  im- 
pressing itself  on  the  metal  industries  so 
that  electro-metallurgy  is  one  of  the  most 
promising  fields  for  further  efforts. 

More  and  more  the  advance  of  electri- 
cal applications  are  being  aided  by  con- 
stant improvement  in  and  enlargement  of 
the  means  and  instrumentalities  of  electri- 
cal transmission.  The  earliest  of  the  im- 
portant commercial  applications  of  elec- 
tricity— the  electric  telegraph — owed  its 
success  to  the  transmissibility  of  electric 
energy,  but  in  their  earlier  manifestations 
all  of  the  electrical  industries  were  more 
or  less  localized  because  of  the  supposed 
limitations  of  transmissive  power.  The 
telegraph  lines  were  at  first  short,  and 
longer  distances  were  covered  by  relays, 
but  the  time  came  when  distance  no  longer 
presented  serious  obstacles.  The  tele- 
phone was  in  local  use  only  for  several 
years,  and  it  is  only  a  comparatively  recent 
event  that  it  has  been  possible  to  converse 
over  wires  across  a  continent.  So  light 
and  power  have  increased  in  transmissibil- 
ity with  the  advance  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing, and  the  harnessing  of  Niagara,  with 


100 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


the  results  there  obtained,  was  only  a  be- 
ginning of  the  wonder-working  accom- 
plished by  the  profession,  which  still  finds 
in  the  constantly  increasing  solutions  of 
transmission  problems  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  fields  of  engineering  endeavor. 

With  achievement  the  profession  of 
electrical  engineering  has  been  constantly 
acquiring  greater  importance,  greater  dig- 
nity and  greater  responsibility.  It  is  a 
profession  which  calls  for  the  highest 
intellectual  qualities  in  its  practitioners,  or 
at  least  such  of  them  as  are  to  contribute 
to  the  ever-expanding  triumphs  of  electri- 
cal science.  The  vastness  of  accomplish- 
ment already  achieved  by  the  profession 
seems  almost  like  magic  or  wizardry  to 
the  layman,  but  no  one  can  see  more 
clearly  than  the  engineer  himself  that  the 
field  of  progressive  endeavor  in  the  dis- 
covery of  new  phenomena  in,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  new  applications  of,  electricity  is 
practically  limitless.  Each  engineer  is  con- 
stantly confronted  with  problems  that 
apply  to  the  particular  part  of  the  field  in 
which  he  operates. 

Few,  indeed,  are  the  large  industries  in 
which  electrical  equipment  is  not  an  impor- 
tant factor.  An  electrical  engineer  is  now 
an  important  auxiliary  in  many  industries 
which  not  long  ago  seemed  entirely  apart 
from  electrical  problems.  The  colliery, 
the  quarry,  the  mine,  large  factories  of 
all  kinds,  transportation  systems,  ships, 
docks,  all  need  his  services.  He  is  a  most 
important  part  of  armies,  navies  and  air 
services  in  the  equipment  and  conducting 
of  war.  He  is  a  necessary  and  responsible 
adviser  and  official  in  connection  with 
many  of  the  important  problems  of  our 
larger  cities.  He  is  the  minister  of  social 
comfort  to  the  common  life,  and  creator 
of  more  efficient  and  better  working  sys- 
tems in  nearly  all  industries.  He  is  bring- 
ing the  nations  closer  together  and  confer- 
ring upon  the  more  backward  ones  many 
of  the  means  of  advance  to  a  higher  civil- 
ization. 

The  number  of  electrical  engineers  has 
increased  and  will  increase  in  response  to 


the  law  of  supply  and  demand,  but  as  the 
science  of  electrical  engineering  advances 
it  adds  constantly  to  the  volume  of  knowl- 
edge prerequisite  to  success  in  its  practice, 
and  this  fact  will  tend  to  keep  the  profes- 
sion  from   overcrowding.       As    the   most 
scientific  of  the  mechanical  professions,  the 
number    of    those    who    enter    it    will    be 
curbed,  so  that  incompetence  will  not  be 
likely  to  endure,  or  at  least  survive,   the 
tests  of  practice.     The  means  of  acquiring 
technical     preparation    have,     of    course, 
greatly   increased.      It  is   not  much  more 
than  a  third  of  a  century,  if  that  long,  that 
the  first  student  was  specifically  graduated 
as  an  electrical   engineer.  A  half  century 
ago  the  scholastic  instruction  in  electrical 
engineering  was  practically  confined  to  a 
few  lectures  from  the  chair  of  physics,  and 
from  that  position  it  has  advanced  to  the 
position  of  a  separate  department  in  many 
of  the  universities,  having  its  own  dean, 
with  its  complete  and  elaborate  teaching 
and  shop  equipment.     The  growth  of  the 
educational   advantages   for  the   engineer 
has  indeed  been  wonderful.     In  1885  one 
could  count  on  his  fingers  the  institutions 
in  the  United  States  giving  engineering  in- 
struction,   but   twenty-five   years    later,    in 
1910,  there  were  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  universities,   colleges   and  schools  of 
technology  giving  professional  instruction 
in  engineering,  and  of  all  the  branches  that 
in  electrical  engineering  was  the  one  upon 
which  the  greatest  interest  centered. 

This  is  true  not  only  educationally  but 
practically.  There  is  no  profession  which 
enlists  the  interests  of  its  practitioners 
more  fully  or  attracts  more  complete  loy- 
alty. None  is  better  organized  for  prog- 
ress. The  electrical  societies,  the  organ- 
izations maintained  by  the  great  electrical 
companies  for  post-graduate  instruction, 
the  ties  of  a  common  pursuit  in  which  new 
laurels  are  always  to  be  won  make  of  the 
profession  of  electrical  engineering  one 
which  honors  its  members  individually  and 
as  a  body.  They  have  wrought  and  are 
achieving  wonderful  things. 


CHAPTER    VI 
STORY    OF    THE    EARLY    ELECTRIC    RAILWAY 


THE  electric  railway,  which  for 
urban  and  interurban  service  has 
superseded  all  other  forms  of  trac- 
tion, comprises  within  itself  one  of  the 
most  important  applications  of  electricity. 
It  is  the  modern  development  of  an  in- 
dustry inaugurated  by  the  horse-drawn 
passenger  coach,  expanded  by  the  cable 
railway,  extended  by  the  overhead  trolley 
and  brought  down  to  the  last  word  in  re- 
finement of  operation  by  the  underground 
subway  third-rail  system  of  today,  which, 
for  high  speeds,  efficiency  and  safety, 
stands  alone  among  methods  of  trans- 
portation. 

About  1828  the  "John  Mason,"  a  ve- 
hicle resembling  an  omnibus,  was  pulled 
by  a  team  of  horses  over  strap  iron  rails 
laid  on  stone  ties  in  Fourth  Avenue,  New 
York  City.  This  was  the  first  street  rail- 
way for  passenger  service.  About  twenty 
years  afterward  another  line  was  built  in 
Sixth  Avenue,  New  York  City,  which  was 
sufficiently  successful  to  encourage  its  pro- 
moters to  further  efforts.  Perhaps  half  a 
dozen  other  roads  were  constructed  be- 
tween 1850  and  1855,  and  such  progress 
was  made  that,  at  the  taking  of  the  census 
in  1890,  there  were  in  operation  in  the 
principal  cities  of  the  United  States  769 
street  railways. 

The  cable  system,  which  has  become 
practically  obsolete  in  this  country,  enjoyed 
about  twenty-five  years  of  popularity  fol- 
lowing its  introduction  in  August,  1873. 
Its  installation  was  due  to  the  pioneer 
work  in  San  Francisco  of  Andrew  S.  Hal- 
lidie  and  his  associates,  Asa  E.  Hovey, 
William  Eppelsheimer  and  Henry  Root, 
although  the  basic  idea  had  been  suggested 
some  years  previously  by  E.  S.  Gardiner,  of 


Philadelphia.  This  system  consisted  of  a 
steel  cable  travelling  in  an  underground 
slot  through  which  it  was  pulled  by  heavy 
machinery  placed  at  a  central  power 
house.  Each  car  was  provided  with  a 
grip  by  which  it  could  be  attached  and 
detached  from  the  cable.  Over  a  thou- 
sand patents  were  issued  on  cable  railways 
and  their  detailed  apparatus  up  to  1890, 
since  when  the  superiority  of  electric  trac- 
tion has  shown  them  to  be  obsolete.  A 
great  deal  of  ingenuity  and  fine  engineering 
talent  was  displayed  in  the  designing,  con- 
struction and  operation  of  cable  railways, 
and  many  of  our  most  prominent  electric 
railway  men  secured  their  early  training  in 
this  field.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  suc- 
cess of  street  railways  operated  on  the 
cable  system  was  one  of  the  reasons  why 
capitalists  and  street  railway  men  gave 
encouragement  to  the  early  trials  of  elec- 
tric traction. 

The  long  delay  in  the  introduction  of  the 
electric  railway  for  passenger  traffic  was 
due  primarily  to  the  lack  of  a  source  of 
cheap  current  supply.  It  was  not  until  the 
commercial  perfection  and  introduction  of 
the  dynamo  that  the  principles  of  the  elec- 
tric railway,  which  had  been  demonstrated 
almost  fifty  years  before,  could  be  put  into 
practice.  All  the  original  experimenters 
in  the  electric  railway  field  had  been  obliged 
to  demonstrate  their  ideas  with  current 
obtained  from  primary  batteries  which,  of 
course,  precluded  any  possibility  of  com- 
mercial success  because  of  expense.  This 
was  true  of  the  pioneer,  Thomas  Daven- 
port, who,  in  1835,  operated  a  small,  cir- 
cular electric  railway  at  Springfield,  Mass., 
which  was  driven  by  batteries  carried  on 
the  vehicle.  Davenport  also  was  granted  a 


101 


102 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


.pajtejit  which  defined  electro-magnetic  power 
^;^«gi>FeKnftrt^« principle.  Prof.  Moses 
G.  Farmer,  the  distinguished  American  in- 
ventor, built  and  exhibited  in  1847  a  Pas' 
senger-carrying  electric  locomotive  which 
ran  on  a  track  with  a  gauge  of  eighteen 
inches.  His  power  was  obtained  from  48 
Grove  batteries  carried  on  the  locomotive. 
Thomas  Hall,  in  1850,  at  the  Mechanics 
Fair  in  Boston,  exhibited  on  a  track  40  feet 
long  a  small  electric  locomotive  driven  by 
two  cells  of  battery  and  hauling  a  trailer 
car.  About  this  time  Dr.  Colton,  a  well- 
known  New  York  dentist,  assisted  by  a 
man  named  Lilly,  demonstrated  a  working 
model  of  an  electric  locomotive,  the  most 
interesting  feature  of  which  was  the  use  of 
the  track  rails  as  a  part  of  the  return  cir- 
cuit for  the  operating  current.  Probably 
the  most  serious  attempts  at  commercial 
electric  traction  were  those  made  during 
this  period  by  Prof.  C.  G.  Page,  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  who  had  developed  a  reciprocating 
electric  motor  resembling  in  appearance  the 
steam  engines  of  the  day. 

Prof.  Page,  after  constructing  one  of 
his  reciprocating  motors  which  developed 
over  sixteen  horse-power  when  driven  by 
100  cells  of  Grove  battery,  made  an  ex- 
perimental trip  over  the  tracks  of  the 
Washington  &  Baltimore  Railroad  on 
April  29,  1857.  Starting  from  Washing- 
ton, the  trip  to  Bladensburg,  a  little  over 
five  miles  away,  was  made  in  thirty-nine 
minutes  and  a  maximum  speed  of  nineteen 
miles  an  hour  was  developed.  The  round 
trip  was  covered  in  one  hour  and  fifty- 
eight  minutes.  The  batteries  were  jolted 
out  of  connection  by  the  rough  track  and 
great  trouble  was  experienced  in  keeping 
them  at  work.  Although  this  experiment 
must  have  been  very  costly,  Prof.  Page  was 
not  discouraged,  but  for  some  years  con- 
tinued his  work  on  electric  motors,  all  of 
which  involved  the  reciprocating  principle. 

Henry  Pinkus  was  an  early  pioneer  who 
proposed  and  provisionally  patented  in 
1840  the  idea  for  an  electric  railway  which 
should  feed  the  motors  current  through 
the  track  rails.  The  Patent  Office  has  had 
to  refer  many  modern  inventors  to  his 
work. 

A  sharp  revival  in  electric  railway  ex- 
periments followed  immediately  upon  the 
production  of  the  commercially  successful 


dynamo-electric  machine.  Inventors  both 
in  Europe  and  the  United  States  began  at 
once  their  efforts  to  produce  practically 
operating  systems  using  the  dynamo  as  a 
source  of  current  supply.  Dr.  Werner 
Siemens  made  some  noteworthy  experi- 
ments at  Berlin  in  1867  and  in  1877  the 
work  of  Siemens  and  Halske  attracted  at- 
tention. In  1879  Stephen  D.  Field,  a 
member  of  the  distinguished  American 
family  of  that  name,  evolved  elaborate 
plans  for  an  electric  railway  which  he 
soon  after  built  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  much  considera- 
tion was  given  to  the  methods  of  getting 
the  current  from  the  dynamo  to  the  motor 
on  the  electric  locomotive.  The  idea  was 
conceived  of  using  a  third  rail,  sometimes 
between  the  track  rails  and  sometimes  laid 
on  short  posts  to  one  side,  for  the  outgoing 
current  which  was  passed  through  the 
motor  and  returned  through  the  track 
rails.  Thus  the  beginnings  of  the  third 
rail  system  were  made  in  the  crudest  pos- 
sible manner  but  with  success.  This  was 
the  incubating  period  of  the  great  electric 
traction  industry,  for  inventors  all  over  the 
country  began  to  glimpse  the  future  pos- 
sibilities and  to  prepare  for  their  develop- 
ment. 

At  Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  from  1880  to 
1882,  Thomas  A.  Edison  made  a  great 
many  experiments  in  electric  railway  work, 
built  a  number  of  motors  and  locomotives 
and  hauled  over  his  private  track  a  great 
deal  of  freight  and  many  thousand  pas- 
sengers. Henry  Villard  was  so  impressed 
with  the  work  Edison  was  doing  that  he 
entered  into  a  contract  with  him  under 
which  he  was  to  build  at  Menlo  Park  two 
and  a  half  miles  of  electric  railway,  three 
cars,  one  passenger  locomotive  with  a 
speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour  and  a 
freight  locomotive  with  a  capacity  for 
hauling  ten  net  tons  of  freight  at  a 
power  cost  per  ton  mile  less  than  that 
of  the  steam  locomotive.  Mr.  Villard 
agreed  to  pay  the  actual  expenses  of  this 
experiment,  if  it  was  successful,  and  agreed 
further  to  negotiate  for  the  equipment  of 
fifty  miles  of  electric  railway  to  be  installed 
in  one  of  the  western  states.  Mr.  Edison 
has  since  stated  that  Mr.  Villard  advanced 
about  $40,000  on  account  of  this  contract 
which  undoubtedly  would  have  been  car- 
ried further  had  not  the  Northern  Pacific 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


103 


Railroad,  in  which  Villard  was  heavily 
interested,  gone  into  the  hands  of  a  re- 
ceiver about  that  time. 

The  early  Edison  locomotives  resembled 
in  their  outward  appearance  the  steam  lo- 
comotives of  the  day,  having  a  cab,  cow- 
catcher and  headlight.  Friction  pullies 
were  used  to  transmit  the  power  from  the 
motors  to  the  axle,  but  as  they  did  not 
prove  successful,  they  were  abandoned  in 
favor  of  belts.  At  starting,  the  belts 
slipped  a  great  deal.  This  led  to  use  of 
resistance  boxes  which  were  located  on  the 
locomotive  and  connected  in  series  with 
the  armature  of  the  motor.  Three  boxes 
were  used  and  the  motor  was  started  with 
all  of  them  in  circuit.  When  normal  speed 
had  been  obtained  the  driver,  by  means  of 
plugs  or  switches,  could  throw  the  various 
boxes  out  of  the  circuit  and  thus  by  de- 
grees increase  the  speed.  A  number  of 
other  experiments  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession until  they  were  brought  to  a  close 
in  1882.  During  all  this  work  the  operat- 
ing current  was  transmitted  to  the  motor 
through  the  track  rails  and  was  supplied 
through  underground  cables  from  the 
dynamo  plant  of  the  Edison  laboratory. 
Copper  bonds  also  were  used  at  the  rail 
joints  to  increase  the  conductivity.  In  the 
early  part  of  1883  the  electric  railway 
patents,  devices  and  interests  of  Edison 
and  Field  were  merged  into  The  Electric 
Railway  Company  of  America,  when 
Edison,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  aban- 
doned the  railway  field. 

At  the  Chicago  Railway  Exposition  of 
1883  an  electric  railway  was  built  and  op- 
erated by  S.  D.  Field,  C.  O.  Mailloux  and 
Frank  B.  Rae  which  was  constructed  on 
the  third  rail  design.  The  track  ran  along 
the  gallery  of  the  main  building,  was  about 
a  third  of  a  mile  long  and  three  feet  gauge. 
The  locomotive  was  named  "The  Judge," 
after  Chief  Justice  Field,  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  who  was  an  uncle 
of  Stephen  D.  Field.  One  car  was  hauled 
by  the  locomotive,  and  during  the  month 
of  June  over  26,000  passengers  were  car- 
ried. At  the  Louisville,  Ky.,  Exposition 
in  the  fall  of  1883  "The  Judge"  was  again 
exhibited  to  admiring  thousands.  In  this 
locomotive,  as  in  Edison's,  the  motor  was 
placed  on  the  floor  of  the  car  and  not  be- 
neath it.  Power  was  transmitted  by  bevel 
gears  and  a  countershaft  with  two  pulleys. 


An  average  speed  of  eight  miles  an  hour 
was  made  with  a  maximum  of  twelve  miles. 
Several  original  devices,  including  a  rheo- 
stat for  controlling  the  current,  were  used. 
A  cleverly  designed  contact  brush  com- 
posed of  phosphor  bronze  wires  was  used 
to  pick  up  the  current  from  the  third  rail. 
"The  Judge"  was  twelve  feet  long,  five 
feet  wide  and  weighed  about  three  tons. 

Leo  Daft,  an  Englishman,  who  was  one 
of  the  very  first  to  make  a  commercial 
business  of  manufacturing  and  operating 
electric  motors  from  a  central  electric 
station  in  New  York,  was  also  among  the 
early  workers  in  the  electric  railway  field 
in  the  eighties.  He  built  and  placed  in 
operation  at  his  company's  plant  at  Green- 
ville, N.  J.,  a  successful  locomotive.  As  a 
result  of  this,  the  Saratoga  &  Mount  Mc- 
Gregor Railroad  was  electrically  equipped 
in  November,  1883.  This  line  was  twelve 
miles  long,  with  many  sharp  curves  and 
steep  grades.  The  "Ampere,"  as  Daft's 
locomotive  had  been  named,  hauled  a 
passenger  car  successfully  over  the  road. 
In  this  instance,  also,  the  motor  was 
mounted  above  the  floor  of  the  locomo- 
tive. The  current  was  picked  up  from  a 
central  rail  by  phosphor  bronze  contact 
wheels  with  spring  mountings  to  insure 
flexibility.  In  1884  Daft  built  a  small 
road  on  one  of  the  long  piers  at  Coney 
Island,  the  seashore  resort  near  New  York, 
which  carried  in  one  season  over  38,000 
passengers.  Another  Daft  road  was  in- 
stalled a  little  later  at  the  Mechanics  Fair 
in  Boston  which  hauled  four  or  five  thou- 
sand passengers  a  week  for  a  month.  This 
locomotive,  which  had  been  named  the 
"Volta,"  was  shortly  afterward  taken  to 
the  New  Orleans  Exposition  and  run  on  a. 
line  about  a  fifth  of  a  mile  long  connecting 
the  main  building  with  the  United  States 
Government  Building. 

The  Baltimore  Union  Passenger  Rail- 
way Company  owned  a  line  extending  out 
through  the  villages  of  Hampden,  Mt. 
Vernon  and  Woodberry,  a  distance  of  per- 
haps two  miles,  and  reaching  an  altitude  of 
about  150  feet  above  the  city  of  Baltimore. 
In  1885  Daft  was  called  upon  to  equip  this 
line  electrically,  and  he  built  two  new  loco- 
motives in  which  the  motors  were  placed 
as  low  as  possible  on  the  floors.  The 
motion  of  the  armature  shaft  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  wheels  through  internal 


104 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


View  of  the  Daft  Dummy  Motor  Car  as  it  Appeared  in  1886 


A  Train  on  the  Annapolis  Short  Line  of  the  Maryland  Electric  Railway  Equipped  in   1908.  Thirty-two   Years 
after  the  Above,    Showing  the   Rapid   Advance  Made   in  the  Electric   Railway  Development 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


105 


gears.  A  third  rail  for  the  supply  of  cur- 
rent was  laid  between  the  track  rails  and 
the  latter  were  used  as  the  return  circuit. 
A  part  of  the  line  was  equipped  with  an 
overhead  trolley  wire.  This  section  of 
road  continued  in  operation  until  it  became 
a  part  of  a  network  of  electric  railways 
equipped  with  modern  apparatus.  About 
this  time  Daft  electrified  several  other 
street  railways  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  He  generally  used  two  overhead 
trolley  wires  with  two  contacts.  This  did 
away  with  the  third  rail  and  also  the  ne- 
cessity for  using  the  track  rails  as  part  of 
the  return  circuit.  During  this  period  he 
also  was  making  a  series  of  experiments  on 
the  New  York  elevated  railways.  For 
many  years  following  the  installation  by 
Daft  of  the  double  overhead  trolley  it  was 
widely  used  and  on  a  number  of  important 
street  railway  systems. 

Much  of  the  technical  development  of 
the  modern  electric  railway  is  due  to  the 
intelligent  experiments  of  Charles  J.  Van 
Depoele,  a  Belgian,  whose  father  was 
master  mechanic  for  the  East  Flanders 
Railway  System.  Van  Depoele  was  a 
cabinet-maker  by  trade,  but  devoted  most 
of  his  spare  time  to  electrical  experiments. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1869  and 
located  in  Detroit,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  art  furniture.  This 
afforded  him  a  sufficient  income  for  the 
indulgence  of  his  experimental  tastes,  and 
he  designed  and  built  some  of  the  earliest 
dynamos  and  arc  lights.  His  chief  hobby, 
however,  was  the  operation  of  street  cars 
by  electricity,  on  which  he  commenced 
work  in  1882.  Van  Depoele,  in  the  win- 
ter of  1882-3,  operated  a  short  experi- 
mental line  in  Chicago  and  later  in  the 
year  ran  a  car  at  the  Industrial  Exposition 
in  the  same  city,  taking  his  current  from 
an  overhead  wire.  The  results  were  so 
encouraging  that  in  1885  he  made  a  con- 
tract with  the  management  of  the  Toronto, 
Canada,  Exhibition  to  build  and  operate 
a  motor  car  and  three  passenger  cars  on  a 
single  track  line  about  a  mile  long  connect- 
ing the  existing  street  railway  terminus 
with  the  exhibition  grounds.  This  ven- 
ture was  a  distinct  success,  a  traffic  of 
10,000  passengers  a  day  being  handled. 
At  times  speeds  up  to  thirty  miles  an  hour 
were  attained.  On  this  motor  car  was 
installed  the  first  "underrunning"  trolley, 


now  generally  used.  In  a  crude  form  this 
little  road  used  the  modern  central  over- 
head trolley  wire,  underrunning  trolley 
and  trolley  pole,  side  bracket  poles  for 
suspending  the  trolley  wire  and  the  insu- 
lated track  return.  It  has  been  said  that 
this  was  not  a  street  railway  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  term,  although  it  used  streets 
as  thoroughfares. 

Shortly  after  his  experience  at  Toronto, 
Van  Depoele  undertook  the  construction 
of  a  real  street  railway  at  South  Bend, 
Ind.,  on  which  five  separate  cars  were 
operated  at  one  time,  something  un- 
dreamed of  up  to  then.  Current  to  oper- 
ate this  road  was  obtained  from  a  gen- 
erating plant  driven  by  water  power.  On 
each  of  the  four  closed  cars  was  placed  a 
five  horse-power  motor  and  a  larger  open 
car  was  equipped  with  a  ten  horse-power 
motor.  On  all  the  cars  the  motor  was 
placed  under  the  floor  between  the  wheels. 
The  axles  were  connected  by  link  belts  and 
sprockets.  This  was  an  innovation  which 
was  desirable,  because  the  motor  was  in 
the  way  when  located  on  the  platform  and 
took  up  space  needed  for  passengers.  On 
this  line  Van  Depoele  tried  the  experiment 
of  attaching  to  the  trolley  wire  a  little  car 
connected  by  a  flexible  cable  with  the  motor 
on  the  big  car  on  the  track.  While  a  per- 
fect contact  was  made,  this  idea  as  well 
as  an  underrunning  trolley  held  in  place 
by  a  balance  weight,  were  later  abandoned 
for  the  underrunning  trolley.  In  1885 
Van  Depoele  contracted  with  the  New  Or- 
leans Exposition  to  build  a  road  almost 
a  mile  long  with  a  carrying  capacity  of 
200  passengers  and  equipment  consisting 
of  a  motor  car  and  two  large  open  passen- 
ger cars.  Following  this  contracts  were 
undertaken  for  roads  at  Minneapolis, 
Minn.;  Detroit,  Mich.;  Appleton,  Wis. ; 
and  Montgomery,  Ala.  This  latter  road 
began  service  in  1886  and  was  equipped 
with  twelve  cars. 

Van  Depoele's  work  and  inventions,  par- 
ticularly the  underrunning  trolley  which  is 
a  vital  feature  of  the  modern  electric  rail- 
way, created  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
about  this  time  and  formed  the  subject  of 
litigation.  The  courts  sustained  his  claims 
as  the  inventor  of  this  useful  device  and 
Judge  Townsend,  of  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court,  said: 


106 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


"No  one  can  read  this  record  without 
being  impressed  by  the  fact  that  Van  De- 
poele  was  more  than  a  skilled  mechanic  in 
the  art  of  electrical  propulsion.  The  Pat- 
ent Office  has  raised  a  presumption  in  his 
favor  as  an  inventor  by  the  grant  of 
numerous  patents  to  him.  Some  thirty 
have  been  introduced  by  complainant,  sev- 
eral of  which  cover  highly  meritorious 
inventions  which  have  largely  contributed 
to  the  successful  practical  operation  of  the 


small  underground  conduit  located  between 
the  track  rails  and  running  the  length  of 
the  road.  The  feeder  conductor  was 
placed  in  the  conduit,  and  current  at  high 
voltage  for  the  Brush  series  wound  motor 
was  picked  up  by  a  "plow"  which  extended 
down  from  the  car  through  the  slot  in  the 
conduit  and,  by  sliding  contact,  maintained 
electrical  connection  with  the  source  of 
current.  The  first  car  so  used  was  an  old 
horse  car  equipped  with  a  small  arc  light- 


The  Van  Depoele  Electric    Railway    at    Toronto,    1885 


trolley  roads  throughout  the  country.  In 
fact,  the  construction  covered  by  his  earlier 
patent  for  an  overhead  underrunning  trol- 
ley shows  that  he  appreciated  the  problems 
involved  in  varying  lines  and  curves,  and 
to  a  limited  extent  by  said  device  inge- 
niously provided  for  their  solution." 

In  1884  Edward  M.  Bentley  and  Walter 
H.  Knight  built  and  operated  at  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  an  electric  railway  on  the  open  slot 
conduit  principle.  It  was  a  very  expensive 
installation  and  was  the  first  electric  road 
to  run  in  competition  with  horse  cars  on 
regular  street  railway  lines.  Two  miles 
of  the  tracks  of  the  East  Cleveland  Horse 
Railway  Company  were  equipped  with  a 


ing  dynamo  operated  as  a  motor.  Two 
other  cars,  similarly  equipped  with  motors, 
but  with  variations  in  gearing,  were  also 
put  in  service,  the  last  being  supplied  with 
spur  gears.  These  were  built  up  of  paper 
to  deaden  the  noise.  In  many  respects 
this  line  was  the  pioneer  of  the  conduit 
systems  since  operated  successfully  in  many 
of  our  largest  cities.  It  seems  to  have 
worked  well  in  practice,  not  only  in  ordi- 
nary weather,  but  through  an  unusually 
deep  snow  in  the  winter  of  1884-5.  A 
similar  Bentley-Knight  system  was  installed 
in  Fulton  street,  New  York  City,  with  the 
conduit  slot  at  one  side  instead  of  between 
the  rails.  For  some  reason  this  road  was 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


107 


never  operated  and  later  was  removed. 
In  Boston  a  Bentley-Knight  system  was 
installed  by  the  West  End  Street  Railway 
Company  on  a  section  of  Boylston  street, 
but  this  was  afterwards  replaced  by  the 
overhead  trolley  system.  Apparently  the 
time  was  not  ripe  for  the  introduction  of 
this  type  of  construction  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  it  had  proved  itself  to  be  success- 
ful. 


which  ran  along  the  under  side  of  the  wire, 
which  it  also  gripped.  In  was  connected 
by  a  flexible  cable  with  the  motor  on  the 
car  below  and  was  trollied  or  hauled  along 
by  the  movement  of  the  car  on  the  tracks. 
Henry's  employees  and  the  local  public 
called  the  little  carriage  a  "troller,"  which 
later  was  changed  to  "trolley."  This  was 
many  years  before  trolley  roads  became 
popularly  known  as  such. 


View  of  the  Montgomery,  Alabama,  early  Electric  Line 


About  this  time  John  C.  Henry,  a  tele- 
graph operator  possessed  of  considerable 
ingenuity,  was  doing  some  pioneer  electric 
railway  work  at  Kansas  City,  Mo.  A  rail- 
road had  been  projected  to  run  from 
Kansas  City  to  Independence,  a  distance 
of  about  ten  miles.  With  the  idea  of 
demonstrating  the  merits  of  electric  trac- 
tion to  the  promoters  of  this  line,  Henry 
built  a  little  experimental  road  at  Westport 
on  which  several  new  features  were  intro- 
duced, the  credit  for  which  was  claimed  by 
him.  He  used  double  overhead  wires 
supported  both  by  brackets  and  by  span 
wire  construction.  In  his  opinion,  the 
word  trolley  originated  on  his  Westport 
line.  His  first  travelling  contact  was  in 
the  form  of  a  little  four-wheeled  carriage 


Henry  used  as  his  motor  a  Van  Depoele 
dynamo  of  five  horse-power  capacity 
mounted  in  an  iron  frame  with  variable 
speed  changing  gears.  It  was  regulated  by 
the  use  of  resistance.  This  road  was  vis- 
ited and  inspected  by  many  people  inter- 
ested in  electrical  railway  development, 
including  Van  Depoele.  In  the  latter 
part  of  1885  Henry  changed  his  base  of 
operations  from  the  Westport  road  to  a 
steam  railway  line  owned  by  the  Fort  Scott 
&  Gulf  Railway  Company.  Here,  with 
heavier  machinery,  he  made  numerous  ex- 
periments with  high  speeds,  hauling  freight 
cars  and  with  snow  and  grades.  During 
the  winter  of  1885-6  Henry  undertook  to 
equip  the  East  Street  Railway  in  Kansas 
City.  This  line  had  a  mile  of  track  com- 


108 


THE   STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


pleted  and  four  motor  cars  were  placed  in 
service  on  it.  Each  car  was  provided  with 
a  twenty-five  horse-power  motor  with  fields 
so  wound  that  their  resistance  could  be 
varied  and  the  motors  regulated  without 
the  use  of  separate  resistance  boxes.  The 
current  was  supplied  to  the  motors  at  a 
•pressure  of  500  volts.  In  1887  Henry 
took  contracts  to  build  and  equip  several 
roads  in  California,  the  machinery  for 
which  was  built  in  a  crude  way  in  Kansas 
City.  It  has  been  observed  that  Henry's 
efforts  were  remarkable  in  that  he  was  so 
remote  from  the  facilities  necessary  for 
good  scientific  work. 

Prof.  Sidney  H.  Short  was  at  this  time 
in  the  physics  department  of  the  University 
of  Denver  and  was  also  engaged  in  experi- 
mental electric  railway  work.  In  Feb- 
ruary, 1885,  the  Denver  Electric  &  Cable 
Railway  Company  was  organized  to  build 
and  operate  an  electric  railway  through 
the  streets  of  Denver.  An  experimental 
track  some  400  feet  long  was  laid  in  a 
circle  on  the  university  grounds  and  Short's 
car,  called  the  "Joseph  Henry,"  hauled 
many  hundreds  of  persons  over  it.  The 
attention  attracted  by  these  efforts  led  to 
more  ambitious  attempts,  which,  however, 
were  not  successful.  Short,  at  this  time, 
held  the  opinion  that  the  greatest  economy 
in  the  operation  of  electric  railways  could 
be  attained  by  the  use  of  the  series  system, 
as  in  arc  lighting.  For  several  years,  with 
much  perseverance  and  ingenuity,  he  en- 
deavored to  produce  a  practical  system 
operated  in  this  way  until  at  last  the  success 
of  the  parallel  system  persuaded  him  to 
turn  his  attention  to  that  method  of  opera- 
tion. He  also  devoted  himself  to  improv- 
ing motor  construction  and  methods  of 
motor  suspension  on  the  car.  He  was 
among  the  very  first  to  recognize  the  ad- 
vantages of  spur  gearing  with  double 
reduction  of  speed  for  the  motors  used. 

With  due  allowance  for  the  pioneer  ef- 
forts of  the  early  experimenters  and  with 
proper  credit  to  all  the  inventive  genius 
displayed,  as  well  as  for  the  propaganda 
carried  on  to  educate  the  publ-ic  and  the 
investor,  it  must  be  said  in  all  fairness  that 
the  first  of  the  really  modern  systems  to  be 
equipped  and  operated  by  electricity  under 
service  conditions  was  that  built  at  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  by  Frank  J.  Sprague  in  1887. 
It  has  been  in  continuous  and  successful 


commercial  operation  ever  since.  The 
modern  era  in  street  railway  development 
begins  with  this  date. 

As  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States 
Navy,  Sprague  had  devoted  much  atten- 
tion to  electrical  matters  in  which  he  had 
been  interested  from  early  youth.  As  a 
designer  of  one  of  the  earliest  forms  of 
the  modern  power  motor  he  had  been  en- 
couraged by  Edward  H.  Johnson,  then  the 
active  head  of  the  Edison  lighting  system. 
Through  Johnson's  co-operation  Sprague 
was  enabled  to  perfect  his  motor  and  in- 
troduce it  in  a  large  way  on  the  low  tension 
circuits  of  the  Edison  lighting  companies 
scattered  all  over  the  country.  Although 
the  prospect  of  financial  reward  loomed 
large  in  this  particular  field,  Sprague  and 
his  associates  turned  their  attention  to  the 
electric  railway.  At  this  time  all  the  ex- 
isting roads  were  very  short  and  each 
operated  but  a  few  cars. 

In  1887  Sprague  secured  from  the 
Union  Passenger  Railway  at  Richmond  a 
contract  for  the  complete  equipment  in 
ninety  days  of  an  electric  railway  with 
thirteen  miles  of  track  and  forty  cars.  It 
was  stipulated  that  thirty  cars  should  be 
operated  at  the  same  time.  The  contract 
involved  building  a  generating  station  and 
pole  lines  for  the  transmission  of  current 
as  well  as  the  erection  of  the  trolley  wire, 
the  laying  of  the  track  and  the  building  of 
the  motors  and  the  cars.  The  number  of 
cars  specified  in  this  contract  was  greater 
than  the  total  of  all  the  electric  cars  then 
in  service  in  the  whole  of  the  United 
States.  The  grades  in  Richmond  were 
generally  believed  to  be  beyond  the  climb- 
ing capacity  of  any  electric  motor  then 
known.  There  were  twenty-nine  curves  on 
the  road,  five  of  them  less  than  thirty  feet 
radius,  and  some  of  the  grades  were  as 
high  as  twelve  per  cent.  The  track  was 
laid  with  twenty-seven  pound  rails,  loosely 
jointed,  and  the  ties  rested  in  Virginia  clay. 
After  considerable  experimental  work  and 
all  sorts  of  disasters  and  troubles,  the  road 
was  opened  for  regular  service  about 
February  i,  1888.  The  story  is  told  that 
during  one  of  the  trial  trips  a  motor  on  a 
car  jarred  loose  and  that  Sprague  crawled 
beneath  the  car  and  held  the  motor  in 
place  by  main  strength  until  the  run  was 
finished. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


109 


A  small  overhead  trolley  wire  was  used 
with  which  the  underrunning  trolley  made 
contact  reenforced  by  a  main  conductor 
supplied  with  current  by  feeder  circuits 
from  the  generating  station.  The  track 
was  used  as  the  return  circuit.  The  rails 
were  not  only  bonded  together,  but  were 
connected  to  a  continuous  conductor  which, 
in  turn  was  connected  with  ground  plates 
and  with  the  gas  and  water  pipes  of 


reduction  gears,  but  these  were  soon  re- 
placed again1  by  single  reduction  gears. 
The  motors  proved  to  be  so  inadequate 
for  the  rough  work  demanded  of  them  that 
they  had  to  be  practically  rebuilt.  Up  to 
that  time  it  had  been  believed  generally 
that  a  sixteen-foot  car  easily  could  be 
operated  by  a  pair  of  seven  and  one-half 
or  ten  horse-power  motors.  It  now  was 
discovered  that  while  but  one  or  two  horse- 


The  Van  Depoele  Electric  Line  at  Minneapolis 


the  city.  The  motors  operated  on  the 
parallel  system  under  a  voltage  of  450. 
There  were  two  motors  under  each  car, 
flexibly  suspended.  Single  reduction  gears 
connected  the  armature  shaft  with  the 
car  axle.  The  motors  had  fixed  brushes 
and  were  operated  by  the  motorman 
through  rheostatic  series  parallel  con- 
trollers with  sectionalized  field  coils  at 
each  end  of  the  car.  There  was  a  com- 
mutator at  each  end  of  the  armature,  cross 
connected  one  with  the  other,  so  that  but 
one  top  brush  on  each  commutator  was 
used.  After  a  short  time  the  single  reduc- 
tion gears  were  abandoned  for  double 


power  was  required  to  keep  a  car  in  mo- 
tion, a  great  deal  more  was  necessary  to 
start  it  from  rest,  especially  if  it  was  fully 
loaded  with  passengers.  From  this  time 
on  the  capacity  of  railway  motors  was 
largely  increased. 

As  the  motors  were  run  exposed  to 
weather,  mud  and  dust,  it  was  necessary 
that  their  installation  be  very  thorough, 
and  great  pains  were  taken  to  accomplish 
this.  The  brushes  on  the  motors,  at  first, 
gave  almost  constant  trouble.  In  connec- 
tion with  the  overhead  system  much  diffi- 
culty was  experienced,  and  Sprague  has 
stated  that  at  least  fifty  varieties  of  trolley 


110 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


wheels  and  poles  were  experimented  with 
before  what  is  now  known  as  the  "univer- 
sal movement"  type  was  developed  and 
adopted.  Overhead  construction  at  curves, 
switches  and  turnouts  had  to  be  worked 
out  in  a  similar  manner. 

The  Richmond  road  continued  to  oper- 
ate, in  spite  of  all  difficulties  and  set- 
backs, and  gradually  attracted  the  favor- 
able attention  of  financiers  and  street  rail- 
way men  in  other  parts  of  the  country. 
About  this  time  one  of  the  most  extensive 
street  railway  systems  in  the  United  States, 
the  West  End  Railroad  of  Boston,  was 
considering  the  equipment  of  its  lines  with 
the  cable  system  on  the  theory  that  it  alone 
could  operate,  a  large  number  of  cars  sim- 
ultaneously. On  a  visit  to  Richmond  the 
president  and  other  officials  of  the  West 
End  road  were  shown  an  experiment 
which  settled  the  fate  of  the  cable  system 
in  Boston.  Twenty-two  motormen  started 
up  their  cars,  one  after  the  other,  as  rap- 
idly as  headway  could  be  obtained. 

Ice  and  sleet  on  the  trolley  wire  at  Rich- 
mond often  made  it  necessary  for  a  man 
to  ride  on  top  of  the  car  and  knock  it  off 
with  a  stick  as  well  as  to  hold  the  trolley 
by  hand  in  contact  with  the  wire.  Light- 
ning played  havoc  with  the  system,  as  there 
was  no  protection  in  the  form  of  lightning 
arresters  and  there  were  many  grounds 
through  the  motors  and  lamp  circuits. 
This  finally  was  overcome  to  an  extent  by 
the  use  of  choke  coils  and  arresters  of  a 
primitive  character. 

As  Van  Depoele  perfected  the  under- 
running  trolley,  so  the  credit  for  pioneer 
work  in  the  suspension  of  the  motor  under 
the  car  must  be,  as  it  has  been  by  the  courts, 
awarded  to  Sprague.  This,  of  course,  like 
the  underrunning  trolley,  was  the  subject 
of  litigation.  A  decision  by  Chief  Justice 
Shipman,  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals,  says  in  part: 

"As  soon  as  the  use  of  an  electric  motor 
for  the  propulsion  of  cars  upon  a  street 
railway  was  thought  to  be  attainable, 
divers  methods  were  invented  which  were 
intended  to  enable  the  motor  to  act  effi- 
ciently, economically  and  certainly  upon  the 
car  axle.  At  first  the  motor  was  supported 
by  or  on  the  car  body  and  afterwards  it 
was  upheld  upon  a  separate  platform. 
Sprague  hung  the  motor  under  the  car  body 
directly  upon  the  axle  of  one  of  the  pairs 


of  wheels  by  an  extension  or  solid  bearing 
attached  directly  to  the  motor.  He  used 
a  magnet  having  a  yoke  and  pole  pieces, 
and  by  sleeving  one  end  upon  the  axle  he 
caused  the  armature,  which  was  carried 
between  the  poles  of  the  magnet,  to  be  held 
with  firmness  and  the  armature  shaft  to 
be  held  in  alignment  with  the  car  axle. 
The  opposite  end  of  the  motor  was  upheld 
by  springs  extending  to  a  crossbar  on  the 
truck  frame.  He  also  relieved  the  weight 
upon  the  axle  by  a  spring  support  from 
the  truck  of  the  vehicle.  The  motor  was 
thus  hung  below  the  car,  one  end  being 
centered  upon  the  axle  and  the  other  end 
being  flexibly  attached  by  springs  to  the 
truck  frame.  The  effect  of  the  mode  of 
construction  is  explained  in  the  specification 
as  follows:  'The  armature  being  carried 
rigidly  by  the  field  magnet,  these  two  parts 
must  always  maintain  precisely  the  same 
relative  position  under  every  vertical  or 
lateral  movement  of  the  wheels  or  of  the 
car  body;  and  as  the  field  magnet  which 
carries  the  armature  is  itself  centered  by 
the  axle  of  the  wheels  to  which  the  arma- 
ture shaft  is  geared,  the  engaging  gears 
must  always  maintain  precisely  the  same 
relative  position.  At  the  same  time  the  con- 
nection of  the  entire  motor  with  the  truck 
is  through  springs,  so  that  its  position  is 
not  affected  by  the  movements  of  the  truck 
on  its  springs.'  The  simplicity  and  com- 
parative lightness  of  the  general  plan  upon 
which  this  motor  was  constructed  and  the 
adaptability  of  the  means  to  the  required 
result  made  the  motor  successful,  and  other 
preexisting  methods  of  construction  dis- 
appeared to  a  great  extent." 

Elevated  railways  occupying  main  lines 
of  thoroughfares  must  be  considered  in 
the  development  of  the  passenger-carrying 
street  railway.  This  system  of  transporta- 
tion is  peculiarly  American  in  its  origin 
and  adoption.  New  York,  Boston,  Chi- 
cago, Brooklyn  and  Kansas  City  all  have 
elevated  railways  which  are  now  compo- 
nent parts  of  the  surface  street  railway 
systems,  operate  under  the  same  manage- 
ment and  transfer  passengers.  Daft,  Field 
and  Sprague  made  some  of  the  earliest 
experiments  in  the  application  of  electricity 
to  short-haul  transportation  on  the  ele- 
vated railways  of  New  York  City.  For 
years  these  roads  had  been  operated  with 
steam  locomotives,  but  the  rapidly  in- 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


111 


creasing  traffic  necessitating  heavier  and 
faster  trains  as  well  as  the  objection  of  the 
public  to  the  noise  and  dirt  of  the  steam 
locomotives  afforded  an  opportunity  for 
these  pioneers  to  work  out  their  ideas  in 
practice.  As  early  as  1885  plans  were 
made  for  equipping  sections  of  the  Ninth 
avenue  and  Second  avenue  roads  in  New 
York  with  electricity. 


in  diameter  and  the  motor  was  seventy-five 
horse-power,  with  a  normal  speed  of 
eighteen  miles  per  hour  and  a  maximum  of 
forty.  The  motor  was  supported  at  the 
rear  by  a  shaft  resting  in  bearings.  The 
forward  end  of  the  motor  was  supported 
by  a  long  screw  which  passed  through  a 
threaded  nut  or  eye.  A  hand  wheel  for 
turning  the  screw  was  attached  to  it.  The 


Van  Depoele  and  Some  of  his  Early  Electric  Light  and   Railway  Associates.      The    Group    Comprises    Frank- 
land  Jannus,  John  Cook,  John  Van  Hoogstrate,  James  McLatighlin,  Gen.  Stiles,  C.  J. 
Van  Depoele,   Frank   Sheal,   Albert  Wahl  and  Elmer  P.   Morris 

From  the  collection  of  Elmer  P.  Morris 


Leo  Daft  installed  a  third  rail  system 
on  a  two-mile  stretch  of  the  Ninth  avenue 
line  from  Fourteenth  to  Fifty-third  street. 
The  third  rail,  which  fed  the  current  to 
the  motors,  was  laid  between  the  track 
rails,  which  latter  were  used  as  the  return. 
The  Daft  electric  locomotive  weighed  nine 
tons,  was  fourteen  feet  six  inches  long  and 
four  feet  eight  and  one-half  inches  wide. 
Its  driving  wheels  were  forty-eight  inches 


armature  shaft  was  provided  with  a  fric- 
tion wheel  nine  inches  in  diameter  which 
bore  upon  another  friction  wheel  three  feet 
in  diameter  geared  to  the  axle  of  the  main 
driving  wheels.  By  turning  the  hand 
wheels  on  the  screw  the  upper  friction 
wheel  could  be  pressed  against  the  lower  to 
any  desired  degree.  In  this  manner,  there- 
fore, power  was  transmitted  by  friction 
from  the  armature  to  the  driving  wheels, 


112 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


the  amount  of  friction  contact  being  regu- 
lated at  will  by  the  operator  in  direct  pro- 
portion to  the  load.  Thus  was  the  neces- 
sity for  sprockets,  link  belts,  etc.,  avoided. 
The  screw  also  afforded  a  convenient 
means  for  raising  the  motor  clear  of  the 
driving  wheels  so  that  the  armature  could 
be  inspected  and  repaired  when  necessary. 
Electric  brakes  also  were  used  on  the  Daft 
locomotive.  These  consisted  of  large 
electro-magnets  energized  by  current  from 
the  track  so  that  they  were  attracted  by 
the  wheels  and  came  into  mechanical  con- 
tact with  them  as  an  ordinary  brake  would. 
The  motors  were  compound  wound  and  the 
terminals  of  the  windings  were  carried  to 
a  regulator  near  the  motorman  at  the  front 
of  the  locomotive.  By  the  movement  of  a 
lever  across  the  terminals  the  resistance  of 
the  field  magnets  could  be  changed,  result- 
ing in  corresponding  variations  in  the  speed 
of  the  motor.  A  bronze  contact  wheel  fif- 
teen inches  in  diameter  was  used  to  pick  up 
the  current  from  the  third  rail.  The  motor 
was  afterward  rebuilt,  as  it  proved  to  be 
too  light  for  the  work  demanded  of  it. 

In  the  meantime,  Stephen  D.  Field,  rep- 
resenting the  company  which  had  acquired 
Edison's  and  his  own  electric  railway  pat- 
ents and  inventions,  had  begun  electrifying 
the  short  piece  of  elevated  track  which 
connected  the  Thirty-fourth  street  station 
of  the  Second  avenue  line  with  the  ferry 
house  at  the  foot  of  Thirty-fourth  street, 
New  York  City.  The  locomotive  which 
he  put  in  service  here  was  the  first  which 
bore  any  external  resemblance  to  those 
which  later  were  to  be  generally  adopted. 
In  Field's  locomotive  the  motor  shaft  was 
directly  connected  with  the  driving  wheels 
by  a  crank  and  side  bar,  exactly  as  in 
the  steam  locomotive.  The  motor  was 
mounted  on  the  rear  truck  and  was  series 
wound.  A  new  feature  of  this  equipment 
was  that  the  motor  was  regulated  through 
a  liquid  rheostat  or  resistance  placed  in 
the  cab.  This  was  in  the  form  of  a  trough 
divided  into  two  compartments  and  filled 
with  acidulated  water.  Metal  plates  at 
either  end  of  the  trough  acted  as  terminals 
for  the  feeding  circuit  which  was  brought 
in  over  two  copper  cables.  By  inserting 
or  withdrawing  two  slate  slabs  from  the 
trough  through  the  operation  of  a  Ions 
lever,  the  resistance  could  be  varied  from 
almost  zero  up  to  any  desired  point,  thus 


regulating  the  speed  of  the  motor  and  that 
of  the  train.  Other  ingenious  devices  were 
used  for  reversing  and  for  shifting  the 
brushes  to  prevent  commutator  sparking. 
This  locomotive,  which  was  often  operated 
under  a  potential  as  high  as  1,100  volts, 
weighed  thirteen  tons  and  hauled  up  grade 
at  eight  miles  per  hour  one  of  the  regular 
heavy  elevated  coaches. 

Frank  J.  Sprague  now  came  forward 
with  the  proposition  that  the  correct  way 
to  haul  a  train  was  to  equip  each  car  with 
its  own  motor,  the  pioneer  idea  of  the 
multiple  unit  system  of  the  present  day. 
He  urged  the  abolition  of  the  electric  loco- 
motive for  elevated  railway  service.  His 
arguments  must  have  been  sound  and  con- 
clusive, for  the  locomotive  has  been  re- 
placed by  the  motor  car.  Sprague  began 
a  series  of  experiments  on  the  Thirty- 
fourth  street  branch  of  the  Third  avenue 
elevated  road  in  New  York.  He  equipped 
a  car  with  two  motors,  one  on  each  truck. 
By  connecting  the  motors  in  parallel  on  a 
constant  potential  circuit  and  driving  from 
opposite  ends  of  the  motor  shafts,  and  by 
having  an  intense  magnetic  field  and  raising 
the  potential  of  the  armatures  gradually, 
a  very  intense  torque,  or  rotary  effort,  was 
secured  which  enabled  the  car  to  start 
quickly.  Trials  also  were  made  of  a 
braking  system  which  involved  converting 
the  energy  of  the  train  into  current,  de- 
livered back  to  the  line  from  the  motor 
which,  for  the  time  being,  became  a  dy- 
namo without  reversal  of  contacts.  Three 
contact  conductors,  two  of  which  were 
bronze  wheels  working  on  pivoted  arms 
under  compression  springs,  were  used  to 
pick  up  the  current  from  a  central  third 
rail.  For  handling  the  motors,  breaking 
the  main  circuit,  reversing  the  armature 
circuit,  cutting  the  armature  partially  out 
of  the  line,  and  closing  it  upon  a  local 
regulating  apparatus,  special  switches 
were  designed  and  installed.  Current  at 
about  550  volts  was  used.  This  was  ob- 
tained from  five  Edison  incandescent  light- 
ing dynamos  connected  in  series.  These 
were  located  about  a  mile  away  and  the 
current  was  carried  to  the  experimental 
track  in  cables  strung  on  Western  Union 
telegraph  poles. 

In  spite  of  the  success  of  these  efforts 
and  the  fact  that  many  new  and  ingenious 
features  were  developed  through  them,  it 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


113 


was  not  until  fifteen  years  later  that  elec- 
tricity was  finally  adopted  as  the  motive 
power  for  the  New  York  elevated  railway 
system,  although  meanwhile  it  had  been 
successfully  applied  to  the  elevated  sys- 
tems in  Chicago,  Brooklyn  and  Boston. 
The  management  of  these  latter  roads  had 
been  convinced  by  a  demonstration  made 
at  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  in  1893. 

The  Intramural  Railway  was  an  ele- 
vated structure  which  made  almost  the 
complete  circuit  of  the  World's  Fair 
grounds,  and  was  nearly  three  miles  in 
length.  It  comprised  14,800  feet  of  double 
track  and  1,900  feet  of  single  track.  Fif- 
teen trains,  each  consisting 
of  a  motor  car  and  three  f 
trailer  cars,  were  operated 
over  the  road.  The  cars 
were  fifty  feet  in  length  and 
were  mounted  on  double 
trucks.  The  motor  cars 
weighed  thirty  tons  each 
and  each  trailer,  when 
loaded,  weighed  twenty- 
two  tons.  Four  motors, 
one  on  each  axle,  were  in- 
stalled on  each  motor  car. 
The  motors  were  of  the 
single  reduction  type, 
geared  so  as  to  operate  at 
a  maximum  speed  of  thirty- 
five  miles  an  hour,  and  each 
had  a  capacity  of  about  135 
horse-power,  thus  provid-  The 

ing  each  motor  car  with 
over  500  horse-power.  A 
sliding  contact  on  the  motor 
car  picked  up  the  current  from  a  third  rail 
placed  outside  the  traction  rails.  A  special 
power  station  was  built  to  supply  the  road 
with  current.  It  had  a  capacity  of  2,000 
horse-power,  the  largest  known  up  to  this 
time  in  connection  with  electric  railway 
work.  The  Intramural  remained  in  suc- 
cessful operation  throughout  the  World's 
Fair  and  is  reported  to  have  safely  trans- 
ported in  one  day  as  many  as  125,000  pas- 
sengers. From  this  time  on  no  doubt  re- 
mained as  to  the  practicability  of  operating 
extensive  systems  of  elevated  railway  by 
electricity. 

The  many  obvious  advantages  of  a  self- 
contained  vehicle  led  a  number  of  experi- 
menters to  attempts  to  adapt  the  storage 
battery  to  passenger  transportation  over 


street  railways.  These  efforts  were  at 
first  most  promising  and  very  interesting, 
but  gradually  for  one  cause  or  another  all 
were  abandoned.  The  theoretical  advan- 
tages of  a  system  which  does  away  with 
overhead  construction,  underground  con- 
duits, and  which  is  not  affected  by  a  tem- 
porary shut-down  of  the  electric  power 
station  are  most  appealing,  but  they  are 
overcome  in  practice  by  inherent  disad- 
vantages of  the  storage  battery  system 
which  have  demonstrated  after  many  at- 
tempts that  it  is  not  suitable  for  street 
railway  work.  Both  in  Europe  and  in  the 
United  States  experiments  in  storage  bat- 


Mahoning  and    Shenango    Railway   and   Light 
Company's  Type  of  Modern  Car 


tery  traction  were  tried  as  early  as  1880 
and  1883.  Probably  the  most  ambitious 
work  of  this  kind  was  undertaken  in  New 
York  in  1887  and  1888,  when  the  system 
of  Julien,  a  Belgian  engineer,  was  in  op- 
eration for  a  considerable  period  on  the 
Fourth  avenue  street  railway  line.  As 
many  as  twelve  cars  were  in  service  at  one 
time.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  of  New  York  City, 
made  many  modifications  in  the  Julien 
system  and  excellent  results  were  obtained. 
Anthony  Reckenzaun,  of  Vienna,  also 
made  some  encouraging  experiments  at 
Philadelphia. 

It  was  found,  however,  that  the  type  of 
storage  battery  then  obtained  was  inade- 
quate for  this  service.  They  broke  down 
very  rapidly  under  the  heavy  discharge 


114 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


required  at  intervals  and  tended  to  short 
circuit  themselves  from  the  jolts  and  con- 
cussions of  the  car  on  the  tracks.  The 
weight  of  the  cells  used  in  these  early  ex- 
periments proved  a  severe  handicap. 
Most  of  the  cells  tried  weighed  from  100 
to  125  pounds  per  horse-power  hour  of 
energy  stored,  which,  of  course,  limited 
the  operating  radius  of  the  car  greatly. 
Cells  with  an  output  of  one  horse-power 
per  hour  for  fifty  to  seventy-five  pounds 
of  weight  were  designed,  built  and  tried, 
tut  they  proved  too  fragile  for  the  service 
required.  The  annoyance  to  passengers 
from  sulphuric  acid  fumes  which  escaped 
from  the  batteries  carried  under  the  seats 
proved  to  be  an  insurmountable  difficulty. 
The  jolting  of  the  car  also  threw  out  the 
acid  from  the  cells  and  it  quickly  corroded 
and  weakened  the  structural  material  of 
the  car.  Trouble  also  arose  over  the 
handling  of  the  exhausted  batteries  at  the 
power  station  when  they  had  to  be  re- 
placed by  freshly  charged  cells.  Many 
ingenious  devices  were  contrived  to  do  this 
work  quickly.  Finally,  in  order  to  do  away 
with  the  necessity  for  such  devices  it  was 
decided  to  leave  the  batteries  on  the  cars 
all  the  time  and  charge  them  in  place.  But 
this  necessitated  the  doubling  of  the  roll- 
ing stock.  Although  experiments  con- 
tinued with  varying  success  over  a  period 
of  years,  the  last  of  the  street  cars  oper- 
ated with  lead  batteries  in  New  York  were 
withdrawn  from  service  in  1903.  Since 
then  a  number  of  cars  equipped  with  the 
Edison  cell  have  been  in  operation.  In 
1907  there  was  but  one  road,  with  three 
miles  of  track,  operated  by  storage  bat- 
teries. In  1912  ten  street  railway  com- 
panies were  using  storage  cells  over  at 
least  a  part  of  their  systems  and  the  track 
mileage  had  increased  to  64.67,  nearly  all 
of  which  was  in  the  states  of  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware. 

In  1913  a  demonstration  was  made  to 
show  the  value  of  the  storage  battery  car 


for  lighter  traffic  on  the  main  lines  of 
steam  railroads,  although  no  great  prog- 
ress in  this  direction  has  been  made  since. 
The  experimental  run  from  New  York  to 
Boston,  a  distance  of  307  miles,  was  made 
on  March  6,  1913,  in  eleven  hours,  six 
minutes  and  fifty-one  seconds.  The  route 
taken  was  from  New  York  to  Albany  over 
the  tracks  of  the  New  York  Central  and 
from  Albany  to  Boston  over  the  Boston 
&  Albany.  The  weather  conditions  during 
the  test  were  as  follows :  From  New  York 
to  Poughkeepsie,  light  rain;  from  Pough- 
keepsie  to  Hudson,  light  snow ;  from  Hud- 
son to  Chatham,  heavy  snow;  from  Chat- 
ham to  Springfield,  high  cross  wind  and 
drifting  snow;  from  Springfield  to  Boston 
the  temperature  was  six  degrees  above 
zero.  The  car  was  forty-nine  feet,  eight 
and  one-half  inches  long  over  the  drawbar, 
and  was  equipped  with  225  cells  of  nickel- 
steel  alkaline  batteries  for  power  and  five 
cells  for  light.  The  batteries  were  located 
under  the  car  in  two  compartments  strongly 
reinforced  with  structural  shapes  and  riv- 
eted to  the  underframe.  Driving  power 
was  obtained  through  four  twenty  horse- 
power, seventy-five  ampere,  two  hundred 
volt,  series  wound  motors.  The  wheels 
were  driven  by  gears  placed  on  the  inside 
exterior  of  the  hubs,  the  reduction  being  at 
the  ratio  of  two  and  one-half  to  one.  The 
body  of  the  car  was  divided  into  two  com- 
partments, one  for  baggage,  eleven  feet 
ten  inches  long,  and  the  other  for  passen- 
gers, thirty  feet  two  inches  long  with  seats 
for  fifty-one  persons.  The  car  without 
battery  and  passengers  weighed  48,235 
pounds;  standard  battery,  8,525  pounds; 
auxiliary  battery,  8,525  pounds;  light  bat- 
tery, 266  pounds;  accessories  on  car,  500 
pounds.  During  the  run  the  average  speed 
was  27.6  miles  per  hour  and  a  maximum 
speed  of  42  miles  per  hour  was  attained. 
The  total  number  of  kilowatt  hours  used 
was  369.1  and  the  average  kilowatt  hours 
per  car  mile  were  1.2. 


DR.    ED  WARD     G.ACHESON 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 
DR.  EDWARD  GOODRICH  ACHESON 


115 


The  world  has  been  made  over  and 
speeded  up  during  the  past  one  hundred 
years  and,  except  for  the  electric  tele- 
graph, has  been  electrically  equipped  dur- 
ing the  past  fifty.  Space  annihilated;  light, 
warmth  and  motion  multiplied  to  propor- 
tions undreamed  of;  machines  increasing 
production  by  the  thousand-fold;  new  re- 
sources uncovered  for  varied  human  needs, 
and  the  former  luxuries  of  the  rich  trans- 
formed into  the  necessities  of  the  many — 
all  these  things  have  come  through  the 
genius  of  inventors  who  have  translated 
the  discoveries  of  science  into  the  actuali- 
ties of  industry. 

Many  of  those  most  prominent  as  fac- 
tors in  this  material  advancement  are  our 
contemporaries,  still  faithfully  working  for 
the  fulfillment  of  the  programme  of  prog- 
ress. Among  them  none  is  more  active  in 
accomplishment  or  more  versatile  in  labors 
than  Dr.  Edward  Goodrich  Acheson,  who 
stands  in  the  front  rank  as  the  result  of 
achievements  in  scientific  discovery  and 
revolutionizing  invention.  His  genius  has 
traversed  many  fertile  fields  of  scientific 
endeavor.  He  is  an  electrical  engineer  of 
long  service  and  valuable  achievement. 
His  greatest  discoveries  have  proceeded 
from  novel  applications  of  heat  generated 
in  an  electric  furnace.  He  is  a  chemist 
who,  through  electro-chemical  means,  has 
made  the  most  valuable  dicoveries  of 
abrasive  materials  and  lubricants.  His 
very  substantial  success  and  present  world- 
wide prominence  have  been  largely  accom- 
plished by  electrical  means,  and,  although 
his  career  has  covered  work  in  many  voca- 
tions, it  is  in  electrical  and  chemical  lines 
that  his  highest  endeavors  have  been  en- 
listed. 

Dr.  Acheson  comes  of  that  sturdy 
Ulster  stock  from  which  came  the  most 
prominent  of  the  early  settlers  of  Western 
Pennsylvanian  in  the  closing  decades  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century.  His  grandfather, 
David  Acheson,  came  from  Glassdrum- 
mond,  County  Armagh,  Ireland,  in  1788, 
and  settled  at  Washington,  Pennsylvania, 
where  the  family  has  since  been  prominent 
in  public  and  professional  life.  David 
Acheson  and  his  brother,  John,  engaged  in 


business  at  Washington,  and  did  an  exten- 
sive business  with  the  United  States 
Government  in  furnishing  supplies  to  the 
Army  and  to  Indian  reservations.  David 
Acheson  was  not  only  a  successful  business 
man,  but  a  legislator  of  prominence, 
serving  three  terms  in  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  Pennsylvania.  Of  his  sons,  Marcus 
W.  Acheson  was  on  the  district  and  circuit 
.  bench  of  the  United  States  for  twenty-six 
years,  whose  son,  Marcus  W.,  is  a  promi- 
nent Pittsburgh  lawyer.  Judge  Alexander 
Wilson  Acheson  was  a  judge  in  Washing- 
ton County,  and  was  father  of  Ernest 
Francis  Acheson  (Congressman  Twenty- 
fourth  Pennsylvania  District  1895-1909). 
A  third  son  of  David  Acheson  was  Will- 
iam Acheson,  iron  manufacturer,  merchant, 
and  a  man  of  considerable  scientific  attain- 
ments. He  married  Sarah  Diana  Ruple, 
and  of  that  union  Edward  Goodrich 
Acheson  was  born  at  Washington,  Penn- 
sylvania, March  9,  1856. 

He  received  his  education  at  the  Belle- 
fonte  (Pennsylvania)  Academy  until,  at 
the  age  of  sixteen,  he  was  taken  from 
school  to  fill  a  position  at  his  father's  blast 
furnace.  In  1873  his  father  died,  and  a 
sort  time  afterward  Edward  G.  Acheson 
joined  a  surveying  party  as  chainman.  For 
some  time  he  lived  an  unsettled  life,  trying 
his  hand  at  various  occupations  but  show- 
ing his  mechanical  and  inventive  bent  by 
inventing  a  drill  for  coal  mining  before  he 
was  eighteen  and  later  constructing  a  dy- 
namo. He  was  employed,  successively,  as 
railroad  ticket  clerk,  engineer,  bookkeeper 
and  iron  miner  until  1880,  when  he  went  to 
New  York,  hoping  to  find  employment 
which  would  help  him  to  better  knowledge 
and  experience  along  electrical  and  chemi- 
cal lines. 

He  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  a  place 
as  assistant  draftsman  in  the  laboratories 
of  Thomas  A.  Edison,  at  Menlo  Park, 
New  Jersey,  then  a  fountain  head  of 
chemical  knowledge  and  experiment.  His 
promotion,  soon  afterward,  was  to  a  place 
in  the  original  experiment  department, 
where  he  was  in  close  touch  with  many  of 
the  most  important  of  the  then  current 
electrical  problems.  His  progress  may  be 
readily  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  July, 


116 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


1 88 1,  he  was  sent  as  first  assistant  engineer 
of  the  Edison  interests  at  the  Electrical 
Exposition  in  Paris,  where  many  wonder- 
ful exhibits  of  progress  in  things  electrical 
were  on  exhibition,  for  it  was  a  period 
when  many  of  the  giant  steps  in  new  elec- 
trical paths  were  being  made.  When  the 
Exposition  was  closed  he  remained  in 
Paris  with  the  Edison  Company  and  later 
was  in  Italy  for  a  time  with  the  Italian 
Company  that  operated  the  Edison  pat- 
ents, returning  in  1883  to.  Paris,  where  he 
put  in  several  months  doing  a  considerable 
amount  of  experimental  work  on  his  own 
account.  The  problem  upon  which  he  was 
working  was  one  which  had  long  and 
deeply  interested  him — the  direct  conver- 
sion of  heat  into  electrical  energy.  The 
experiments  exhausted  his  life's  savings, 
and  illness  added  to  the  seriousness  of  his 
plight.  He  returned  to  the  United  States 
with  means  so  reduced  that  he  found  it 
necessary  to  take  a  salaried  position,  be- 
coming superintendent  of  the  Consolidated 
Lamp  Company,  in  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
and  remained  there  for  a  year,  1884-1885. 

Having  invented  an  anti-induction  tele- 
phone wire,  he  sold  it  in  1885  to  George 
Westinghouse,  and  from  1886  to  1889  he 
was  electrical  engineer  with  the  Standard 
Underground  Cable  Company  of  Pitts- 
burgh. The  spirit  of  experiment  was 
strong  within  him,  and  electrical  and 
chemical  problems  engaged  his  spare 
hours.  After  leaving  the  service  of  the 
Standard  Underground  Cable  Company  he 
devoted  his  entire  time  to  these  experi- 
ments. 

One  of  the  subjects  of  experiment  which 
had  long  occupied  his  attention  was  that 
of  abrasion.  He  dates  his  interest  in  the 
subject  back  j  a  chance  remark  made  to 
him  in  1881  by  Dr.  George  F.  Kunz,  vice- 
president  of  Tiffany  &  Company  and 
famous  gem  expert,  which  ca  '  him  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  an  effic  've 

to   the   industrial  world.     To    ^  )r. 

Acheson  himself,  the  influence  of  thi 
mark  had  very  important  results.     A        * 
impressive  scientific  address,  made  in  1910, 
he  said: 

"I  was  even  brought  to  realize  that  the 
act  of  abrasion  constitutes  the  beginning 
of  manufacture,  man  having  to  rub  things 
into  form  before  he  had  any  tools  to  use 


in  shaping  his  material.  Several  years 
passed  by,  and  in  1886,  while  making  an 
experiment  in  the  gas  fields  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  I  placed  a  number  of  clay 
articles  in  a  kiln,  into  which,  when  brought 
to  a  very  high  temperature,  was  introduced 
some  natural  gas,  and  after  the  kiln  had 
been  cooled  and  the  clay  articles  "Amoved, 
they  were  found  to  be  of  a  dead  black 
color,  and  I  thought  were  harder,  they 
having  been  impregnated  throughout  with 
carbon  resulting  from  the  d<=>  ">mDosition 
of  the  gas.  Five  more  ye  ^v 

until,  in  March,  1891,  bavin 
to  use  a  comparatively  large  .^  cur- 

rent, I  thought  I  would  then  take  up  a 
series  of  experiments  for  the  production 
of  an  artificial  abrasive.  These  experi- 
ments resulted  in  my  devising  methods 
whereby  a  mixture  of  ground  coke  and 
sand,  when  subjected  to  a  high  tempera- 
ture in  an  electric  furnace,  were  caused  to 
i  ^ergo  chemical  changes,  the  oxygen  of 
le  sand  passing  off  with  the  carbon  as 
carbonic  acid  gas,  the  reduced  metallic  sili- 
con associating  itself  witn  an  equkl  atomr 
weight  of  carbon,  resulting  in  the  prcJur 
tion  of  a  new  body  up  to  tha1  -xiie  mv- 
known.  To  this  body  I  gave  the  name 
Carborundum!' 

In  Dr.  Acheson's  account  of  this  disc  *r- 
ery  is  the  interesting  story  of  the  init 
test  of  the  new  body  and  its  first  comrr  .* 
cial  exploitation.  As  soon  as  he  had 
enough  of  the  Carborundum  to  test  its 
abradant  qualities,  he  mounted  an  iron 
disc  in  a  lathe,  oiled  its  surface,  and  ap- 
plied Carborundum  dust  to  the  oiled  disc. 
With  the  disc  thus  treated  he  ground  off 
the  high  polish  from  a  diamond,  thus  dem- 
onstrating that  Cr  /borundum  was  suffi- 
cinetly  hard  to  c-it  'iat,  up  to  that  time, 
had  been  univer  -egarded  as  the  hard- 
est substance  in  the  tvorld,  and  proving 
also  that  the  n°"  r  abstance  was  beyond 
comparison  the  :  arior  of  every  other 
abrasive. 

The  experir-  ,/ork  upon  which  he 

had  been  engagt  \  again  so  depleted 
his  savings  as  to  ^  ;m  serious  forebod- 
ings, but  his  discov^-,-^  Carborundum 
encouraged  him  mightily.  Dr.  Acheson 
has  sound  business  judgment  added  to  sci- 
entific knowledge  and  technical  and  me 
chanical  skill.  The  plant  with  which  \  . 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


117 


made  the  iscovery  had  a  very  inconsider- 
able capacity  for  its  production,  and  it  was 
two  months  before  he  had  produced 
enough  Carborundum  to  fill  a  small  vial. 
This  he  took  to  New  York  to  have  the 
lapidaries  test  its  merits.  One  lapidary, 
whose  shop  was  in  John  Street,  tested  it  by 
using  some  of  the  dust  to  repolish  the  dia- 
mond w,:ich  had  been  ground  in  the  initial 
test.  He  was  so  impressed  with  the  result 
that  he  bought  what  remained  in  the  vial 
for  sixty  dollars.  The  quantity  was  less 
tha»-  <?,  so  that  the  first  commercial 

Carborundum  may  be  given 
.of  eight  hundred  dollars  per 
pound.  .Liie  sixty  dollars  was  forthwith 
used  in  the  purchase  of  a  microscope  with 
which  to  study  the  structure  of  the  Carbo- 
rundum crystals. 

Later  in  the  year  the  Carborundum 
Company  was  organized,  application  for 
patent  having  been  made,  and  a  small 
plant  was  built  at  Monongahela  Ci*  T, 
Pennsylvania.  The  patent  for  C  a  rboi  *;.',- 
dum  was  issued  in  February,  1893.  The 
increase  in  'u '  production  of  Carborun- 
dum has  steadi1^  expanded  as  its  uses  have 
ulti^i:~  ,  and  it  is  now  sold  in  all  the 
arket^  f  the  world.  For  years  its  an- 
nual production  has  exceeded  twenty  mil- 
lion pounds,  but  the  price  fell  from  the 
-ht  hundred  dollars  of  the  original  quo- 
<tion  to  about  ten  cents  per  pound  in  more 
recent  years.  The  discovery  was  one  of 
great  benefit  to  many  industries,  cheapen- 
ing the  production  of  numerous  articles 
and  improving  the  finish  of  many  others. 
More  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  gen- 
eral use  has  failed  to  present  any  other 
substance  comparable  to  Carborundum  in 
its  abradant  qualities.  The  growth  of  its 
demand  soon  outgrr  '  the  plant  at  Mo- 
nongahela City,  and  T  '95  the  great  Car- 
borundum plant  al  <,iaj;  ira  Falls,  New 
York,  was  construct  .!,  especially  interest- 
ing to  the  electrical  ild  because  in  it 
was  installed  and  is  >  In  use  the  largest 
electric  furnace  in  t  'd. 

The  Niagara   Fa  Vt  gave  an  op- 

portunity to  carry  I  cheson's  investiga- 
tions and  exper^  .^to  a  far  wider  and 
more  important  neld  than  would  have  been 
possible  in  any  small  plant,  and  these  have 
given  to  the  world  other  new  products  of 
:ncalculable  benefit  to  industries  of  various 


kinds.  Vastly  important  in  results  were 
the  series  of  experiments  which  resulted  in 
the  manufacture  of  graphite  upon  a  large 
commercial  scale  and  in  various  forms  for 
divers  uses. 

The  experiments  with  the  electric  furnace 
had  to  do  with  extremely  high  tempera- 
tures. The  manufacture  of  Carborundum 
itself  called  for  a  temperature  far  beyond 
that  required  for  the  vaporization  of  silica 
or  sand,  which  has  always  been  regarded 
as  a  most  durable  lining  for  metallurgical 
apparatus.  Experiments  made  with  the 
Carborundum  in  the  electric  furnace,  car- 
ried to  a  greatly  higher  temperature  than 
that  required  for  its  production,  caused  de- 
composition. The  silicon  portion  of  the 
Carborundum  was  volatilized,  and  the  car- 
bon portion  remained  as  graphite. 

In  the  original  mixture  from  which  Car- 
borundum was  derived  the  carbon  portion 
was  in  the  form  of  ground  coke  made  from 
bituminous  coal,  but  in  the  process  of  asso- 
ciation with  silicon  at  the  high  temperature 
which  evolved  Carborundum  the  still 
higher  temperature  which  forced  it  from 
its  chemical  combination  with  silicon  also 
transformed  the  carbon  content  into  graph- 
ite^ Chemistry,  as  is  well  known,  recog- 
nizes three  allotropic  forms  of  carbon:  the 
diamond,  charcoal  and  graphite.  Dia- 
monds, as  far  as  known,  exist  in  very  lim- 
ited quantities;  graphite  in  its  common  min- 
eral form  is  found  in  fairly  liberal  quanti- 
ties, but  always  associated  with  impurities; 
but  the  charcoal  or  non-graphitic  amor- 
phous carbon  exists  in  very  large  quantities 
as  the  chief  fuel  unit  of  coal,  wood,  etc. 
Dr.  Acheson's  graphite  discovery  revealed 
the  fact  that  it  is  possible  to  transform 
non-graphitic  amorphous  carbon  into 
graphite  after  the  manner  escribed,  and 
he  has  expressed  the  belief  chat  the  same 
process,  if  it  were  possible  to  produce  like 
liberation  ->f  the  carbon  from  the  silicon 
unr^r  h  pressure,  would  produce  the 

opic  form  of  carbon — the  dia- 


o\ 


iU. 


'•her  investigations  into  methods  for 
production  of  graphite  were,  incited  by 
observations  of  the  operation  of  the  Car- 
borjndum  furnace.  The  large  electric  cur- 
rents needed  are  carried  into  the  furnace 
by  carbon  conductors  or  electrodes.  These 
were  originally  made  in  the  form  of  rods 


118 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


composed  of  coke,  resulting  from  the  dis- 
tillation of  petroleum,  the  coke  being 
ground  to  powder  and  made  into  rods  by 
being  mixed  with  tar  as  a  binding  material, 
formed  under  pressure,  heated  to  a  bright 
heat  decomposing  and  partly  volatilizing 
the  tar.  In  operation  in  the  Carborundum 
furnace  the  inner  ends  of  these  rods  were 
always  converted  into  the  graphitic  form 
of  carbon.  This  discovery,  together  with 
the  former  one  of  the  recovery  of  graphite 
as  the  result  of  the  decomposition  of  super- 
heated Carborundum,  led  Dr.  Acheson 
into  a  series  of  experiments  for  the  devel- 
opment of  a  commercial  method  of  making 
graphite. 

His  first  production  of  commercial 
graphite  was  in  1897,  when  he  made  a  lit- 
tle more  than  162,000  pounds  of  graphite 
rods,  to  be  used  as  electrodes  in  electro- 
chemical work,  producing  them  by  direct 
conversion  of  the  non-graphitic  carbon 
rods  (above  described)  into  rods  of  prac- 
tically pure  graphite,  without  any  extra- 
neous bonding  agent.  These  were  vastly 
better  than  the  original  unconverted  car- 
bon rods,  because  they  would  resist  disin- 
tegration and  quadrupled  the  electrical 
conductivity. 

The  production  of  these  graphite  rods 
came  very  appropriately  at  a  time  when 
there  was  a  great  movement  bringing 
about  a  large  use  of  electric  furnaces  in 
steel  manufacture.  The  old  non-graphitic 
rods  were  very  unsatisfactory  because  of 
their  low  conductivity,  the  difficulty  of  mak- 
ing good  electrical  contacts  to  them,  and 
the  fact  that  when  the  rod  was  partly  con- 
sumed through  the  burning  and  wearing 
away  caused  by  the  high  temperature  of 
the  furnace  it  became  so  short  that  it  could 
not  be  used  and  about  half  of  the  electrode 
had  to  be  thrown  away.  All  these  draw- 
backs were  overcome  by  the  use  of  the 
graphite  electrode  which  can  be  tapped, 
threaded  and  screwed  together  and  fed 
into  the  furnace  as  one  continuous  rod. 

The  production  of  graphite  in  bulk  in 
the  form  of  grains,  powder,  etc.,  was  next 
undertaken.  It  was  found  that  anthracite 
coal  formed  the  best  crude  material  for  the 
manufacture  of  graphite,  and  the  artificial 
production  of  graphite  grew  with  a  great 
demand.  A  very  large  percentage  of  the 
dry  batteries  made  in  the  United  States  are 


filled  with  it,  and  its  superiority  over  the 
impure  natural  graphite  gave  it  superior 
spreading  power,  making  it  a  most  efficient 
paint  pigment  for  metals,  and  in  electro- 
typing  it  has  become  first  favorite.  In 
1899  Dr.  Acheson  organized  the  Acheson 
Graphite  Company,  later  reorganized  into 
the  International  Acheson  Graphite  Com- 
pany of  Niagara  Falls,  the  annual  produc- 
tion of  which  exceeds  50,000,000  pounds 
of  graphite. 

The  production  of  a  graphite  which  in 
purity  and  quality  far  exceeded  any  of  the 
graphites  found  in  their  natural  state  led 
Mr.  Acheson  to  believe  that  he  would  be 
able  to  share  in  the  production  and  sale  of 
graphite  crucibles  for  the  metal  industries. 
These  crucibles  are  made  of  graphite  about 
60  per  cent  combined  with  40  per  cent  of 
clay.  He  tried  the  combination,  using  na- 
tive clays,  but  the  crucible  thus  made 
proved  practically  worthless.  Here  was 
a  disappointment.  He  found  that  graphite 
to  the  value  of  one  million  dollars  was 
being  imported  from  Ceylon  each  year  to 
be  used  in  the  manufacture  of  graphite 
crucibles,  and  that  large  imports  of  clay 
were  being  brought  from  Germany  for  the 
same  purpose.  This  seemed  strange,  as 
the  German  clay,  though  it  was  superior  to 
domestic  clays  in  plasticity  and  strength, 
proved  on  chemical  analysis  to  be  practi- 
cally the  same  as  American  clays.  Further 
experiment  showed  that  for  crucible  pur- 
poses the  Ceylon  product  was  much  the 
best,  having  a  fibrous  structure  and  much 
greater  density  than  the  purer  artificial 
product, 

But  the  clay  problem  was  one  that  re- 
mained to  challenge  the  scientific  mind  of 
Dr.  Acheson,  and  led  him  into  a  fruitful 
field  of  investigation  and  experiment  which 
yielded  valuable  data  in  regard  to  the  char- 
acteristics of  domestic  clays  and  methods 
for  increasing  their  strength  and  plasticity. 
He  found  that  clays  procured  near  the 
source  from  which  they  were  derived — the 
decomposed  feldspathic  rock  technically 
known  as  "residual  clays"  —  were  very 
weak  and  had  little  plasticity,  while  the 
clays  at  a  river  bottom,  carried  by  water 
from  the  source,  were  much  stronger  and 
more  plastic  and  were  known  as  "potters' 
clays."  Solution  of  the  problem  was  not 
aided  by  chemical  analysis  which  showed 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


119 


little  difference  between  these  two  kinds  of 
clay.  Dr.  Acheson  therefore  concluded 
that  the  difference  was  due  to  some  physi- 
cal change  undergone  by  the  clay  during 
its  transference  by  flowing  waters  from  its 
source  to  its  final  bed.  This  physical 
change  he  judged  to  be  due  not  to  the  ac- 
tion of  the  water  itself,  but  to  impurities 
in  the  water,  received  from  the  washings 
from  forests  and  plains,  composed  of  or- 
ganic matter  derived  from  plant  life. 
Among  the  various  experiments  based 
upon  this  theory  was  one  in  which  a  weak, 
non-plastic  clay  was  treated  with  a  dilute 
solution  of  tannin.  Under  this  treatment 
the  clay  was  increased  in  plasticity  and 
strength,  and  was  so  subdivided  that  it 
would  pass  through  a  filter  paper  and 
would  not  settle  in  water  for  an  indefinite 
period.  Tests  of  this  process  showed  in- 
crease in  tensile  strength  reaching,  in  some 
cases,  to  300  per  cent.  One  very  definite 
test  was  made  with  a  batch  of  clay  of 
which  one  part  was,  without  tannin  treat- 
ment, made  into  a  briquette  and  burned, 
and  the  other  part,  treated  with  the  tannin 
solution,  was  sundried.  In  subsequent  test 
the  sundried  briquette  proved  to  have 
much  the  greater  tensile  strength. 

Gratified  with  the  demonstrated  efficacy 
of  this  tannin  treatment  Dr.  Acheson,  real- 
izing that  clay  work  was  one  of  the  oldest 
forms  of  industry,  searched  all  the  litera- 
ture he  could  find  available  to  see  if  there 
was  any  mention  of  similar  phenomena  in 
relation  to  clay.  He  found  none,  the  near- 
est approach  to  it  being  the  Bible  account 
of  the  Israelites  in  Egyptian  bondage  using 
straw  in  the  making  of  bricks,  and  later 
successfully  substituting  stubble  for  the 
straw.  The  generally  accepted  explanation 
of  this  method  is  that  the  straw  was  used 
in  the  clay  as  a  binder,  after  the  manner 
now  applying  hair  as  a  binder  for  plaster. 
But  Dr.  Acheson  reasoned  that  straw  is 
such  a  weak  fibre  as  to  be  an  absolutely  in- 
effective binding  agent,  and  therefore  must 
have  been  used  for  some  other  reason.  At 
the  same  time  straw  contains  no  tannin,  so 
that  its  value  to  the  brick  must  have  had 
some  other  basis  than  any  revealed  by  Dr. 
Acheson's  tannin-solution  test.  To  explain 
the  problem  of  the  value  of  straw  in  brick- 
making,  he  boiled  some  straw  which  lost 
half  its  weight  in  the  process  and  produced 


a  yellow-brown  liquid.  Clay  moistened 
with  this  liquid  and  made  into  a  briquette 
was  found  to  have  the  same  characteristic 
of  increased  strength  and  plasticity  as  that 
treated  with  tannin.  Dr.  Acheson,  assum- 
ing after  this  test  that  the  Egyptians  were 
familiar  with  the  effects  thus  produced, 
named  the  treatment  "Egyptianizing"  and 
named  the  treatment  "Egyptianized  clay."" 

Another  valuable  discovery  made  by  Dr. 
Acheson  came  in  the  summer  of  1906. 
When  he  was  making  an  experiment  in 
the  electric  furnace  having  nothing  to  do 
with  graphite,  he  found  in  the  output  of 
the  furnace  a  small  amount  of  a  very  soft, 
non-coalescing  graphite,  which  he  recog- 
nized as  being  of  a  quality  valuable  as  a 
lubricating  graphite.  The  graphite  pro- 
duced by  his  previous  process  had  been  too 
hard  to  use  as  a  lubricant,  and  when 
ground  or  rubbed  it  would  coalesce  into  a 
more  or  less  solid  mass  and  would  not  dis- 
integrate. The  new  graphite,  which  is  dis- 
tinguished as  "Lubricating  Graphite,"  is. 
now  made  by  a  process  of  Dr.  Acheson,, 
patented  in  1906. 

This  unctuous,  non-coalescing  graphite 
is  commercially  manufactured  from  the 
cheaper  grades  of  anthracite,  even  the 
large  piles  of  culm  which  are  the  waste  ot 
the  anthracite  mines  in  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  its  manufactured  form  it  is 
guaranteed  to  have  a  purity  of  99  per  cent, 
but  in  actual  practice  none  goes  onto  the 
market  that  is  not  at  least  99.5,  while  its 
average  analysis  from  the  electric  furnace 
ran  as  high  as  99.8  per  cent.  Reduced  to 
a  degree  of  disintegration  so  fine  that  99 
per  cent  of  it  will  go  through  a  sieve  hav- 
ing 40,000  meshes  per  square  inch,  it  can 
in  some  cases  be  used  dry,  but  is  more  gen- 
erally used  with  greases  of  varying  con- 
sistency in  ball-bearing  races,  transmission 
cases,  grease  cups  and,  in  fact,  any  place 
where  it  has  been  the  custom  to  use  plain 
greases.  The  grease  is  used  simply  as  a 
vehicle  for  the  graphite  which  effectually 
protects  the  gears  and  other  metal  parts 
from  wear. 

As  grease  lubrication,  while  important, 
only  includes  a  small  part  of  the  field  of 
lubrication,  Dr.  Acheson  decided  on  ex- 
periments to  make  it  available  for  use  in 
those  branches  of  lubrication  performed 
with  oil.  To  adapt  it  to  this  purpose  it 


120 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


was  absolutely  necessary  that  the  lubricat- 
ing graphite  should  be  made  to  remain  per- 
manently suspended  in  a  liquid,  which  fur- 
ther required  a  much  greater  subdivision  of 
the  graphite  than  was  attainable  by  ordi- 
nary mechanical  subdivision.  Late  in  1906 
he  determined  to  try  on  this  graphite  the 
same  process  which  he  had  applied  to  clay. 
The  application  of  the  tannin  to  the  clay 
had  not  only  increased  its  strength  and  plas- 
ticity but  had  made  the  clay  subdivisible  to 
a  practically  impalpable  degree,  so  that  it 
would  remain  permanently  diffused  in 
water  and  pass  through  filter  paper.  The 
same  process  with  the  ingredients  changed 
to  graphite  in  the  dilute  solution  of  tannin, 
had  an  exactly  parallel  result,  the  graphite 
being  made  so  fine  that  it  would  pass 
through  the  finest  of  filter  paper.  The  re- 
sult of  this  experiment  in  the  perfect 
deflocculation  of  the  graphite  was  the  crea- 
tion of  two  new  lubricants,  one  in  which 
the  graphite  content  is  permanently  sus- 
pended in  oil  and  another  in  which  it  is 
permanently  suspended  in  water.  To  des- 
ignate the  three  kinds  of  graphite  lubri- 
cants Dr.  Acheson  coined  names  distin- 
guished by  the  suffix  "dag"  (from  the  ini- 
tials of  "DeflocculatedAchesonGraphite") , 
the  grease  combination  being  named  "Gre- 
dag,"  that  in  oil  "Oildag,"  and  that  in 
water  "Aquadag." 

The  experiments  of  Dr.  Acheson  in  the 
creation  of  these  lubricants  further  elabo- 
rated established  an  instructive  scientific 
principle  applicable  far  beyond  the  very 
valuable  results  in  lubrication.  The  de- 
flocculation did  not  come  from  the  me- 
chanical pulverization.  The  dry  powdered 
graphite  mixed  with  clear  water  did  not 
pass  through  the  filter  paper.  The  same 
amount  of  equally  powdered  graphite 
placed  in  a  second  beaker  of  water,  to 
which  a  small  amount  of  organic  matter 
was  added,  made  a  black  liquid,  carrying 
water  and  graphite  in  perfect  mixture 
through  the  filter  paper.  The  defloccula- 
tion resulted  from  the  organic  matter  ad- 
mixture. Another  phenomenon  was  the  fact 
that  the  water-graphite  mixture  ("Aqua- 
dag")  remained  in  a  bottle  for  a  year 
without  any  indication  of  settling,  but  if  a 
few  drops  of  hydrochloric  acid  were  added 
it  began  to  settle,  the  process  being  greatly 
speeded  up  by  warming  the  mixture. 


Then,  pouring  the  mixture  on  to  a  filter 
paper,  a  colorless  liquid  goes  through  and 
the  graphite  remains  on  the  paper,  per- 
fectly flocculated,  the  particles  being  of  a 
size  that  prevents  their  passage  through 
the  filter  paper. 

The  Aquadag  is  scientifically  phenome- 
nal, apparently  setting  at  defiance  the  laws 
of  gravity,  because  the  graphite  weighs  ap- 
proximately two  and  a  quarter  times  the 
weight  of  the  water.  But  this  seems  to 
show  that  after  its  deflocculation  the  ques- 
tion of  gravity  is  one  dealing  with  mole- 
cules rather  than  masses  of  the  material. 
Reflocculation  may  be  accomplished  by  a 
solution  of  ordinary  salt  or  lime  water  as 
well  as  with  the  acid. 

Dr.  Acheson  has  well  argued  that  in  his 
experiments  with  the  deflocculation  of  clay 
and  later  adding  acid,  a  solution  has  been 
found  for  the  apparently  similar  processes 
revealed  in  Nature.  The  waters  of  the 
Missouri  and  the  Mississippi  are  always 
muddy,  while  those  of  the  Ohio  and  Alle- 
gheny rivers  are  always  clear  except  in 
flood  seasons.  The  muddiness  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri  is  generally  attrib- 
uted to  the  rapidity  of  their  flow,  but,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  Ohio  and  Allegheny  are 
the  more  rapid  streams.  Dr.  Acheson 
explains  the  difference  in  the  light  of  his 
own  discovery  of  a  process  for  deflocculat- 
ing  non-fused,  non-soluble,  non-metallic, 
inorganic  amorphous  bodies.  The  waters 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Allegheny  are  impreg- 
nated with  lime  and  salts  in  quantity  suf- 
ficient, under  ordinary  conditions  of  flow, 
to  precipitate  such  particles  as  find  their 
way  into  those  streams,  but  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri,  whose  waters  are  neutral, 
carry  a  large  amount  of  organic  matter,  in 
suspension,  and  continue  this  colloidal  con- 
dition until,  when  the  Gulf  is  reached,  the 
salt  waters  reflocculate  the  floating  parti- 
cles and  precipitate  them,  forming  the  bars 
that  obstruct  the  mouths  of  the  Father  of 
Waters. 

The  lubricants  created  by  Dr.  Acheson's 
genius  are  not  only  approved  by  the  tests 
of  distinguished  scientists,  but  also  by  ac- 
tual use  extending  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
These  graphite  lubricants  give  much  lower 
friction  than  that  accompanying  any  plain 
lubricating  oil.  The  practical  use  of  Oil- 
dag  in  the  lubrication  of  automobiles  has 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


121 


been  subjected  to  the  severest  tests,  result- 
ing in  much  better  lubrication  without  occa- 
sion for  regrinding  of  valves  or  renewal  of 
spark  plugs.  Oildag  is  oil  carrying  0.25 
of  one  per  cent  of  its  weight  of  defloccu- 
lated  graphite.  Not  only  is  the  lubrication 
better,  but  the  cost  is  greatly  reduced. 
Summarized,  the  advantages  of  Oildag  in 
the  lubrication  of  an  automobile  engine 
are:  Increased  power;  prevention  of  pit- 
ting of  the  valves;  prevention  of  the  smut- 
ting of  the  spark  plugs;  decreased  oil  con- 
sumption; decreased  gasolene  consump- 
tion; absolute  freedom  from  smoke  in  the 
exhaust;  prevention  of  wear  between  the 
cylinder  walls  and  the  piston  rings;  de- 
creased amount  of  carbon  deposited  in  the 
cylinders,  and  practical  elimination  of  the 
abrasive  action  of  the  carbon  set  free  from 
the  oil. 

Aquadag  is  equally  efficient  as  a  lubri- 
cant. This  is  a  combination  of  water  with 
0.35  of  one  per  cent  of  its  weight  in  de- 
flocculated  graphite.  It  is  superior  to 
petroleum  lubricants  because  of  its  entire 
absence  of  viscosity.  It  operates  in  the 
same  manner  as  Oildag  by  depositing  an 
extremely  thin  film  of  graphite  which  cov- 
ers the  metal  surfaces  and  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  abrasion  to  occur.  It  can  be  used 
where  it  would  not  be  possible  to  use  water 
in  any  other  combination,  the  well-known 
action  of  graphite  making  it  impossible  for 
metal  to  rust  when  it  is  protected  from  the 
oxidizing  effect  of  water  by  this  thin  but 
effectual  covering  of  graphite. 

A  very  interesting  use  of  Aquadag  as  a 
lubricating  material  is  to  be  found  in  its 
now  general  use  for  lubricating  tungsten 
wire  as  drawn  through  a  diamond  die  for 
the  making  of  lamp  filaments.  Previous 
to  the  use  of  Aquadag  for  this  purpose  all 
tungsten  filaments  were  of  a  wavy  char- 
acter, due,  it  is  thought,  to  the  slight  fric- 
tion in  the  die. 

Many  and  valuable  uses  are  found  for 
graphite  in  the  industries.  Some  of  them, 
especially  that  of  lubrication,  are  of  com- 
manding importance  not  only  because  of 
their  intrinsic  merit  but  also  because  of  the 
office  they  fill  in  bringing  about  economy  of 
other  lubricants,  saving  oil  and  diminishing 
a  serious  problem  which  confronts  the  con- 
stantly increasing  army  of  machine  users. 
This  is  the  Machine  Age  and  consequently 


an  age  when  the  demand  for  lubricants 
shows  constant  increase.  Graphite  forms 
the  line  of  least  resistance  in  filling  this 
demand  —  graphite  artificially  produced 
and  100  per  cent  efficient,  in  the  form  of 
Oildag  and  Aquadag. 

The  genius  of  Dr.  Acheson  has  served 
his  age  and  its  industries  in  most  liberal 
degree.  His  patents  in  the  United  States 
number  fifty  or  more,  and  there  are  many 
more  in  the  other  industrial  countries  of 
the  world.  For  the  production  of  Oildag 
and  Aquadag  a  separate  company,  the 
Acheson  Oildag  Company,  was  organized, 
by  which  a  great  business  has  been  built 
up,  with  a  plant  located  at  Port  Huron, 
Mich. 

The  business  success  of  Dr.  Acheson  has 
been  very  great,  but  his  most  substantial 
reward   conies    from   the    assured   benefit 
which  industry  and  progress  have  reaped 
from  his  skillful  labors.    Both  in  chemistry 
and  in  electricity  his  labors  have  placed  his 
name  in  the  list  of  those  who  have  wrought 
most  ably  through  the  wizardry  of  scien- 
tific endeavor.      Recognition  of  his  scien- 
tific scholarship  came  to  him  in  1909  by 
the  conferring  upon  him  of  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  by  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pittsburgh.     Commercial  recogni- 
tion has  brought  tangible  rewards  of  much 
value,  but  far  more  significant  of  merit  of 
purpose  and  achievement  are  the  honors 
that  have  been  conferred  up  him  by  scien- 
tific   men    and    societies.      To    American 
chemists    no    mark    of    honor    is    more 
strongly    desired    than    the    Perkin    Gold 
Medal,  which  is  annually  awarded,  by  its 
terms,  "to  the  American  chemist  who  has 
accomplished  the  most  valuable  work  in 
applied    chemistry    during    his    career." 
These    requirements    of    achievement   are 
validated  most  strongly  by  the  method  pre- 
scribed by  the  bequest  for  the  selection  of 
the  beneficiary.    This  duty  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  jury,  made  up  of  representa- 
tives of  the  various  chemical  societies  of 
the  United  States ;  and  for  this  reason  the 
award  of  the  Society's  decoration,  which 
was  made  to  Dr.  Acheson  on  January  21, 
1910,  is  recognized  as  an  expression,  by  the 
highest  authority  of  the  chemical  profes- 
sion, of  the  adjudicated  value  of  the  work 
of  the  recipient,  as  well  as  a  rating  of  his 
personal   distinction   as   a   chemist.      The 


122 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences 
also  honored  Dr.  Acheson,  in  1907,  by  its 
award  to  him  of  the  Rumford  Medal,  "in 
recognition  of  his  applications  of  heat  in 
electrical  furnaces  for  industrial  interest." 
The  John  Scott  Medal,  which  is  awarded 
each  year  by  careful  selection  on  the  basis 
of  especially  meritorious  scientific  achieve- 
ment, has  twice  been  awarded  to  Dr.  Ache- 
son  by  the  Franklin  Institute. 

From  the  commercial  side,  also,  Dr. 
Acheson  has  been  singled  out  for  distinc- 
tion, the  Paris  Exposition  of  1900  and  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St. 
Louis  in  1904  both  having  awarded 
Grand  Prizes  to  him  for  the  novelty  and 
merit  of  his  contributions  to  science  and 
industry. 

As  electrical  engineer,  chemist  and 
broad  scientist  Dr.  Acheson  is  affiliated 
with  and  welcomed  by  many  societies.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  the  Franklin,  Institute 
of  Philadelphia,  the  Society  of  Arts  of 
London,  the  American  Electrochemical 
Society,  American  Chemical  Society,  and 
the  American  Institute  of  Chemical  Engi- 
neers (in  which  he  has  served  as  Vice- 
President) ,  and  he  is  a  fellow  of  the  Amer- 
ican Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
the  University  Club  of  Washington,  Buf- 
falo Club  of  Buffalo,  and  Niagara  Club  of 
Niagara  Falls,  and  Engineers  Club,  New 
York. 

Dr.  Acheson  tells  an  interesting  inci- 
dent of  how  he  came  to  produce  an  abso- 
lutely pure  carbon  for  Sir  William 
Crookes,  the  eminent  English  scientist.  It 
is  as  follows: 

"While  in  London,  England,  in  the  lat- 
ter part  of  1911  Sir  William  asked  me 
how  pure  I  had  ever  made  carbon,  and  I 
replied  that  my  Company  was  placing 
graphite  on  the  market  in  a  commercial 
manner  having  a  purity  of  99.85,  but  that 
I  believed  I  had  probably  gone,  in  some 
instances,  as  far  as  99.95.  Sir  William 


replied  that  that  was  not  at  all  pure,  and 
farther,  that  he  had  never  seen  the  spec- 
trum of  pure  carbon.  He  stated  he  had 
carbonized  refined  white  sugar,  examined 
the  spectrum  of  the  carbon  and  found  rays 
of  iron,  and  in  fact,  he  had  never  seen  any 
carbon  spectrum  without  iron  in  it.  I  told 
him  that  I  expected  almost  immediately 
to  return  to  America  and  I  would  endeavor 
to  make  and  send  to  him  a  sample  of  pure 
carbon. 

"On  returning  to  America  that  winter,  I 
had  experimental  work  carried  on  by  my 
engineers,  and  a  sample  of  carbon  was  sent 
to  Sir  William  Crookes  in  London.  That 
winter,  taking  a  trip  through  the  Medi- 
terannean,  going  up  through  Europe,  I 
arrived  in  London  in  the  spring  of  1912, 
and  on  meeting  Sir  William  Crookes,  he 
advised  me  that  he  had  received  the  car- 
bon, and  upon  examination  it  was  found 
to  be  absolutely  pure. 

"The  fact  of  having  produced  pure 
carbon  has  not,  to  my  knowledge,  been 
published.  However,  during  1912  I  was 
a  guest  at  a  dinner  of  the  Royal  Society 
Club  at  which  Sir  William  Crookes  pre- 
'ided,  and  before  the  gentlemen  present, 
he  related  the  foregoing  incidents  and  ad- 
vised the  assembled  company  that  the  car- 
bon was  absolutely  pure. 

"This  feat  of  purification  of  carbon 
demonstrated  absolutely  that  all  the  ele- 
ments present  in  my  furnace  mixture,  where 
we  find  iron,  silica,  alumina  and  various 
other  elementary  bodies,  are  vaporized  and 
may  be  driven  off  previous  to  the  vola- 
tilization of  the  carbon." 

Dr.  Acheson's  career  has  been  made  by 
his  own  efforts  and  genius.  The  beginnings 
of  his  upward  journey  were  beset  by  handi- 
caps, but  he  made  his  way  by  sincere  earn- 
nestness  as  a  seeker  of  physical  truth,  intel- 
ligent zeal  for  mastery  of  electrical  and 
chemical  science,  his  untiring  industry,  his 
patience  in  experiment  and  determined  at- 
tack of  every  baffling  problem.  These 
characteristics  mark  him  as  one  whose  hon- 
ors have  been  fitly  won. 


EDWARD    D.  ADAMS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


123 


EDWARD  DEAN  ADAMS 


Although  prominently  identified  for  the 
last  fifty  years  with  other  branches  of 
financial,  industrial  and  social  activity,  Mr. 
Adams  has  in  many  respects  a  claim  to 
special  recognition  in  these  annals  of  elec- 
trical development  in  America.  This  is 
due  partly  to  a  native  love  of  science  and 
definite  >  training  as  an  engineer,  whence 
sprang  his  ceaseless  interest  in  electrical 
discovery  and  application,  and  such  cre- 
ative successful  work  as  that  which  has  left 
its  imprint  forever  on  the  utilization  of  the 
energy  of  Niagara.  But  it  is  admittedly 
quite  rare  for  the  man  of  scientific  culture 
and  of  engineering  bent  to  win  also  control 
and  direction  of  the  financial  resources 
adequate  to  the  prosecution  of  great  en- 
terprises. 

Edward  D.  Adams  is  essentially  a  prod- 
uct of  New  England.  One  of  his  direct 
ancestors  fought  at  the  battle  of  Bunker 
Hill.  Born  of  Adoniram  Judson  and  Har- 
riet Lincoln  Norton  at  Boston,  April  9, 
1846,  he  became  a  student  at  Norwich 
University,  Vermont,  in  1861,  receiving, 
in  all,  four  degrees  from  his  alma  mater; 
and  was  also  a  student  at  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology  in  1869.  At 
"Tech,"  one  of  the  special  courses  that 
he  took  was  that  in  architecture  under  the 
celebrated  William  E.  Ware,  who  later  be- 
came Professorof  Architecture  at  Columbia 
University,  New  York  City.  In  after  years 
Mr.  Adams  served  as  chairman  of  the 
Building  Committee  representing  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  capital  employed  in  the  con- 
struction of  Madison  Square  Garden,  when 
the  details  of  architectural  competition, 
selection  of  design  and  supervision  of  the 
contract  for  building  the  colossal  pile  on 
Madison  Square  were  all  left  as  a  burden 
on  his  shoulders.  It  was  fortunate,  but  un- 
usual, to  say  the  least,  that  he  could  bring 
to  bear  on  this  task  the  knowledge  and 
enthusiasm  of  an  expert  in  what  was,  for 
him,  decidedly  an  avocation. 

Another  aspect  of  Mr.  Adams'  temper- 
ament and  character  is  brought  into  view 
by  the  fact  that  after  the  graduation  from 
Norwich  University  his  father,  who  had 
the  good,  old-fashioned  belief  in  travel  as 
an  item  of  liberal  education,  sent  him 
abroad  for  fifteen  months.  From  this  trip 


dated  an  early  acquaintance  with  the  art 
and  architecture  of  Europe.  It  also  in- 
cluded a  visit  to  the  Holy  Land,  where 
one  of  his  companions  was  the  famous 
Bishop  Whipple  of  Minnesota,  by  whom 
he  was  baptized  in  the  River  Jordan — an 
incident  which  is  probably  unique  in  the 
life  of  any  New  York  banker. 

Formative  study  and  travel  ended,  Mr. 
Adams  turned  with  alacrity  to  practical 
affairs.  Beginning  at  the  bottom  of  a  ca- 
reer which  was  to  have  much  to  do  with 
finance  and  economics,  he  put  in  four 
years,  1866-70,  with  T.  J.  Lee  &  Hill,  Bos- 
ton, stock-brokers,  and  this  led  on  to  his 
partnership  from  1870  to  1878  in  the 
banking  house  of  Richardson,  Hill  &  Com- 
pany. His  shifting  from  Boston  to  New 
York  in  1878  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  earliest  symptoms  of  a  tendency 
which  since  has  been  much  more  intensely 
manifested  in  making  Manhattan  Island 
the  financial  metropolis  of  the  country. 
He  was  a  partner  from  1878  to  1893  in 
Winslow,  Lanier  &  Company,  a  firm  of 
bankers  of  more  than  national  reputation, 
with  connections  running  far  beyond  Wall 
Street.  The  work  here  was  strenuous, 
bringing  with  it  the  first  connection  of  a 
public  nature  with  electrical  promotion 
just  at  the  moment  when  solid  support  was 
sorely  needed  for  adventures  in  the  new 
fields  of  electric  light,  electric  power  and 
electric  transportation.  From  the  vantage 
ground  of  a  present  capitalization  and  in- 
vestment in  these  utilities  of  over  ten  bil- 
lions, it  is  easy  to  look  back  complacently 
upon  the  vast  achievement  of  an  interven- 
ing twenty-five  years;  but  it  took  high 
courage  and  keen  insight  to  subscribe  or 
underwrite  even  the  modest  sums  of  money 
then  demanded  passionately  by  "parent" 
companies  whose  pretensions,  however 
just,  were  invariably  in  inverse  ratio  to 
their  credit.  Except,  unfortunately,  in  hy- 
dro-electric development,  those  days  of 
speculative  hazard  have  gone  by  for  the 
various  utilities  to  which  they  gave  birth. 

To  this  pioneer  period  belongs  the  or- 
ganization of  the  first  Edison  Lighting 
Company,  with  its  headquarters  opened  in 
1 88 1  in  the  celebrated  stately  old  mansion 
at  65  Fifth  Avenue.  Mr.  Adams  as  a 


124 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


"Sixty-Fiver"  was  one  of  those  active  in 
the  introduction  of  the  incandescent  lamp, 
and  a  member  of  the  initial  board  of  di- 
rectors in  the  early  eighties.  Not  only 
were  there  many  leading  New  Yorkers  in 
that  memorable  group  of  men  at  "65,"  but 
several  whose  rank  in  the  profession  has 
been  attested  by  their  presidency  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers. With  1893  began  the  connection  of 
Mr.  Adams  with  the  Deutsche  Bank  as  its 
American  representative,  this  lasting  until 
1914.  One  of  the  incidents  of  that  rela- 
tionship with  Germany  was  the  breakfast 
given  in  New  York  by  Mr.  Adams  in  asso- 
ciation with  one  hundred  American  "cap- 
tains of  industry"  to  Prince  Henry  of 
Prussia  in  1908,  at  the  time  of  his  tour  of 
the  United  States.  In  1909  Mr.  Adams 
was  decorated  with  the  Royal  Order  of  the 
Crown  of  Prussia,  Second  Class,  while  in 
1914  he  was  made  by  Harvard  College 
chairman  of  the  Committee  to  Visit  the 
Germanic  Museum,  an  institution  owing 
its  origin  to  the  visit  of  the  Prince.  He 
was  also  president  of  the  Germanistic  So- 
ciety of  America  in  1909  and  a  director  in 
1911.  Mr.  Adams  also  found  himself 
concerned  frequently  in  the  interchange 
between  Germany  and  America  of  electri- 
cal patents  and  processes. 

Banking  in  America  long  found  in  rail- 
roads its  chief  preoccupation,  and  it  was 
inevitable  that  Mr.  Adams  should  have 
much  to  do  with  railroad  management, 
operation,  or  financing.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  finance  committee  of  the  Central 
Railroad  of  New  Jersey,  1887-1894  and 
prepared  and  supervised  the  execution  of 
the  plan  of  reorganization  without  fore- 
closure; but  undoubtedly  the  heaviest  load 
of  responsibility  came  when  as  chairman 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company 
reorganization  committee,  1893-1896,  he 
devised  and  carried  out  the  plan  of  reor- 
ganization that  rehabilitated  the  splendid 
property  by  means  of  which  Henry  Villard 
had  opened  up  the  great  Northwest.  At 
this  time  Mr.  Adams  was  president  of  the 
Northern  Pacific  Terminal  Company  of 
Oregon  as  well  as  president  of  the  St.  Paul 
and  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company, 
and  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  reorganized  Northern  Pacific  Railway 
Co.  His  railway  directorships  have  in- 


cluded the  Northern  Pacific,  Missouri  Pa- 
cific, Denver  &  Rio  Grande,  West  Shore 
and  St.  Louis,  Iron  Mountain  &  Southern, 
and  the  Western  Maryland  systems.  Dur- 
ing the  decade  1890-1900,  he  was  also  pres- 
ident of  the  Chicago  Terminal  Transfer 
Railroad  Company  and  the  Niagara  Junc- 
tion Railroad  Company.  Although  it  is  not 
generally  known,  Mr.  Adams  in  the  happier 
days  of  Mexico  had  much  to  do  with  the 
construction  of  railroads  in  that  Republic, 
having  been  a  concessionaire  in  the  Sonora 
project  and  associated  with  Mr.  Thomas 
Nickerson  in  the  Mexican  Central  enter- 
prise. About  that  time,  incidentally,  he 
became  further  interested  in  Mexico  under 
a  contract  for  the  operation  of  two  of  the 
important  mints  of  the  country. 

The  broad  idea  of  the  utilization  of  Ni- 
agara is  by  no  means  new.  As  early  as 
1725,  while  its  thick  woods  of  pine  and 
oak  were  still  haunted  by  the  stealthy  red- 
skin, a  miniature  sawmill  was  set  up  amid 
the  roaring  waters.  The  first  systematic 
effort  at  "conservation"  in  harnessing  Ni- 
agara was  not  made  until  nearly  150  years 
later,  when  the  present  hydraulic  canal 
was  dug,  bisecting  the  town  of  Niagara 
Falls  in  a  rather  inconvenient  way,  and  the 
mills  were  set  up  which  disfigure  the  banks 
of  the  River  just  below  the  bridge  that 
frames  in  the  mighty  cataract.  Draining 
300,000  square  miles  and  with  90,000 
square  miles  of  reservoir  area  in  the 
Lakes,  this  Atlantic  set  on  edge  has  an 
average  overspill  of  about  275,000  cubic 
feet  per  second.  The  quantity  of  water 
passing  is  estimated  as  high  as  100,000,- 
ooo  tons  per  hour.  It  was  long  obvious 
that  the  time-honored  surface  canal  system 
would  never  answer  for  the  proper  utiliza- 
tion of  the  illimitable  energy  thus  awaiting 
use,  nor  lend  itself  to  the  purposes  of  long 
distance  power  transmission.  Many  fan- 
tastic schemes  were  advanced  for  using 
and  transmitting  the  7,000,000  horse- 
power credited  to  Niagara  by  Professor 
Unwin,  but  it  was  Thomas  Evershed,  an 
American  civil  engineer,  who  devised  the 
acceptable  plan  of  diverting  a  part  of  the 
stream  at  a  considerable  distance  above 
the  Falls  so  that  no  natural  beauty  would 
be  spoiled,  while  an  enormous  amount  of 
energy  could  be  obtained  with  a  very  slight 
reduction  in  the  volume  of  water  plunging 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


125 


ever  in  rainbow  glory  and  clouds  of  spray 
over  the  crest  of  the  Falls.  To  the  real- 
ization of  this  plan,  electricity  lent  itself 
ideally,  especially  as  the  introduction  of 
the  alternating  current  had  shown  that  far- 
flung  circuits  could  economically  deliver 
the  energy  hundreds  of  miles  from  the 
generating  source. 

Fortunately  the  problems  of  railroad  di- 
rection and  the  influential  steering  of  vari- 
ous manufacturing  plants  had  by  no  means 
used  up  all  of  Mr.  Adams'  own  supply  of 
energy.  The  utilization  of  Niagara  may 
almost  be  said  to  have  been  an  obsession 
with  him,  and  now  with  the  needed  engi- 
neering resources  at  his  disposal  he  went 
boldly  and  cautiously  forward.  His  asso- 
ciates on  the  one  hand  were  some  of  the 
leading  capitalists  and  lawyers  of  this 
country,  to  whose  judgment  was  added 
that  of  the  International  Niagara  Commis- 
sion, embracing  such  men  as  Lord  Kelvin, 
Mascart,  Coleman  Sellers,  Turrettini  and 
Unwin.  As  a  result  of  the  thought  and 
experience  brought  to  bear  on  the  subject, 
a  perfected  and  concentrated  Evershed 
scheme  was  put  into  effect  about  i  %  miles 
away  from  the  Falls,  far  beyond  the  out- 
lying Three  Sisters  Islands  whose  reefs 
oppose  the  first  barrier  steps  to  the  gliding 
river  before  its  headlong  leap  into  the 
chasm.  The  plan  adopted  comprised  a 
short  surface  canal  for  intake  to  a  massive 
power  house  designed  by  Stanford  White, 
in  which  were  installed  five  huge  genera- 
tors of  Westinghouse  make,  embodying 
the  two-phase  inventions  of  Nikola  Tesla. 
From  the  dynamos,  shafts  extended  down- 
ward nearly  150  feet  to  the  turbines  at  the 
bottom  of  the  wheel  pit,  from  which  the 
fallen  water  discharged  itself  to  the  lower 
river,  through  over  a  mile  of  tunnel,  in  a 
minor  Niagara  of  its  own,  having  still  a 
velocity  of  20  miles  an  hour.  The  enter- 
prise required  an  expenditure  of  several 
million  dollars,  but  the  investment  was 
soon  justified.  The  plant  was  duplicated 
both  on  the  American  side  and  in  Canada 
by  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company, 
while  several  other  plants  have  since  come 
in  to  help  mitigate  the  cruel  waste  of  en- 
ergy that  has  gone  on  for  so  many  ages. 
It  is  of  the  highest  encouragement  to  con- 
servationists, in  the  contemplation  of  the 
crying  need  for  energy  in  the  forms  of 


light,  heat,  power  and  traction,  to  know 
that,  as  an  example,  Niagara  has  thus  been 
carried  eastward  to  Toronto,  westward  to 
Buffalo,  Rochester  and  Syracuse,  and  has 
within  its  beneficent  reach  in  the  Dominion 
a  large  part  of  the  Province  of  Ontario. 
In  June,  1917,  Mr.  Adams  declined  the 
presidency  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power 
Company,  on  the  score  of  the  multiplicity 
of  other  duties. 

That  such  a  plea  might  reasonably  be 
offered  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Adams  has  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury been  busy  also  with  the  affairs  of  nu- 
merous industrial  and  manufacturing  con- 
cerns of  importance,  as  president,  vice- 
president  or  director.  The  list  is  an  ex- 
traordinarily long  one,  some  items  being 
the  Allis-Chalmers  Company,  Bullock 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  Central 
and  South  American  Telegraph  Company, 
American  Cotton  Oil  Company,  Davis 
Coal  &  Coke  Company,  Lehigh  Coke 
Company,  Empire  Engineering  Corpora- 
tion, International  Typesetting  Machine 
Company,  Intertype  Corporation,  Ker- 
baugh-Empire  Company,  East  Jersey 
Water  Company,  N.  K.  Fairbanks  Com- 
pany, Elkhorn  Corporation,  Union  Pe- 
troleum Company  of  Philadelphia,  Ham- 
mond Typewriter  Company,  Clinchfield 
Corporation,  New  Jersey  General  Security 
Company,  Mohawk  Hydro-Electric  Com- 
pany, Rumson  Improvement  Company. 
The  "diversity  factor"  certainly  looms  up 
large. 

Of  far  too  catholic  a  disposition  to  be 
absorbed  in  a  business  career,  Mr.  Adams 
has  given  play  to  his  artistic  tastes  and 
public  spirit  in  a  variety  of  directions, 
touching  life  very  inclusively  and  fully  in 
all  its  higher  social  aspects.  The  mag- 
nificent Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art  has 
been  preeminently  one  of  his  beneficiaries 
in  gifts  and  service,  through  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  the  Committees  on  Finance,  Ex- 
ecutive, Buildings,  Casts  and  Reproduc- 
tions, Educational  Work,  Library,  Sculp- 
ture, and  more  lately  the  special  J.  Pier- 
pont  Morgan  Memorial  Committee.  In 
like  manner  the  New  York  Botanical  Gar- 
den has  enjoyed  his  close  official  attention, 
with  the  Institute  of  Musical  Art  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  the  Kahn  Foundation 
for  the  Foreign  Travel  of  American 


126 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Teachers,  the  Grant  Monument  Associa- 
tion, the  American  Academy  in  Rome,  and 
the  American  Scenic  and  Historic  Preser- 
vation Society.  A  keen  love  of  coins  for 
other  than  their  metallic  values  is  seen  in 
his  deep  interest  in  the  American  Numis- 
matic Society,  of  which  he  has  been  elected 
an  Honorary  Member  for  life.  Through 
many  years  he  served  the  Society  with 
pleasure  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
the  Publication  of  Medals,  inaugurating 
during  that  time  the  striking  of  a  series 
of  historical  medals  pertaining  particu- 
larly to  the  early  history  of  this  country. 
At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  it  may  be 
noted  that  Mr.  Adams  is  vice-chairman  of 
the  Engineering  Foundation  Board  in  the 
United  Engineering  Society,  on  whose  Li- 
brary Board  he  is  a  representative  on  be- 
half of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers.  These  are  nevertheless  but 
instances  and  examples  from  a  list  of  mem- 
berships in  some  thirty  social  Clubs  and 
nearly  sixty  Societies,  Academies  and  Asso- 
ciations. 

A  resident  of  New  York,  Mr.  Adams 
has  his  summer  home,  "Rohallion,"  at 
Rumson,  New  Jersey,  where  he  is  natu- 
rally president  of  the  Country  Club  and  the 
Improvement  Company,  vice-president  of 
the  Monmouth  County  Agricultural  Fair 
Association,  vice-president  and  director  of 
the  Monmouth  County  Historical  Associa- 
tion and  senior  warden  vestryman  and 
trustee  of  the  Endowment  Fund  of  the 
Episcopal  church  of  St.  Georges-by-the- 
River. 

In  1872,  Mr.  Adams  married  Miss 
Frances  Amelia  Gutterson  of  Boston,  by 
whom  he  has  had  two  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter. One  of  the  sons  died  in  childhood. 
The  other,  Ernest  Kempton  Adams,  de- 
ceased in  his  thirtieth  year,  was  an  investi- 
gator and  engineer  of  most  unusual  prom- 
ise, the  record  of  whose  researches  and 
inventions  chiefly  in  electricity  fills  two 
large  volumes.  To  his  memory  as  a  gradu- 
ate of  Columbia,  The  Ernest  Kempton 
Adams  Fund  for  Physical  Research  and 
the  Precision  Laboratory  of  the  same  title 
have  been  established  in  the  University,  to 
which  endowment  may  already  be  at- 
tributed the  publication  of  several  valuable 
lectures  and  monographs  in  the  domain  of 
physics. 


ALDRED  &  COMPANY 

In  connection  with  the  electrical  develop- 
ment of  recent  years,  one  of  the  outstand- 
ing features  is  the  growth  in  the  use  of 
electric  energy  generated  by  water  power. 
The  first  development  on  a  large  scale  was 
that  of  Niagara  Falls,  U.  S.,  to  be  closely 
followed  by  the  installation  of  an  extensive 
plant  and  transmission  facilities  at  Shawin- 
igan  Falls,  P.  Q.      The  success  which  at- 
tended these  initial  enterprises  gave  an  im- 
petus to  further  development,  as  indicated 
by  the  large  works  which  have  since  been 
carried  out,   such   as  the  Ontario   Power 
Company,    of    Niagara    Falls;    Montana 
Power  Company,   Pennsylvania  Water  & 
Power  Company,  Cedars  Rapids  Manufac- 
turing &  Power  Company,   Kaministiquia 
Power     Company,     Adirondack     Electric 
Power    Corporation,     Mississippi     River 
Power  Company,   and  Laurentide   Power 
Company,      the      aggregate      of      which 
amounts  to   1,216,000  H.P.,  all  of  which 
is  distributed  in  the  form  of  electricity  over 
the  areas  of  operation  covered  by  these 
companies.     It  may  be  said  that  this  con- 
tribution to  the  development  of  electricity 
has  largely  taken  the  form  of  a  stimulating 
influence  in  the  use  of  power  for  a  great 
variety  of  uses  in  the  territory  in  which  the 
companies  operate.     The  result  has  been 
to  largely  increase  the  use  of  electricity  in 
those  sections  as  compared  with  other  sec- 
tions   dependent    upon    current    furnished 
from  steam  plants.    Even  where  steam  op- 
eration was  essential  for  the  carrying  of  a 
part  of  the  load,  these  situations  have  been 
stimulated  to  an  exceptional  degree  by  the 
introduction    of   hydro-electric   plants    ca- 
pable of  carrying  a  part  of  the  load. 

A  phase  of  this  development  is  that, 
while  at  the  outset  it  was  generally  consid- 
ered that  power  from  a  hydro-electric 
plant  was  in  respect  of  continuity  not  of  the 
same  class  as  steam  generated  power  from 
a  central  station,  this  prejudice  against  the 
energy  purchased  from  hydro-electric 
sources  has  entirely  disappeared,  as  the 
records  show  that  cities  depending  entirely 
on  their  supply  of  energy  from  hydro-elec- 
tric sources  have  been  quite  as  free  from 
interruption  as  other  cities  depending  on 
steam  plants. 

The  problem  of  making  hydro-electric 
installations  financially  successful  has  been 


JOHN    E.   ALDRED 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


127 


solved  through  the  development  of  a  high 
load  factor,  resulting  in  many  cases  from 
a  creation  of  a  diversity  factor  in  respect 
of  the  use  of  power.  In  considering  future 
projects  where  this  high  load  factor  can  be 
assured  in  advance,  it  will  make  possible 
the  carrying  out  of  hydro-electric  enter- 
prises, which,  through  lack  of  this  factor, 
would  have  been  impossible  ten  years  ago. 

In  the  carrying  out  of  extensive  hydro- 
electric developments,  the  storage  of  water 
to  supplement  the  normal  flow  of  rivers 
will  more  and  more  figure  as  of  impor- 
tance in  the  undertaking.  While  we  hear 
a  great  deal  in  the  United  States  in  regard 
to  conservation,  we  need  to  go  outside  of 
this  country  to  witness  the  most  intelligent 
application  of  this  principle  to  the  preser- 
vation and  development  of  the  natural  re- 
sources of  a  country.  On  the  continent  of 
Europe  for  many  years  the  waters  of 
streams  available  for  power  purposes  have 
been  carefully  controlled  and  regulated. 
On  this  continent  the  outstanding  work  of 
this  character  is  that  being  carried  on  in 
the  Province  of  Quebec,  Canada,  where, 
under  a  plan  fostered  and  developed  by 
the  Provincial  Government,  extensive  stor- 
age basins  have  been  created  in  some  of  the 
more  important  rivers  utilized  for  power 
purposes. 

The  La  Loutre  Dam  recently  completed 
in  the  headwaters  of  the  St.  Maurice  River, 
on  which  are  located  the  great  hydro-elec- 
tric works  of  the  Shawinigan  Water  & 
Power  Company,  and  the  Laurentide 
Power  Company,  Ltd.,  furnishes  the  finest 
example  extant  of  the  conservation  of 
water  resources  for  regulation  purposes. 
This  dam  is  capable  of  storing  160,000,- 
ooo  cubic  feet  of  water  available  for  the 
purpose  of  increasing  the  flow  of  the  St. 
Maurice  River.  It  was  built  and  paid  for 
by  the  Provincial  Government  of  Quebec, 
charges  being  made  against  the  existing 
power  companies  operating  on  the  river, 
which  annual  charges  are  sufficient  to  cover 
the  interest  on  the  cost,  operation  of  the 
plant  and  a  sinking  fund. 

This  enterprise  will  be  an  important 
economic  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
Province  of  Quebec.  When  we  consider 
the  lack  of  regulation  of  the  flow  of  the 
important  rivers  in  the  United  States  and 
the  damage  that  results  therefrom,  it  is 


difficult  to  understand  why  in  all  these 
years  there  has  been  no  substantial  attempt 
made  to  improve  conditions.  Now  that 
the  way  has  been  pointed  out  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Province  of  Quebec,  we 
may  hope  that  in  time  an  appreciation  of 
the  desirability  of  similar  work  will  lead  to 
the  carrying  out  of  projects  akin  to  that 
referred  to  above. 

At  this  time,  when  consideration  is  being 
given  to  legislation  intended  to  facilitate 
the  development  of  water  power  resources 
of  the  country,  it  is  important  to  keep  in 
mind  the  lessons  we  have  learned  from 
carrying  out  many  of  the  large  hydro-elec- 
tric works  above  mentioned. 

First  should  be  dispelled  the  erroneous 
impression  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have 
at  times  given  public  utterances  to  their 
thoughts  on  this  subject  and  have  stated 
that  these  enterprises  have  resulted  in  ex- 
traordinary profit.  This  thought  has  its 
birth,  as  many  similar  expressions  of  opin- 
ion, in  the  idea  that  anything  based  on  the 
use  of  natural  resources  and  in  any  sense 
involving  public  ownership  of  property, 
must  be  profitable.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
those  familiar  with  the  large  operations  so 
far  undertaken,  know  only  too  well  that 
ie  financial  results  obtained  have,  on  the 
whole,  been  disappointing  and  have  demon- 
strated that  the  carrying  out  of  these  large 
hydro-electric  developments  may  be  prop- 
erly termed  an  extra  hazardous  undertak- 
ing. This  must  in  some  degree  always  be 
so,  as  one  deals  with  natural,  conditions, 
and  it  is  never  possible  to  anticipate  all  of 
the  contingencies  involved  in  an  undertak- 
ing which  must  deal  with  conditions  that 
cannot  be  entirely  forestalled. 

That  these  developments  have  been  car- 
ried out  during  years  of  experimental  ex- 
ploitation, both  in  respect  of  water  wheel 
efficiency,  electric  generator  efficiency  and 
efficiency  of  transmission  systems,  and 
this  development  stage  has  necessarily 
involved  extraordinary  expense,  holds  out 
the  hope  that  future  essays  of  this  kind 
will  benefit  accordingly  what  has  thus  gone 
before. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  the  obtaining  of 
the  necessary  capital  in  the  future  to  carry 
out  large  water  power  developments  will 
depend  primarily  upon  the  restrictions  im- 
posed upon  the  enterprise  by  the  legislation 


128 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


now  under  consideration  in  Washington. 
It  will  be  necessary  not  only  to  avoid  re- 
strictive conditions  which  will  prevent  capi- 
tal from  winning  a  return  comparable  with 
that  offered  by  other  forms  of  enterprise, 
but  inasmuch  as  this  is  a  comparatively  new 
field  of  investment  for  capital,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  hold  out  extra  inducements  to 
tempt  large  amounts  of  investment  capital. 
In  Mr.  Aldred's  opinion,  if  the  bill  now 
before  the  House  in  Washington,  Janu- 
ary, 1918,  contains  clauses  which  do  not 
harmonize  with  these  requirements,  it  will 
not  only  fail  to  accomplish  the  purpose  for 
which  the  bill  is  intended,  but  will  para- 
lyze the  development  of  power  enterprises 
for  many  years.  The  one  most  desirable 
thing  in  any  business  enterprise  is  to  get 
that  cumulative  benefit  which  comes 
through  good  management  and  building 
up  credit.  If  this  is  to  count  for  nothing 
at  the  end  of  the  game,  the  propo- 
sition is  hopeless  and  will  not  in  any  sense 
be  inviting  to  capital. 


JOHN  E.  ALDRED 

Senior  Member  of  Aldred  &  Company  and 
a  Prominent  Figure  in  the  Hydro- 
Electric  Field 

One  of  the  prominent  figures  in  the  de- 
velopment of  hydro-electric  power  is  J.  E. 
Aldred,  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Al- 
dred &  Company,  24  Exchange  Place,  New 
York  City,  whose  success  has  been  phe- 
nomenal since  he  entered  the  field.  Mr. 
Aldred  was  born  May  5,  1864,  in  Law- 
rence, Massachusetts,  and  was  educated  in 
the  city  of  his  birth.  His  first  entry  into 
commercial  affairs  was  with  the  Pacific 
Mills,  which  manufactured  textiles  exclus- 
ively, and  shortly  afterwards,  with  no  pre- 
vious knowledge  of  financial  affairs,  he 
moved  to  Boston,  where  he  entered  the 
banking  business.  Here  his  executive  tal- 
ent and  power  of  organization  found  a 


field  for  display,  and  in  1896  he  organized 
the  Puritan  Trust  Company.  Three  years 
later  he  transferred  his  power  of  organiza- 
tion to  Canada  and  formed  the  Shawinigan 
Water  &  Power  Company  of  Montreal, 
which  is  the  largest  water  power  company 
in  the  world. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  his  large  ac- 
tivities in  the  hydro-electric  field,  and  since 
that  time  he  has  organized  and  developed 
many  important  corporations  of  a  like 
character  throughout  Canada  and  the 
United  States.  Among  the  companies  in 
which  Mr.  Aldred  has  been  actively  inter- 
ested are  the  Montreal  Light,  Heat  & 
Power  Company,  the  Cedars  Rapids  Manu- 
facturing &  Power  Company  and  the  Lau- 
rentide  Power  Company,  Ltd.  He  also 
took  over  the  moribund  McCall  Ferry 
Power  Company,  on  the  Susquehanna 
River,  which  he  converted  into  the  Penn- 
sylvania Water  &  Power  Company.  This 
company  is  now  the  principal  source  of 
supply  of  electrical  energy  to  the  City  of 
Baltimore,  and  its  acquisition  by  Mr.  Al- 
dred was  the  forerunner  of  many  activities 
in  the  southern  city. 

He  made  an  industrial  survey  of  Balti- 
more, which  was  the  first  ever  made  of  a 
city,  and  led  in  the  movement  to  stimulate 
industrial  development  there.  This  brought 
about  the  erection  of  many  plants,  among 
which  was  a  tin  plate  mill,  built  by  Mr. 
Aldred  and  afterwards  sold  to  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Company.  In  1910  Mr.  Aldred 
acquired  control  of  the  Consolidated  Gas, 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company,  of  Balti- 
more. In  1913  he  organized  the  firm  of 
Aldred  &  Company,  which  acts  as  fiscal 
agents  for  these  and  several  other  compa- 
nies. The  other  members  of  the  firm  are 
R.  M.  Smith,  Morton  Otis  and  F.  C. 
Nichols. 

Mr.  Aldred  is  a  member  of  the  Nassau 
and  Piping  Rock  Club,  on  Long  Island; 
the  St.  James  Club,  of  Montreal,  and  the 
Maryland  Club,  of  Baltimore.  He  resides 
at  Locust  Valley,  Long  Island. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


129 


COMFORT    A.    ADAMS 


Professor  Comfort  A.  Adams  of  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  elected  to  the  presidency  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers in  1918,  is  one  of  New  England's 
most  learned  teachers  of  the  electrical 
science.  He  is  also  engaged  in  private 
practice,  and  has  attained  the  highest 
reputation  as  an  engineer.  Professor 
Adams  was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio, 


November  i,  1868,  the  son  of  Comfort 
Avery  and  Katherine  Emily  (Peticolas) 
Adams.  He  was  educated  at  the  Case 
School  of  Applied  Science,  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  from  which  he  received  the  B.S. 
degree  in  1890  and  the  degree  of  E.E.  in 
1895.  He  assisted  in  physics  at  the  Case 
School  previous  to  graduation  and  after- 
wards took  a  course  in  physics  and  mathe- 


J30 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


matics  at  Harvard  University.     He  was 
engaged  in  engineering  design  in  1890-91 
and  in  the  latter  year  became  an  instructor 
in  electrical  engineering  at  Harvard.  From 
1896  until   1906  he  was  assistant  profes- 
sor, and  professor  of  electrical  engineeer- 
ing  from  1906  until  1914*  when  he  became 
the  Abbott  and  James  Lawrence  professor 
of  engineering,  a  position  he  still  occupies, 
assuming   later   a    like   position   with   the 
Massachusetts    Institute    of    Technology. 
In  his  consulting  practice  he  has  numbered 
among  his  clients,  Stone  &  Webster,  and 
the    American    Tool    and    Machine    Co. 
of  Boston;  the  Warner  Sugar  Refining  Co. 
of  New  York;  the  Simplex  Wire  &  Cable 
Co.    of   Cambridge,    Mass.;   the   Dkonite 
Company  of  New  York;  the  Boston  Edi- 
son Company  and  the  Public  Service  Elec- 
tric Co.  of  New  Jersey.     He  was  a  mem- 
ber of   the   international  jury  of   awards 
(department  of  electricity)   at  the  Louisi- 
ana Purchase  Exposition,  held  at  St.  Louis 
in  1904.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers'  Club  of  New  York,  a  Fellow  of 
the    American    Academy    of    Arts     and 
Sciences,  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  be- 
ing chairman  of  the  Boston  branch  in  1905 
and  1906.     He  also  holds  membership  in 
the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, the  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
London;  the  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety; Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engi- 
neering Education,  American  Physical  So- 
ciety; the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion;   the    Economic    Club;    the    Harvard 
Club  of  Boston;  the  Harvard  Union  and 
the   Oakley   Country   Club.      He   is   Field 
Officer  and  Chairman  of  the  Welding  Com- 
mittee of  the  U.  S.  Shipping  Board  Emer- 
gency Fleet  Corporation,  also  Chairman  of 
the  Electrical  Engineering  Section  of  the 
National  Research  Council.     He  has  been 
a  liberal  contributor  of  scientific  papers  to 
the  technical   press   and  is   the   author  of 
"Dynamo   Design   Schedules".      Much   of 
Professor  Adams'  work  has  been  along  the 
lines  of  theory  and  research  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  contribution  of  many  valu- 
able   discussions     to    engineering    society 
meetings.       Professor    Adams    was    mar- 
ried June  21,    1894,  to  Elizabeth  Challis 
Parsons  of  Greenfield,  Mass.,  and  has  two 


children  —  John     and    Clayton    Comfort 
Adams. 

FRANCIS  J.  ADAMS 

Professor  Francis  J.  Adams  of  the  Wor- 
cester Polytechnic  Institute  has  specialized 
on  the  educational  side  of  electrical  activ- 
ity and  development,  in  which  he  has  at- 
tained proficiency  and  high  repute.  He 
was  born  in  Maynard,  Massachusetts,  De- 
cember 8,  1880,  and  after  having  com- 
pleted his  elementary  and  preparatory  ed- 
ucation he  entered  the  Worcester  (Mass.) 
Polytechnic  Institute,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1904,  and  was  one  of  six 
men  receiving  the  Salisbury  prize  and  elec- 
tion to  Tau  Beta  Pi  and  Sigma  Xi. 

He  supplemented  the  knowledge  gained 
in  the  courses  and  laboratories  of  the  Wor- 
cester Polytechnic  Institute  with  practical 
work  in  the  employ  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company,  as 
engineer  in  the  Transformer  Division  of 
the  Engineering  Department,  and  later 
with  the  Worcester  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany as  assistant  to  the  Superintendent  of 
Distribution,  and  as  assistant  to  the  Su- 
perintendent of  the  Service  Department  in 
charge  of  investigations.  He  has  thus 
gained  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  work- 
ing details  and  economic  factors  of  the  bus- 
iness of  distribution  and  service  as  a  valu- 
able auxiliary  of  the  technical  mastery  of 
the  principles  and  practice  of  electrical  en- 
gineering. 

His  teaching  connection  with  the  Wor- 
cester Polytechnic  Institute  began  as  a 
graduate  assistant,  and  he  was  later  ad- 
vanced to  instructor  and  from  that  to  his 
present  position  as  assistant  professor  of 
electrical  engineering.  In  educational  work 
he  is  able  and  convincing,  adding  to 
the  advantage  of  a  mind  well  stored 
with  scientific  and  practical  knowledge  as 
learned  from  field  and  work  shop,  as  well 
as  from  the  lecture  room  and  laboratory, 
the  teaching  gifts  which  enables  him  to  im- 
part his  own  knowledge  to  others. 

In  addition  to  his  educational  and  pro- 
fessional occupations,  Professor  Adams 
has  a  predilection  for  the  study  and  prac- 
tice of  photography.  He  is  greatly  inter- 
ested in  Masonry  also,  as  a  member  of 
both  the  Scottish  Rite  and  York  Rite 
bodies. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


131 


HARRY    ALEXANDER 


Mr.  Harry  Alexander,  mechanical  and 
electrical  engineer,  has  earned  a  place  of 
prominence  in  connection  with  important 
electrical  installations  in  the  United  States 
and  abroad,  and  in  many  valuable  ways  in 
research,  experiment  and  invention.  He 
was  born  in  New  York  City,  August  6, 
1871.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools.  A  general  interest  in  and  en- 
thusiasm for  mechanics  caused  him  to  take 
up  intensive  private  study  of  technical  sub- 
jects, attending  lectures  and  special 


courses,  also  reading  most  of  the  promi- 
nent and  standard  works  on  electrical  and 
kindred  subjects.  He  added  practical 
training  by  working  in  various  power 
houses  for  railroad  companies  and  in  ma- 
chine shops.  From  1886  to  1888  he  was 
with  the  Daft  Electric  Light  Company,  of 
Greenville  and  Marion,  New  Jersey,  and 
assistant  in  experimental  operations  with 
the  "Benjamin  Franklin"  on  the  Ninth  Ave- 
nue Elevated  Railroad  in  New  York  City. 
In  1889  he  entered  the  service  of  the 


132 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  at 
Lynn,  Mass.,  where  he  was  in  charge  of  the 
testing  department,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  general  inspector  for  the  Thom- 
son-Houston Motor  Company  in  the  New 
England  states.  In  the  latter  part  of  1890 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Thomson-Van 
Depoele Mining MachineCompany,  in  com- 
plete charge,  at  Dover,  N.  H.,  of  building 
and  designing  electric  mining  machinery  at 
the  Somersworth  Machine  Shop.  In  1891 
Mr.  Alexander  went  into  business  for  him- 
self as  an  industrial  engineer  in  his  own 
name.  Later  he  organized  the  Alexander- 
Chamberlain  Company,  of  which  he  was 
president  and  electrical  engineer  until  it 
was  merged  into  his  private  business,  later 
designated  as  Harry  Alexander,  Incorpo- 
rated. The  home  office  of  this  company 
has  continued  to  be  in  New  York,  with 
branch  offices  at  different  times  in  Wash- 
ington, Pittsburgh,  Baltimore,  Boston  and 
Rochester;  and  since  1910  the  company 
has  maintained  a  permanent  branch  office 
in  Toronto  for  Canadian  business.  In 

1893  Mr.  Alexander  was  retained  by  L.  F. 
W.  Arend  and  others,  of  Buffalo,  and  in 
charge  of  the  survey  of  the  Lockport  and 
Tonawanda  Canal  with  view  to  the  con- 
struction of  a  hydro-electric  plant  on  Lake 
Ontario.    The  project  fell  through  because 
its  backers  thought  it  a  dream — since,  how- 
ever, a  reality.      In  1893  and   1894  Mr. 
Alexander  designed  and  patented  an  under- 
ground trolley  system,  including  separate 
systems  for  continuous  live  conductor  and 
automatic    sectional    live    conductor.      In 

1894  Mr.  Alexander  conducted  extensive 
experiments  at  the  Cheseborough  Works 
in    the    precipitation    of    white    lead    by 
electrolysis.     In  the  early  part  of  1895  ne 
designed  and  in  1896  completed  the  entire 
Siegel-Cooper  electrical  plant,  New  York 
City  of  over  one  thousand  kilowatts,  with 
twenty-three  electrical  elevators  and  special 
electrical  apparatus  for  various  purposes. 
This  was  the  largest  isolated  plant  of  that 
time,  as  well  as  the  largest  electric  eleva- 
tor plant.     In  1900  he  designed  apparatus 
and  was  in  charge  of  experimental  work 
for  a  bleaching  process  by  electrolysis,  the 


company  for  which  he  did  this  work  sub- 
sequently putting  Electrozone  on  the  mar- 
ket as  a  result  of  this  experiment.  In  1904 
he  was  retained  by  Robert  C.  Hall  and 
allied  interests  of  Pittsburgh  to  investigate 
and  report  on  the  Pittsburgh  electric  light, 
power  and  street  railway  situation  relative 
to  combining  power  production  for  all  in- 
terests. During  the  three  years  from  1906 
to  1909  Mr.  Alexander  was  largely  en- 
gaged with  railroad  and  other  large  con- 
struction work  in  mechanical  and  electrical 
engineering,  being  designing  and  contract- 
ing engineer  for  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  R. 
R.  office  building  in  Baltimore  in  1906  and 
after  that  contractor  for  the  original  East 
Side  Terminals,  New  York  Central  Rail- 
road, in  connection  with  the  new  Grand 
Central  Station,  and  in  1906-1907  he  pat- 
ented an  interior  conduit  system  and  its  de- 
tail devices.  In  1909  he  was  contracting  en- 
gineer for  the  sub-station  and  construction 
work  for  the  United  Railway  of  Havana, 
Cuba  (sub-contract).  In  1913  he  was  re- 
tained as  supervising  engineer  for  the  May 
Department  Stores  Company,  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  for  the  entire  electrical  and  me- 
chanical equipment  for  their  new  building 
in  connection  with  the  Railway  Exchange 
Building.  Mr.  Alexander  has  done  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  industrial  work 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
Cuba  and  the  Orient,  involving  a  trip 
around  the  world  in  1903.  He  was  one 
of  the  early  users  of  storage  batteries  for 
automobiles  and  for  equalizing  excessive 
loads  in  industrial  plants.  He  is  the  inven- 
tor of  many  industrial  devices  and  systems, 
such  as  the  Alexalite,  the  pioneer  indirect 
monolux  unit,  and  he  is  president  of  the 
Alexalite  Company.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, A.  S.  M.  E.,  New  York  Electrical 
Society,  Aeronautical  Society,  Engineers' 
Club,  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  American  Geo- 
graphical Society,  Atlantic  and  Royal 
Canadian  Yacht  Clubs,  Engineers'  Club,  of 
Toronto;  Great  Neck  Golf  Club,  Metro- 
politan Museum  of  Art  and  Museum  of 
Natural  History. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


133 


FRANCIS  BLAKE 

The  invention  of  the  Blake  Transmitter, 
with  the  notable  advance  it  accomplished  in 
the  field  of  telephony,  will  always  remain 
as  the  best  known  and  most  notable  of  the 
achievements  of  the  fruitful,  inventive 
genius  of  the  late  Francis  Blake.  But  his 
career  was  rounded  out  by  many  useful 
labors  that  left  their  impress  in  permanent 
results. 

Mr.  Blake  was  born  December  25, 
1850,  in  Needham,  Massachusetts,  son  of 
Francis  Blake,  who  was  active  in  business 
life  and  who  was  for  several  years  United 
States  Appraiser  of  the  Port  of  Boston, 
and  of  Caroline  Burling  (Trumbull) 
Blake  of  the  prominent  New  England 
Trumbull  family.  In  the  paternal  line  Mr. 
Blake  was  descendant  in  the  eighth  genera- 
tion from  William  and  Agnes  Blake,  who 
emigrated  to  Massachusetts  before  1636, 
and  settled  in  that  part  of  Dorchester  now 
known  as  Milton.  William  Blake,  the 
emigrant  ancestor,  became  active  and  dis- 
tinguished in  Colonial  affairs,  and  his 
descendants  have  been  men  of  mark  in 
Massachusetts.  The  Hon.  Francis  Blake, 
Mr.  Blake's  grandfather,  was  State  Sena- 
tor from  Worcester  and  a  prominent  lead- 
er at  the  Worcester  County  Bar. 

Mr.  Blake  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  until  he  left  the  Brookline  High 
School  in  1866,  to  enter  the  United  States 
Coast  Survey,  to  which  his  uncle,  Commo- 
dore George  S.  Blake,  U.  S.  N.,  had  se- 
cured his  appointment.  He  began  with  a 
hydrographic  survey  of  the  Susquehanna 
River,  near  Havre  de  Grace,  Maryland, 
following  with  similar  surveys  on  the  west 
coast  of  Florida  and  north  coast  of  Cuba. 
He  was  stationed  at  Harvard  College  Ob- 
servatory in  1868,  working  on  longitude 
determination  between  Cambridge  and  San 
Francisco,  and  in  1869  was  stationed  at 
Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  and  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, to  determine  the  astronomical  lati- 
tude and  longitude  of  those  places,  follow- 
ing which  he  was  promoted  from  aid  to 
sub-assistant.  In  October,  1869,  he  went 
to  Brest,  France,  and  determined  the 
astronomical  difference  of  longitude  be- 
tween Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  Brest  by 
means  of  time  signals  sent  through  the 
French  Cables.  In  1870  he  was  astrono- 


mer of  the  Darien  Exploring  Expedition 
(Commodore  Selfridge,  U.  S.  N.,  com- 
manding) which  examined  the  Atrato 
River  and  Tuyra  River  routes,  with  refer- 
ence to  possible  ship  canal  construction 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  Going  to 
Europe  in  1872,  he  assisted  in  the  third 
and  final  determination  of  the  differences 
of  longitude  between  the  Greenwich, 
Paris  and  Cambridge  (Mass.)  observa- 
tories, under  Professor  Julius  E.  Hilgard, 
and  made  observations  in  1872  which  gave 
a  new  result  for  the  longitudinal  difference 
between  the  Greenwich  and  Paris  observa- 
tories. Mr.  Blake  returned  in  1872  and 
was  stationed  at  the  Harvard  Observatory. 
He  represented  the  Coast  Survey  at  a 
Conference  of  the  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania Boundary  Commission  in  1875, 
and  later  was  on  a  survey  of  Boston  Har- 
bor. 

Mr.  Blake  resigned  from  the  Coast  Sur- 
vey in  1878.  From  this  research  and  ex- 
periment came  the  famous  Blake  Trans- 
mitter, which  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  vital  factors  of  improvement  in  tele- 
phony. Mr.  Blake  continued  his  interest 
in  electrical  research,  and  was  granted 
twenty  patents  in  twelve  years.  He  was  a 
director  of  the  American  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company  from  1878.  Harvard 
University  conferred  upon  him  the  honor- 
ary degree  of  A.M.  in  1902. 

He  was  a  fellow  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences; member  of  the  Corporation  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
from  1889;  member  of  the  National  Con- 
ference of  Electricians,  1884,  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  life  mem- 
ber of  the  National  Geographic  Society, 
fellow  of  the  American  Geographical 
Society;  member  of  the  Bostonian  Society, 
the  Boston  Society  of  the  Archaeological 
Institute  of  America,  and  the  Somerset  and 
Union  Clubs;  honorary  member  of  the 
Telephone  Pioneers  of  America. 

Mr.  Blake  died  at  his  home  in  Weston, 
Mass.,  January  19,  1913,  leaving  as  survi- 
vors his  wife,  Elizabeth  L.  (daughter  of 
Charles  T.  Hubbard),  whom  he  married 
June  24,  1873,  and  their  two  children, 
Agnes  and  Benjamin  Sewall  Blake. 


134 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES    F.    BANCROFT 


Charles  F.  Bancroft,  electrical  engineer, 
born  at  Mansonville,  Quebec,  Canada, 
December  17,  1873,  attended  Knowlton 
Academy  and  St.  Johns  School,  Montreal. 

His  uncle,  F.  S.  Smithers,  a  director  of 
the  Edison  General  Electric  Company,  se- 
cured him  admission,  in  1890,  to  the  stu- 
dents' course  which  that  company  had  just 
inaugurated,  and  which  he  completed  in 

1893- 

He  had  charge  of  the  testing  depart- 
ment of  the  Royal  Electric  Company, 
Montreal,  1893-1894;  was  electrical  engi- 
neer of  the  Lowell  and  Suburban  Street 
Railway,  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  1894- 


1900;  since  then  electrical  engineer  of  the 
Massachusetts  Electric  Companies;  also 
since  1912  vice-president  of  the  Manches- 
ter Electric  Company,  and  since  1905 
superintendent  of  motive  power  of  the  Bay 
State  Street  Railway  Company. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  member  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Boston 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Engineers'  Club 
(New  York),  and  life  member  Engineers' 
Club  (Boston).  He  married,  on  June  7, 
1905,  Cornelia  H.  Dow,  of  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  and  they  have  two  children. 


H.  M.BYU..ESBY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


135 


H.  M.  BYLLESBY  &  CO. 

BY  W.    H.    HODGE. 

Henry  Marison  Byllesby  identified 
himself  with  the  electrical  industry  at  its 
practical  inception  in  the  United  States. 
During  a  long  and  active  career  he  has 
won  a  prominent  place  as  an  engineer, 
organizer,  financier,  constructor  and  oper- 
ator. 'For  years  the  house  bearing  his 
name  has  ranked  among  the  larger  and 
more  progressive  public  utility  organiza- 
tions of  the  country. 

Mr.  Byllesby,  from  the  first  month  of 
the  great  war,  devoted  much  time  to  the  in- 
terest of  the  Entente  Allies.  He  was  one 
of  the  few  men  who,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  correctly  visualized  the  tremen- 
dous issues  involved  and  with  extraordi- 
nary intuition  appreciated  the  situation  of 
the  United  States  in  the  struggle.  From 
August,  1914,  until  the  entrance  of  the 
United  States  into  the  conflict,  Mr.  Byl- 
lesby was  very  active  in  platform  and  or- 
ganization work  and,  beginning  April  6, 
1917,  he  gave  his  entire  time  to  the  service 
of  the  Nation.  As  Chairman  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Chicago 
Branch  of  the  National  Security  League, 
Mr.  Byllesby  was  primarily  responsible 
for  the  inauguration  of  the  great  patriotic 
speaking  campaign  in  the  West  andCentral 
Northwest  which  was  opened  at  Minnea- 
polis September,  1917,  with  Samuel  Gomp- 
ers  and  Clarence  Darrow  as  principal  ora- 
tors. This  was  followed  by  great  mass 
meetings  at  Chicago  and  elsewhere  with 
Elihu  Root,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  William 
Howard  Taft,  former  Ambassador  Ger- 
ard, Reverend  Doctor  Hillis,  T.  P.  O'Con- 
nor, Samuel  Gompers  and  other  prominent 
men  as  speakers. 

As  the  result  of  earnest  solicitation  by 
the  War  Department,  Mr.  Byllesby  ac- 
cepted a  commission  as  Major  in  the  re- 
cruiting division  of  the  United  States  Sig- 
nal Corps  November  15,  1917.  He  has 
since  been  active  as  an  officer  of  the  United 
States  Army,  and  at  present  (June,  1918), 
is  Lieutenant-Colonel  on  overseas  duty. 

Mr.  Byllesby  was  born  at  Pittsburgh 
February  16,  1859.  His  father,  Rev. 
DeWitt  Clinton  Byllesby,  was  a  clergyman 
in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  Or- 
iginally of  English  ancestry,  Mr.  Byllesby's 


American  lineage  on  the  side  of  his  mother, 
Sarah  Mathews,  dates  to  1620  and  on  his 
father's  side  to  1789. 

His  education  was  received  at  the  West- 
ern University  of  Pennsylvania  at  Pitts- 
burgh, where  he  took  a  preparatory  course, 
1871-73,  and  at  Lehigh  University,  1873- 
1877,  where  he  studied  the  course  in 


ARTHUR    S.    HUEY 
Vice-President  in   Charge  of   Operation 

Mechanical  Engineering.  He  was  not 
graduated,  leaving  at  the  end  of  the  junior 
year  to  work  in  the  laboratory  and  machine 
shop  of  the  Weston  Dynamo  and 
Electric  Machine  Company,  at  Newark, 
New  Jersey.  Mr.  Byllesby's  application  to 
the  practical  affairs  of  life  began  earlier, 
however,  as  he  was  employed  during  vaca- 
tions, beginning  at  the  age  of  twelve  years, 
in  machine  shops  at  Allentown,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  later  in  the  general  ticket  office 
of  the  Central  Railroad  Company  of  New 
Jersey. 

In  November,  1879,  he  entered  the 
drawing  office  of  Robert  Wetherill  &  Com- 
pany, manufacturers  of  Corliss  engines  and 
mill  machinery,  at  Chester,  Pennsylvania, 
remaining  with  them  until  June  I,  1881. 
On  that  date  his  direct  connection  with  the 
electrical  industry  began  in  the  service  of 
The  Edison  Company  for  Isolated  Light- 


136 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ing,  at  65  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City. 
After  a  few  months  as  draftsman  he  was 
made  the  Draftsman  of  the  First  District 
Pearl  Street  Station  of  the  original  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  New 
York,  serving  under  Mr.  C.  L.  Clarke, 
Chief  Engineer,  and  his  assistant.  Under 
their  immediate  direction  Mr.  Byllesby 
made  all  of  the  drawings  for  the  structure, 
cranes,  location  of  boilers,  engines  and 
switchboards  of  this,  the  first  steam  oper- 
ated central  station  in  the  United  States. 
During  the  same  period  he  also  made 
drawings  for  central  stations  near  Val- 
paraiso, Chile. 

In  November,  1882,  Mr.  Byllesby  was 
sent  by  the  Edison  Company  to  Canada  to 
manufacture  dynamos  and  certain  other 
patented  devices  for  a  cotton  mill  installa- 
tion at  Cornwall,  Ontario.  He  remained 
in  Canada  until  July  i,  1884,  and  during 
the  interval  secured  contracts  for  several 
other  cotton  mill  installations,  for  the  in- 
stallation of  three  steamships  of  the  Cana- 
dian Pacific  Railway  on  the  Great  Lakes 
and  for  several  sugar  refineries.  He 
directed  the  manufacture  of  the  dynamos 
and  other  patented  apparatus  as  well  as 
supervising  their  installation. 

From  August  i,  1884,  to  February  i, 
1885,  he  was  on  the  general  engineering 
staff  of  the  Edison  Company,  and  during 
that  period  had  charge  of  the  mechanical 
engineering  and  subsequent  operation  of 
electrical  installations  for  lighting  the  ex- 
hibitions at  Louisville,  St.  Louis  and  New 
Orleans. 

Leaving  the  Edison  Company  in  1885, 
Mr.  Byllesby  was  the  Eastern  Manager, 
resident  in  New  York,  of  Robert  Wetherill 
&  Company  for  about  ten  months.  No- 
vember ist  of  that  year  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  late  George  Westinghouse, 
who  then  controlled  the  Union  Switch  and 
Signal  Company  and  had  become  interested 
also  in  electric  lighting,  conducting  his 
•electrical  interests  as  a  personal  venture. 
Mr.  Westinghouse  had  enlisted  the  ser- 
vices of  the  late  William  Stanley,  Jr.,  the 
late  O.  B.  Shallenberger  and  Albert  B. 
Schmid,  and  had  started  the  making  of 
electrical  apparatus  in  the  works  of  the 
Union  Switch  and  Signal  Company,  Gar- 
rison Alley,  Pittsburgh. 

Soon  after  this  connection  the  Westing- 


house  Electric  Company  was  formed,  with 
Mr.  Byllesby  as  Vice-President  and  Gen- 
eral Manager.  Mr.  Westinghouse  had 
previously  purchased  the  alternating  cur- 
rent patents  of  Goulard  and  Gibbs,  and 
experiments  were  being  conducted  toward 
perfecting  and  commercializing  the  prin- 
ciple. Mr.  Byllesby  vigorously  appre- 


OTTO    E.   OSTHOFF 
Vice-President  and  Chief  Engineer 

ciated  the  possibilities  of  alternating  cur- 
rent transmission  and,  in  company  with 
Messrs.  Westinghouse,  Stanley,  Shallen- 
berger, Schmid  and  Philip  Lange,  work 
was  carried  forward  which  produced  in  the 
early  Fall  of  1886  the  first  commercial 
alternating  current  electric  lighting  ap- 
paratus. 

The  business  of  the  company  thence- 
forth grew  rapidly,  sales  were  heavy,  and 
before  the  end  of  the  year  the  company 
bought  the  works  of  the  Union  Switch  and 
Signal  Company  and  greatly  enlarged 
them.  Mr.  Byllesby  at  this  time  was  very 
active  in  the  engineering  and  mechanical 
development  of  the  industry  in  addition  to 
broad  duties  of  a  commercial  nature,  tak- 
ing out,  either  in  his  own  name  or  as  an 
associate  inventor,  approximately  forty 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


137 


patents  of  various  details  of  electric  light- 
ing apparatus  and  systems. 

From  May  I,  1889,  to  September  I, 
1891,  Mr.  Byllesby  spent  most  of  his  time 
in  Europe  representing  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  Company  in  its  early  enterprises 
in  connection  with  the  development  of  for- 
eign business.  He  resigned  from  the  com- 
pany in  December,  1891,  owing  as  stated 
"to  personal  differences  with  Mr.  George 
Westinghouse  growing  out  of  a  wide 
divergence  of  views  as  to  the  financial 
affairs  of  the  company." 

February  i,  1891,  he  became  associated 
with  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany interests,  and  on  April  ist  of  that 
year  became  the  President  of  the  North- 
west Thomson-Houston  Company.  This 
was  a  subsidiary  organization  to  the  parent 
company,  with  headquarters  at  St.  Paul, 
having  the  exclusive  business  of  the  com- 
pany in  northern  Wisconsin,  North  Da- 
kota, South  Dakota,  Montana,  Idaho, 
Washington  and  Oregon.  He  remained 
as  President  of  this  organization  and  its 
successor,  the  Northwest  General  Electric 
Company,  until  the  Spring  of  1895,  when 
the  company  went  out  of  existence,  having 
been  absorbed  by  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

From  the  Spring  of  1895  until  January 
i,  1902,  Mr.  Byllesby  was  actively  engaged 
on  various  enterprises,  principally  of  his 
own  creation,  and  the  majority  having  to 
do  with  the  construction  of  some  of  the 
earlier  water  powers  developed  in  the 
United  States.  From  1891  to  1894  he  was 
Vice-President  of  the  Portland  (Oregon) 
General  Electric  Company,  and  was  prom- 
inently identified  with  the  designing,  build- 
ing and  financing  of  the  original  water 
power  on  the  Willamette  River  at  Oregon 
City.  During  the  period  from  1894  to 
1898  he  was  active  in  Montana,  personally 
exploring  the  entire  water  power  situation 
in  Central  Montana,  constructing  two  ini- 
tial hydro-electric  developments  and  laying 
out  the  plans  in  detail  which  were  followed 
in  the  subsequent  development  of  the 
Montana  Power  Company. 

In  the  course  of  his  work  in  Montana 
Mr.  Byllesby  personally  financed  and  was 
directly  in  charge  of  the  construction  of 
the  water  power  development  in  the  Big 
Hole  River,  twenty  miles  south  of  Butte. 


This  was  a  rather  unique  and  fair-sized 
development  for  those  days,  having  an  in- 
stalled capacity  of  4,000  horsepower,  and 
involving  the  construction  of  reservoirs 
thirty  miles  up  stream.  Another  enterprise 
was  the  building  of  a  water  power  on  the 
Big  Blackfoot  River  and  transmitting  elec- 
tricity seven  miles  to  the  city  of  Missoula. 


JOHN  J.  O'BRIEN 
Vice-President  and  Treasurer 

This  plant  of  2,000  horsepower  proved 
highly  successful,  both  in  operating  results 
and  financial  returns. 

He,  also  in  these  years,  made  exhaustive 
examinations  of  other  water  powers, 
among  them  being  the  great  works  which 
the  government  is  developing  at  the  outlet 
of  Flathead  Lake  in  Montana,  and  water 
powers  in  northern  Minnesota,  including 
the  properties  of  the  Great  Northern 
Power  Company  near  Duluth,  for  which 
he  served  in  an  advisory  capacity  for  nearly 
every  feature  of  the  construction. 

Subsequently  he  was  associated  with  the 
Washington  (D.  C.)  Light  and  Traction 
Company,  with  the  Riker  Motor  Vehicle 
Company,  and  with  the  Electric  Vehicle 
Company. 

January  i,  1902,  he  established  in  Chi- 
cago the  organization  of  H.  M.  Byllesby 


138 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


&  Company  (Incorporated),  of  which  he 
has  always  been  President. 

Established  primarily  as  an  engineering 
concern,  the  activities  of  H.  M.  Byllesby 
&  Company  soon  acquired  a  much  broader 
scope  and  within  a  few  years  the  firm  be- 
came prominent  in  the  financing,  designing, 
construction,  operation  and  management 
of  electric  light  and  power,  gas  and  street 
railway  companies.  A  staff  was  gathered 
and  maintained  of  experts  in  all  phases  of 
public  utility  administration — engineering, 
construction,  finance,  legal,  operation,  com- 
mercial, publicity,  etc.  Utility  properties 
were  purchased,  reorganized,  financed,  re- 
built and  extended  and  conducted  on  mod- 
ern lines,  both  from  the  standpoints  of 
efficiency  and  business  ethics.  Properties 
were  grouped  and  linked  together  for 
economical  and  better  operation.  Vigor- 
ous methods  were  employed  to  extend  ser- 
vice over  the  widest  practicable  limits  and 
to  build  up  the  business.  The  problem  of 
public  relations  was  studied  with  unwearied 
attention,  with  results  widely  known  and 
commended. 

In  1918  H.  M.  Byllesby  &  Company 
were  responsible  for  growing  utility  com- 
panies serving  about  2,000,000  people  in 
upwards  of  400  communities  scattered 
throughout  sixteen  states. 

Some  of  the  utility  companies  under 
Byllesby  management,  and  in  which  Mr. 
Byllesby  is  either  president  or  director  are 
as  follows :  Northern  States  Power  Com- 
pany, serving  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and 
the  Central  Northwest;  Standard  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  a  holding  company; 
Western  States  Gas  &  Electric  Company, 
operating  in  California;  Louisville  Gas  & 
Electric  Company;  Oklahoma  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company;  Muskogee  Gas  &  Electric 
Company;  San  Diego  Consolidated  Gas  & 
Electric  Company;  The  Arkansas  Valley 
Railway,  Light  &  Power  Company,  oper- 
ating in  Colorado  over  a  wide  area  center- 
ing at  Pueblo;  Mobile  Electric  Company, 
and  The  Ottumwa  Railway  &  Light 
Company. 

In  addition  to  the  service  outlined  Mr. 
Byllesby's  organization  has  been  exten- 
sively employed  in  consulting  capacities  on 
large  engineering  works  and  in  the  making 
of  critical  examinations  and  reports  relat- 
ing to  many  public  utility  enterprises.  Of 


recent  years  the  activities  of  the  house  have 
further  broadened  in  investment  banking 
lines  and  in  the  development  of  oil  and 
mining  properties. 

As  President  of  this  organization  Mr. 
Byllesby  has  always  performed  the  most 
active  executive  functions,  giving  personal 
supervision  both  to  the  financing  and  the 


ROBERT   J.    GRAF 
Vice-President  and  Secretary 

engineering  endeavors  of  his  firm.  Since  he 
has  headed  his  own  organization  Mr. 
Byllesby  has  been  identified  with  the  fol- 
lowing hydro-electric  developments :  water 
power  on  the  Muskingum  River  at  Zanes- 
ville,  Ohio;  Big  Fork  development  near 
Kalispell,  Montana;  Cannon  Falls  water 
power  near  Cannon  Falls,  Minnesota; 
Rapidan  water  power  near  Mankato,  Min- 
nesota; Appalachian  Power  Company's 
two  hydro-electric  plants  on  the  New 
River  in  Virginia;  and  the  Coon  Rapids 
development  on  the  Mississippi  above 
Minneapolis. 

At  various  times  Mr.  Byllesby  has  writ- 
ten and  spoken  on  engineering  subjects  and 
subjects  involved  with  problems  of  public 
utilities,  and  numbers  of  such  articles  and 
addresses  have  been  published  in  technical 
publications  and  pamphlets. 


JOS1AH    Q   BENNETT. 
(DE  CEASED) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


139 


Although  Mr.  Byllesby  has  never  held 
political  office  or  been  a  candidate  for  such 
preferment  he  has  given  much  time  to  civic 
duties,  of  late  years  devoting  energy  par- 
ticularly to  efforts  having  patriotic  objects. 
Among  other  connections  he  is  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Committe  of  the  Univer- 
sal Military  Training  League;  director  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Chicago  Civic  Federa- 
tion; member  of  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  University  of  Illinois;  member  of 
the  Executive  Committee  of  St.  Luke's 
Hospital,  Chicago;  and  director  of  Chase 
House,  Chicago.  He  has  been  a  member 
of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers since  1883  and  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers 


and  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers. 

Among  the  Clubs  of  which  Mr.  Byllesby 
is  a  member  are  the  following:  Metropoli- 
tan, Bankers,  Recess,  Railroad  and  Law- 
yers, New  York  City;  The  Chicago  Club, 
Union  League,  University,  Commercial, 
Mid-Day,  Automobile  and  Glen  View 
Country  Clubs,  Chicago ;  Lake  Geneva 
Yacht  Club  and  Lake  Geneva  Country 
Club,  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin;  Minnesota 
Club,  St.  Paul;  Minneapolis  Club,  Minnea- 
polis; Pendennis  Club,  Louisville;  and  the 
Arlington  Club,  Portland,  Oregon. 

Mr.  Byllesby  married  Margaret  Stearns 
Baldwin,  daughter  of  the  late  H.  P.  Bald- 
win of  Roselle,  N.  J.,  June  15,  1882.  They 
reside  in  Chicago  and  at  Holly  Bush 
House,  Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin. 


JOSIAH   Q.    BENNETT 


The  late  Josiah  Q.  Bennett,  of  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts,  was  one  of  those 
far-seeing  business  men  whose  commercial 
abilities,  formed  such  an  important  part  in 
the  promotion  of  electrical  enterprises  and 
made  practical  the  applications  which  en- 
gineering skill  and  scientific  research 
evolved  for  the  generation  and  distribu- 
tion of  light  and  power. 

He  was  born  in  Somerville,  Mass.,  No- 
vember 14,  1854,  the  son  of  Clark  Ben- 
nett, of  an  old  New  England  family. 
After  his  graduation  from  the  Somerville 
High  School  he  began  his  business  career 
as  a  messenger  in  the  old  Maverick  Bank, 
which  was  then  the  leading  bank  of  Bos- 
ton. His  progress  was  steady  and  con- 
tinuous, and  he  advanced  in  that  institu- 
tion until  he  became  assistant  cashier,  re- 
maining in  that  position  until  he  was  of- 
fered the  post  of  cashier  of  the  old 
Market  Bank,  of  Boston,  on  State  Street. 
After  a  considerable  time  in  that  connec- 
tion he  resigned  it  to  become  President  of 
the  Mercantile  Trust  Company,  then 
located  on  the  present  site  of  the  Shawmut 
Bank,  in  Boston.  He  remained  with  that 
institution  until  it  was  merged  with  others. 
He  resolved  to  retire  from  banking  en- 
tirely in  order  to  give  unhampered  atten- 
tion to  his  interests  in  manufacturing  and 
public  utility  corporations,  and  therefore 


retired  also  from  his  membership  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  Cambridge  Trust 
Company. 

It  was  when  he  was  cashier  of  the 
Market  Bank  that  he  first  became  in- 
terested in  industrial  corporations.  He 
brought  to  them  the  great  organizing 
talent  which  was  so  large  a  factor  in  his 
success,  and,  after  resigning  from  bank- 
ing, he  gave  them  constant  and  careful 
executive  supervision. 

There  were  among  the  enterprises  of 
which  he  was  the  leading  spirit  several 
that  had  to  do  with  gas  and  electric  illumi- 
nation. Foremost  among  them  was  the 
Cambridge  Electric  Light  Company,  of 
which  he  was  President  from  1887  until 
the  date  of  his  death.  His  was  the 
financial  and  commercial  acumen  which 
made  this  company  a  model  of  service 
efficiency.  He  had  a  comprehensive 
knowledge  of  machinery,  and  matters  of 
power  and  equipment  in  his  properties 
were  given  their  due  prominence.  The 
Cambridge  Electric  Light  Company  under 
his  administration  became  a  very  success- 
ful enterprise.  It  was  this  company  that 
had  the  distinction  of  furnishing  the  power 
for  the  first  electric  car  operated  in  the 
vicinity  of  Boston.  The  other  lighting 
and  power  corporations  of  which  he  was 
president  were  the  Weymouth  Light  and 


140 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Power  Company,  Commonwealth  Gas  and 
Electric  Company,  Weymouth  Water 
Power  Company,  Athol  Gas  and  Electric 
Company,  Marlboro-Hudson  Gas  Com- 
pany, and  the  Marlboro  Electric  Com- 
pany. He  was  also  a  director  of  the 
Amesbury  Electric  Light  Company  and  the 
Dedham  and  Hyde  Park  Gas  and  Electric 
Company. 

In  the  same  year  that  he  became  presi- 
dent of  the  Cambridge  Electric  Light 
Company,  Mr.  Bennett  also  became  presi- 
dent of  the  Fresh  Pond  Ice  Company, 
which  he  built  up  to  a  leading  place  in  the 
ice  trade  and  organized  with  great  effi- 
ciency. He  was  also  president  of  the 
Metropolitan  Ice  Company  and  was  the 
vice-president  of  Natural  Ice  Dealers' 
Association. 

He  was  also  greatly  interested  in  the 
Boston  Brick  Company,  of  which  he  was 
the  treasurer  from  1903,  and  his  coun- 
sels and  interest  in  its  business  were  lead- 
ing factors  in  the  success  of  that  important 
corporation. 

His  organizing  ability  was  widely  rec- 
ognized. One  notable  example  of  it  was 
his  rehabilitation  of  the  Boston  Woven 
Hose  and  Rubber  Company,  of  which,  as 
the  result  of  financial  embarrassment,  he 
was  made  assignee.  He  reorganized  it 
upon  a  more  efficient  basis  than  ever  be- 
fore, and,  after  turning  it  over  to  its  new 
officers,  he  remained  a  director  of  the 
company. 

He  performed  like  good  offices  for  the 
Purity  Distilling  Company,  on  behalf  of  the 
late  Robert  Mather,  president  of  the  West- 
ing house  Electric  Company.  He  secured 
the  buildings  in  Cambridge  formerly  owned 
by  the  Great  White  Spirit  Company, 
which  had  long  been  vacant,  and  made 
them  productive  again,  the  Purity  Distil- 
ling Company,  of  which  Mr.  Bennett  was 
President,  operating  there  the  second 
largest  plant  of  its  kind  in  America.  Both 
of  these  enterprises  are  now  eminently 
successful.  He  was  also  a  director  of  the 
Goepper  Brothers'  Barrel  Company. 

Mr.  Bennett  died  at  his  home  in  Cam- 
bridge, Mass.,  November  28,  1916,  leav- 
ing his  -wife,  whom,  as  Miss  Jennie  Hol- 
land, he  married  in  1879,  four  children 
and  six  grandchildren. 


PHILIP  P.  BARTON 

The  harnessing  of  the  great  power  of 
Niagara  Falls  to  provide  electrically  trans- 
mitted power  for  railroad  propulsion  and 
to  turn  the  busy  wheels  of  industry  over  a 
large  area  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada  is  an  accomplishment  which  looms 
high  among  the  mountain-tops  of  electrical 
achievement.  The  work  connected  with  it 
was  broadly  planned  and  boldly  executed 
by  the  services  of  a  staff  of  skilled  and 
progressive  engineers  who  created  The 
Niagara  Falls  Power  Company.  Among 
these  was  Philip  Price  Barton,  who  is  now 
(1918)  in  the  twentieth  consecutive  year 
of  service  with  that  company,  of  which  he 
is  now  vice-president  and  general  manager. 

He  was  born  in  Lock  Haven,  Pennsyl- 
vania, May  5,  1865,  and  after  completing 
primary  and  preparatory  courses  he  en- 
tered Cornell  University,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Ph.B. 
and  honors  for  general  excellence,  in  the 
Class  of  1886,  following  this  up  with  two 
years  of  special  studies  in  electrical  engi- 
neering, leading  to  the  degree  of  M.S., 
which  he  received  in  1888.  Following  grad- 
uation he  was  employed  for  a  few  months 
with  the  Cambria  Steel  Company,  at  Johns- 
town, Pennsylvania,  as  a  helper  in  the  elec- 
tric light  plant,  and  with  the  Alleghany 
County  Light  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
as  office  assistant.  Following  this  work 
he  became  connected  as  an  electrical  engi- 
neer with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company  from  1888  to 
1891,  as  erecting  engineer  at  Pittsburgh 
and  Chicago.  From  1891  to  1898  he  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  Brush  Electric  Com- 
pany and  the  General  Electric  Company 
at  Pittsburgh.  In  1898  he  entered  upon 
his  long  service  with  The  Niagara  Falls 
Power  Company,  beginning  as  assistant  to 
the  electrical  superintendent.  He  made 
himself  familiar  with  all  the  details  of  the 
construction  and  operation  of  that  great 
plant  and  took  personal  part  in  the  solu- 
tion of  the  many  problems  and  difficulties 
that  had  to  be  solved  before  the  company 
reached  the  full  realization  of  its  perfect 
and  unique  service.  His  promotion  to 
superintendent  of  operation  followed  his 
mastery  of  these  problems,  and  later  he 
was  made  general  manager,  which  office 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


141 


PHILIP    P.    BARTON 


ie  still  holds,  and  his  good  work  has  been 
further  rewarded  by  election  to  the  office 

)f  vice-president  of  the  company.  In  ad- 
dition to  The  Niagara  Falls  Power  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Barton  has  long  been  similarly 
associated  with  the  Canadian  Niagara 
Power  Company,  first  as  superintendent 
of  operation  and  for  years  past  and  now 
as  general  manager.  The  Canadian  com- 
pany serves  the  Canadian  side  upon  meth- 
ods identical  with  the  service  of  the  Amer- 
ican company  on  its  side  of  the  boundary. 
Mr.  Barton  is  also  Vice- President  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Niagara  Junc- 
tion Railway  Company  and  the  Niagara 
Development  Company.  He  was  formerly 


trustee  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Public  Li- 
brary and  director  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  is  now  trustee 
of  the  Niagara  Falls  Memorial  Hospital. 
He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  member  of  the 
American  Electrochemical  Society,  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  the  Niagara  Club,  Uni- 
versity Club,  Niagara  Falls  Country  Club, 
Buffalo  Club,  and  the  Engineers'  Club  of 
New  York.  In  the  branch  of  electrical  en- 
gineering in  which  he  is  engaged,  Mr.  Bar- 
ton's knowledge  and  experience  make  him 
a  recognized  leader. 


142 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM  C.  BOYRER 

William  C.  Boyrer,  electrical  engineer, 
in  charge  of  the  Bond  Issue  investigations 
for  the  Public  Service  Commission,  First 
District  of  New  York-,  has  made  an  ex- 
haustive study  of  the  whole  field  of  ap- 
praisal work  both  on  the  basis  of  the  cost 
to  reproduce  and  the  basis  of  actual  ex- 
penditures. He  has  had  great  success  both 


WILLIAM    C.    BOYRER 

in  the  investigation  of  current  expenditures 
and  past  expenditures  and  has  aimed  to 
supplant  the  cost  to  reproduce  method  of 
appraisal  by  a  method  based  upon  the  in- 
vestigation of  actual  expenditures.  Among 
the  many  bond  cases  Mr.  Boyrer  has  suc- 
cessfully concluded  are:  The  Interborough 
Rapid  Transit  Company,  of  New  York, 
the  amount  involved  being  $5,409,000; 
the  Third  Avenue  Railroad,  $5,000,000, 
and  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  $24,- 
000,000.  He  has  also  acted  as  Consulting 
Engineer  for  the  Virginia  State  Commis- 
sion in  connection  with  the  valuation  for 
taxing  purposes,  and  served  in  a  similar 
capacity  for  the  city  of  Memphis,  Tenn., 


in  connection  with  a  rate  case  against  the 
Cumberland  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, and  for  the  State  Board  of  Public 
Utilities  of  New  Jersey  in  connection  with 
the  appraisal  of  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company,  in  which  $33,000,000  were  in- 
volved. Mr.  Boyrer  has  contributed  ar- 
ticles on  this  subject  and  now  (1917-18) 
has  in  preparation  a  book  on  valuation; 
he  has  also  made  a  revision  of  the  Uni- 
form System  of  Accounts  for  the  Public 
Service  Commission  for  the  First  District, 
New  York,  accompanied  by  a  pamphlet  of 
instructions  for  the  guidance  of  corpora- 
tions in  connection  with  the  matter. 

Mr.  Boyrer  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
December  18,  1869,  and  was  educated  at 
private  schools,  the  College  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1890,  and  Cornell  University,  where  he 
studied  electrical  engineering  and  received 
the  M.E.  degree  in  1891,  the  M.M.E.  be- 
ing conferred  one  year  later.  His  first 
active  work  was  in  1892,  when  he  became 
an  employee  of  Queen  &  Co.  at  their  lab- 
oratory in  Ardmore,  Pa.,  where  for  eight 
months  he  was  engaged  in  developing  a 
new  type  of  D.  C.  central  station  amme- 
ter and  voltmeter.  He  was  interested  in 
the  construction  of  electrical  measuring  in- 
struments, which  was  a  branch  of  Queen 
&  Company's  business,  but  had  little 
opportunity  to  do  more  than  make  a  pre- 
liminary study  of  the  subject.  Mr.  Boyrer 
was  at  one  period  a  foreman  in  the  equip- 
ment department  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  at  the 
Brooklyn  Yard  and  was  engaged  in  the  in- 
stallation of  electrical  apparatus  on  various 
men-of-war.  He  was  also  engineer  of  the 
Long  Island  Division  of  the  New  York 
Telephone  Company.  While  connected 
with  the  -telephone  company  he  devised  a 
type  of  private  branch  exchange,  with  in- 
terchangeable cord  circuits,  to  be  used  on 
the  common  battery  system.  The  princi- 
ple of  this  board  forms  the  basis  for  those 
now  in  use  for  this  purpose.  Mr.  Boyrer 
is  a  member  of  the  Cornell  University 
Club,  of  New  York;  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  the 
Brooklyn  Engineers'  Club. 


WILLIAM    S.    BARSTOW 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


143 


WILLIAM   S.   BARSTOW 


William  S.  Barstow  was  born  in  Brook- 
lyn, New  York,  February  15,  1866.  He 
entered  the  Adelphi  Academy,  in  Brook- 
lyn, in  1873,  graduating  in  1883,  and  then 
took  the  four-year  classical  course  in  Col- 
umbia College,  New  York,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  B.A.  in  1887,  being  a 
Commencement  Speaker.  While  in  col- 
lege he  entered  the  Delta  Upsilon  frater- 
nity. 

On  graduation,  he  was  offered  a  posi- 
tion in  the  Edison  Machine  Works  at 
Schenectady,  New  York,  where  he  began 
in  July,  1887.  He  remained  in  that  serv- 
ice at  Schenectady,  New  York  City,  Pater- 
son,  N.  J.,  the  Edison  Laboratory  at  Or- 
ange, N.  J.,  and  at  Brooklyn.  During 
that  period  his  work  was  in  the  Testing 
Department  and  on  underground  and  sta- 
tion construction.  In  1889  (September) 
he  accepted  a  position  in  the  Edison  Elec- 
tric Illuminating  Company,  of  Brooklyn, 
as  electrical  engineer.  In  1890  he  was  ap>- 
pointed  general  superintendent,  and  later 
general  manager,  and  remained  in  that 
connection  until  1901.  Under  his  super- 
vision the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company  was 
one  of  the  very  first  to  install  multiphase 
transmission  and  sub-station  distribution, 
low  tension  arc  lamps  on  the  Edison  sys- 
tem, storage  batteries,  the  "booster"  sys- 
tem, and  the  Leonard  system  applied  to 
electric  elevators. 

Mr.  Barstow  resigned  from  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brook- 
lyn in  1901  to  engage  in  private  practice 
as  a  consulting  electrical  engineer.  In 
1906  he  organized  and  became  president 
of  the  corporation  of  W.  S.  Barstow  &  .. 
Company,  construction  engineers  and  man- 
agers of  public  utility  properties. 

He  has  taken  out  several  patents  for 
various  inventions,  including  a  "Porte 
Lumiere,"  a  two-rate  meter,  booster  sys- 
tems, a  clock  switch,  and  others. 

Outside  of  the  company  bearing  his 
name  he  is  president  and  a  director  of 
some  twelve  public  utility  companies  (and 
a  director  in  nineteen  others)  operating  in 
various  sections  of  the  country.  His  large 
activities  and  continued  success  have 
earned  him  a  prominent  place  in  the  list 


of  those  operating  electric  light  and  other 
utility  corporations. 

He  has  had  an  active  part  and  influential 
share  in  the  progressive  work  which,  dur- 
ing several  decades  past,  has  wrought  such 
improvement  in  quality  and  expansion  in 
area  of  service  as  has  characterized  the 
modern  course  of  development  of  public 
utility  enterprises  in  this  country.  He 
is  an  authority  on  matters  of  man- 
agement and  progress  in  electrical  serv- 
ice organization.  He  has  delivered  ad- 
dresses and  presented  important  papers  on 
professional  subjects  before  the  Columbia 
Engineering  Society,  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  the  Franklin  Institute  of 
Philadelphia,  Manufacturers'  Association 
of  Brooklyn,  the  Association  of  Edison  Il- 
luminating Companies,  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  and  the  Electrical  Sec- 
tion of  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts  and 
Sciences.  He  has  also  published  many  valu- 
able contributions  on  professional  and  tech- 
nical subjects  to  the  Electrical  World,  Cas- 
sier's  Magazine,  and  other  scientific  and 
engineering  publications. 

Mr.  Barstow  is  a  Fellow  and  Life  Mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  and  has  served  as  its  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  as  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Man- 
agers ;  has  been  President  of  the  Electrical 
Section  of  the  Brooklyn  Institute  of  Arts 
and  Sciences;  is  a  Life  Member  and  past 
President  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Soci- 
ety; was  formerly  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Jury 
of  Awards  in  the  Electrical  Section  of  the 
Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo,  in 
1901.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society,  a  charter  member  of 
the  American  Electrochemical  Society,  and 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  The  Columbia  College  Alumni 
Association,  The  Columbia  University 
Club,  the  Lawyers'  Club,  Delta  Upsilon 
Club  (New  York),  and  the  North  Hemp- 
stead  Country  Clubs. 

In  1894  he  married  Francoise  M.  Du- 
clos,  of  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  has 
one  son,  Frederic  D.  Barstow. 


144 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLARD  E.  BOILEAU 

An  electrical  engineer  whose  experience 
and  achievements  cover  a  wide  range  of 
construction  and  operation  of  electric  light, 
power  and  railway  properties  is  Willard 
E.  Boileau,  now  general  manager  of  the 
Scranton  Railway  Co.  He  was  born  at 
Bath,  Steuben  County,  New  York,  Septem- 
ber 8,  1865  (of  Huguenot  descent),  was 


WILLARD    E.    BOILEAU 

educated  in  Haverling  Academy  and  High 
School  at  Bath,  N.  Y.,  and  took  a  special 
course  in  drawing  and  mathematics. 

He  began  his  active  business  career  with 
the  contracting  firm  of  Cram  &  Doty,  and 
was  later  with  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna 
&  Western  Railroad  Company,  first  in 
construction  work  and  later  in  train  serv- 
ice. Believing  that  the  electrical  field  fur- 


nished exceptional  opportunities  for  a 
young  man,  he  entered  it  in  the  employ  of 
the  Edison  Manufacturing  Company  in 
1886.  In  April,  1887,  ne  went  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company,  and 
in  1888  he  took  that  company's  special  or 
"expert"  engineering  course  in  the  factory 
at  Lynn,  Mass.  He  worked  with  Charles 
J.  Van  Depoele  on  railroad  work  in  the 
factory,  then  went  South  in  charge  of  con- 
struction of  properties,  and  remained 
South  constructing  and  managing  lighting 
and  railway  properties  until  1902,  and 
then  returned  to  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany at  the  Schenectady  plant.  In  1903 
he  designed  and  constructed  the  steam  tur- 
bine plant  for  Chattanooga,  Tennessee; 
went  to  Dubuque,  Iowa,  in  1904,  in  charge 
of  construction  of  the  new  steam  turbine 
power  station,  tracks,  car-barns  and  shops; 
thence  to  New  York  City  in  1905,  as  de- 
signing mechanical  engineer  with  the  New 
York,  Westchester  and  Boston  Railway 
Company.  Returning  to  Chattanooga  inOc- 
tober,  1907,  he  remained  as  general  man- 
ager of  the  Chattanooga  Railway  and 
Light  Company,  and  of  the  Lookout 
Mountain  Incline  Company  until  1914, 
when  he  took  his  present  position  as  Gen- 
eral Manager  of  the  Scranton  Railway  Co. 

Outside  of  his  profession  he  is  especially 
interested  in  the  betterment  of  boys,  and 
specifically  in  the  Boy  Scout  Movement; 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Scout  Council  and 
Past  Commissioner  Scranton  Boy  Scouts. 
He  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Railroad 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

He  is  a  member  of  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  Engineering  So- 
ciety of  Northeastern  Pennsylvania;  past 
president  of  the  Scranton  Rotary  Club, 
member  Scranton  Club,  Country  Club, 
Elks;  is  a  Thirty-second  Degree  Mason 
and  Knight  Templar;  member  of  the 
New  York  Railroad  Club,  and  director  of 
the  Scranton  Board  of  Trade. 


EDGAR    G.  BERNARD 
(DECEASED) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


145 


EDGAR  G.  BERNARD 


Edgar  G.  Bernard,  who  died  at  Troy, 
February  23,  1915,  began  his  electrical 
career  in  1879  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  his 
first  electrical  experience  being  gained  in 
installing  an  arc-light  plant  in  New  York 
City  for  Booth's  Theatre  in  that  year. 
With  the  appearance  of  the  incandescent 
lamp,  he  at  once  entered  into  isolated-plant 
lighting,  which  field  he  was  probably  the 
first  to  work  systematically  as  a  salesman 
and  also  as  an  engineer  in  the  development 
of  the  constructional  details.  In  1884  he 
became  chief  sales  agent  and  constructing 
engineer  for  the  Sawyer-Man  Company, 
continuing  in  the  same  capacity  with  its 
successor,  the  Consolidated  Electric  Light 
Company.  When  the  latter  was  purchased 
by  the  Westinghouse  Company,  about 
1888,  he  remained  in  charge  of  its  textile- 
mill  work  until  shortly  before  establishing 
his  own  business  at  Troy,  in  the  fall  of 
1890.  A  few  years  after  starting  business 
in  Troy,  Mr.  Bernard  began  the  manufac- 
ture of  dynamos  and  motors  especially 
adapted  to  his  line  of  work,  which  he  con- 
tinued until  satisfactory  machines  could  be 
obtained  elsewhere.  His  electrical  activi- 
ties covered  a  wide  range,  including  in 
early  days  town  arc  and  incandescent  light- 


ing. Much  of  his  work  has  been  special 
in  character,  such  as  the  installation  of 
7,000  lamps  in  the  Capitol  at  Albany  in 
twenty-five  working  days,  practically  all  of 
this  work  being  special  construction;  the 
generator  and  motor  equipment  of  the 
United  States  Arsenal  at  Watervliet; 
marine  installation  work  for  the  United 
States  Navy  and  for  shipyards,  etc.  Mr. 
Bernard  joined  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  in  January,  1886,  and 
was  a  member  of  many  electrical  bodies, 
including  the  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers' 
Association.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century 
or  more  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at  con- 
ventions. He  was  president  of  the  Troy 
Electrical  Company,  successor  to  the  E.  G. 
Bernard  Company. 


The  above  obituary  from  the  Electrical 
World  of  March  13,  1915,  is  but  a  brief 
summary  of  the  life  of  a  most  energetic 
and  popular  member  of  the  electrical  fra- 
ternity; one  known  to  many  of  the  pio- 
neers in  this  profession,  and  whose  mem- 
ory remains  green  as  long  as  his  genera- 
tion survives.  He  has  been  succeeded  by 
his  son  as  the  head  of  the  Troy  Electrical 
Company. 


146 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


LEO  HENDRIK  BAEKELAND,  B.S., 
Sc.D. 

Leo  Hendrik  Baekeland,  one  of  the 
•country's  eminent  chemists,  was  born 
November  14,  1863,  in  the  old  Flemish 
city  of  Ghent,  Belgium,  where  he  received 
his  preparatory  education  in  the  elementary 
schools,  the  Atheneum  (a  Government 
High  School),  and  the  Ghent  Municipal 
Technical  School.  He  entered  the  Univer- 
sity of  Ghent  in  1880,  where  he  studied 
various  sciences  and  specialized  in  chem- 
istry, and  when  only  twenty-one  years  of 
age  was  awarded  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Science,  passing  his  examinations  with  the 
highest  honors.  He  was  later  appointed 
Assistant  Professor  and  in  1889  Associate 
Professor.  In  the  meantime,  in  1887,  he 
had  been  appointed  Professor  of  Chem- 
istry and  Physics  at  the  Government  Nor- 
mal School,  then  existing  in  the  city  of 
Bruges.  While  a  resident  of  Ghent, 
Dr.  Baekeland  became  deeply  interested 
in  photography,  and  as  that  city  was 
the  center  of  the  new  industry  of  dry- 
plate  manufacture,  he  acquired  a  vast 
knowledge  of  this  new  branch  of  the  chemi- 
cal industry.  Upon  coming  to  New  York 
City  he  accepted  the  position  of  chemist 
with  the  firm  of  E.  &  H.  T.  Anthony  & 
Co.,  who  were  manufacturers  of  films  and 
bromide  paper.  He  resigned  this  position 
at  the  end  of  two  years,  and  in  1893,  in 
partnership  with  Leonard  Jacobi,  founded 
the  Nepera  Chemical  Company  at  Yonkers 
and  began  the  manufacture  of  photo- 
graphic papers.  One  of  these  was  "Velox," 
which  Dr.  Baekeland  perfected  and  after- 
ward sold  to  the  Eastman  Kodak  Company 
in  1899.  This  sale  netted  him  enough  to 
gratify  his  personal  inclinations,  and  he 
immediately  turned  his  attention  to  electro- 
chemistry and  organic  chemistry.  In 
this  latter  field  he  has  taken  out  upwards 
of  fifty  patents,  covering  many  processes 
previously  unknown  in  the  field  of  chemical 
industry,  one  of  which  was  "Bakelite,"  a 
new  material  that  Dr.  Baekeland  gave  to 
the  world.  It  is  a  chemical  synthesis  from 
carbolic  acid  and  formaldehyde,  replacing 
hard  rubber  and  amber,  and  is  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  thousands  of  articles  and 
for  endless  electrical  purposes.  The  Gen- 
eral Bakelite  Company  has  a  very  complete 
plant  at  Perth  Amboy,  N.  J.  Several  plants 


have  been  established,  under  license, 
throughout  the  United  States,  Germany, 
France  and  England;  before  the  war  at 
least  two  factories  in  Germany  and  one  in 
Russia  were  devoted  to  the  manufacture  of 
"Bakelite"  buttons  alone.  Dr.  Baekeland, 
as  consulting  chemist,  assisted  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Townsend  electrolytic 


LEO  HENDRIK  BAEKELAND. 

cell  for  the  Hooker  Electrochemical  Com- 
pany of  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  in  1903.  He 
was  Honorable  Professor  of  Chemical  En- 
gineering at  Columbia  University  in  1917, 
and  the  other  honors  conferred  upon  him 
are  many.  He  was  awarded  the  Nicholls 
Medal  by  the  American  Chemical  Society 
in  1909;  the  John  Scott  Medal  by  the 
Franklin  Institute  in  1910;  the  Willard 
Gibbs  Medal  by  the  American  Chemical 
Society,  Chicago  Section,  in  1913;  the 
Chandler  Medal  (First  Award)  by  Colum- 
bia University  in  1914;  the  Perkin  Medal 
for  Industrial  Chemical  Research  by  the 
Affiliated  Chemical  and  Electrochemical 
societies  in  1916.  Dr.  Baekeland  was  the 
first  Chandler  lecturer  at  Columbia  on  the 
occasion  of  the  5Oth  anniversary  of  the 
School  of  Mines  in  1914,  was  United 
States  Delegate  to  the  International  Con- 
gress of  Applied  Chemistry,  held  in  Lon- 


MARTIN     BERTHOLD 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


147 


don  in  1909,  .ind  was  president  of  the  Sec- 
tion of  Plastics,  International  Congress  of 
Applied  Chemistry,  New  York,  1912.  He 
was  president  of  the  Inventors'  Guild  in 
1914,  president  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Chemical  Engineers  in  1912,  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  American  Electrochemical  So- 
ciety in  1909,  chairman  of  the  New  York 
Section  in  1908  and  councilor-at-large  in 
1907,  later  becoming  president.  He  is  also 


an  honorary  member  of  Gamma  Chapter, 
Phi  Lambda  Upsilon,  and  was  appointed 
to  membership  of  the  Naval  Consulting 
Board  in  1915.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  National  Research  Council  and  the 
Nitrate  Supply  Committee  for  the  Army 
and  Navy.  His  clubs  are  the  Chemists,  of 
which  he  was  president  in  1904,  the  Uni- 
versity and  Century  of  New  York  City,  and 
the  Cosmos  of  Washington,  D.  C. 


MARTIN  BERTHOLD 


An  electrical  engineer  of  distinction  in 
the  field  of  design  and  adaptation  of  elec- 
trical generators  and  motors  for  alternat- 
ing and  direct  currents  is  Martin  Berthold, 
of  Akron,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Berthold  was  born  at  Oberholz, 
near  Leipzig,  Saxony,  on  September  6, 
1877.  His  general  education  was  received 
at  the  Freimaurer  Institute,  Dresden,  Sax- 
ony, and  his  technical  education  at  the 
Maschinenbau  Schule,  Technische  Staats- 
lehranstalten,  Chemnitz,  Saxony,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1897,  with  spe- 
cial courses  in  electrical  engineering  and 
mathematics.  His  interest  in  electrical 
work  was  greatly  stimulated  by  the  course 
of  lectures  by  Professors  Weinhold  and 
Koller,  at  Chemnitz,  in  physics  and  electri- 
cal engineering,  and  he  became  especially 
interested  in  the  fundamental  data  on  de- 
sign of  electrical  machines,  as  far  as  such 
data  were  available  up  to  1897,  and  fol- 
lowed up  the  same  subject  until  1900  by 
extensive  private  study  and  visits  to  such 
electrical  manufacturing  concerns  as  were 
accessible. 

He  began  his  practical  professional 
work  by  systematically  prepared  appren- 
ticeship courses  in  the  Shop  Department  of 
J.  M.  Grob  &  Co.,  Leipzig,  manufacturers 
of  gas  engines  and  electrical  machinery. 
He  served  for  a  time  as  an  assistant  to 
the  chief  engineer  of  Dr.  G.  Langbein  & 
Co.,  Leipzig,  later  becoming  electrical  en- 
gineer with  the  Allgemeine  Electrizitaets 
Gesellschaft,  Berlin. 

Coming  to  the  United  States,  he  became 
a  technical  clerk  in  the  testing  department 
of  the  Western  Electric  Company  at  Chi- 
cago, and  from  there  went  to  Indianapolis, 
Ind.,  becoming  assistant  electrical  engineer 


of  the  Commercial  Electric  Company 
there,  and  later,  in  the  same  city,  was  with 
the  Fairbanks-Morse  Electrical  and  Manu- 
facturing Company,  as  engineer  in  charge 
of  design,  and  afterwards  as  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  electrical  department.  He 
subsequently  became  chief  engineer  of  the 
Ideal  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany of  Mansfield,  Ohio,  and  thence  went 
to  his  present  connection  as  chief  engineer 
of  the  Imperial  Electric  Company  of 
Akron,  Ohio. 

The  work  of  Mr.  Berthold  since  1900 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  greater  refine- 
ment in  the  design  of  electrical  motors  and 
generators  for  alternating  and  direct  cur- 
rents. His  observations  of  phenomena 
have  made  it  apparent  that  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  highest  efficiency  the  observations 
of  the  machine-test  must  check  the  calcula- 
tions of  the  machine  design.  In  his  work 
toward  increased  efficiency  alternating  cur- 
rent machinery  has  been  developed  with  as 
much  zeal  as  direct  current  machinery, 
though  the  one  class  does  not  supplant  the 
other.  As  the  field  of  application  of  each 
may  be  accurately  defined,  the  commercial 
advantages  attained  have  justified  the 
pains  taken  and  the  labor  expended  in  the 
development  of  both. 

Mr.  Berthold  became  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  on  March  12,  1912.  For 
the  benefit  of  the  Naval  Consulting  Board 
he  has  compiled  the  inventories  of  five 
manufacturing  concerns  of  the  City  of  Ak- 
ron, including  his  own  company. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Verein  Deutscher 
Ingenieure,  American  Institute  of  Electri- 
cal Engineers  and  National  Geographic 
Society. 


148 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 
BERNARD  ARTHUR   BEHREND 


Distinguished  equally  for  scientific 
knowledge  and  constructive  achievement, 
Bernard  Arthur  Behrend  is  an  electrical 
engineerof  more  than  national  prominence. 

He  was  born  near  Chillon  Castle,  Can- 
ton de  Vaud,  Switzerland,  May  9,  1875; 
was  educated  by  private  tutor,  pursuing 
his  studies  in  England  and  France 


BERNARD  ARTHUR  BEHREND 

and  as  a  special  student  at  the  Uni- 
versity and  Polytechnic  Institute  at  Berlin. 
He  became  assistant  to  Professor  Kapp, 
and  later  was  assistant  chief  engineer 
of  the  Oerlikon  Company,  of  Switzer- 
land. His  parents  coming  to  this  country 
he  embarked  upon  advanced  work  as  chief 
engineer  of  the  Bullock  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company,  and  later  as  chief  electri- 
cal engineer  of  the  Allis-Chalmers  Com- 
pany, the  electrical  department  of  which 
he  established  and  organized,  and  as  con- 
sulting engineer  of  Allis-Chalmers-Bullock, 
Limited,  of  Montreal. 

As  consulting  engineer  Mr.  Behrend 
has  been  identified  with  many  important 
achievements,  including  much  work  in 
which  he  has  pioneered  the  way  to  ad- 
vanced engineering  practice.  One  of  the 


most  interesting  of  these  electrical  achieve- 
ments was  the  linking  together  at  Mont- 
real in  1901  of  the  power  from  the  La- 
chine  Rapids,  the  Montreal  Light,  Heat 
and  Power  Company,  and  Shawinigan 
Falls,  eighty  miles  from  Montreal.  Mr. 
Ralph  D.  Mershon  designed  the  60,000- 
volt  transmission  line  from  Shawinigan 
Falls  to  Maisonneuve,  Mr.  Behrend  de- 
signing the  frequency-changing  apparatus 
at  Maisonneuve,  linking  successfully  to- 
gether, for  the  first  time,  three  great 
power  stations  operated  by  different  types 
of  prime  movers. 

In  1904,  the  United  States  Steel  Corpo- 
ration reconstructed  all  its  power  houses 
at  Carey  Furnaces,  Homestead,  Pa. ;  the 
American  Steel  and  Wire  Company, 
Cleveland,  Ohio;  the  Illinois  Steel  Com- 
pany, South  Chicago,  and  the  Indiana 
Steel  Company,  Gary,  Indiana,  utilizing 
furnace  gas  for  the  operation  of  giant  gas 
engines.  The  entire  electrical  planning  of 
these  installations,  involving  for  the  first 
time  in  this  country  the  successful  solution 
of  the  problem  of  parallel  operation  of 
gas  engines,  was  in  Mr.  Behrend's  hands, 
and  was  completed  without  the  usual 
method  of  trial  and  error,  all  the  plant 
operating  in  multiple  perfectly. 

The  development  of  the  turbo-genera- 
tor with  cylindrical  cores  and  radial  slots 
was  due  to  Mr.  Behrend,  all  American 
manufacturers  now  using  the  type  which 
he  developed  in  1902.  The  Theory  of  the 
Induction  Motor  as  first  presented  by  him 
in  1895,  and  the  Theory  of  the  Regulation 
of  Alternators  as  presented  by  him  in 
1896-1897,  have  long  been  generally 
adopted,  and  the  Rules  of  the  Standards 
Committee  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  conform  to  his  recom- 
mendations, based  on  his  theoretical  and 
experimental  work. 

At  the  end  of  1908  he  was  called  by  the 
Westinghouse  Reorganization  Committee 
to  Pittsburgh  to  redesign  the  electrical  ma- 
chinery and  types  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company.  He 
has  remained  Consulting  Engineer  for  this 
organization  in  connection  with  similar 
work. 

His  achievements  secured  him  the  Gold 


CHARLES    S.    BRADLEY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


149 


Medal  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposi- 
tion at  St.  Louis  in  1904,  and  the  John 
Scott  Medal  of  the  Franklin  Institute, 
Philadelphia,  1911.  He  is  author  of: 
"The  Induction  Motor — Its  Theory  and 
Design"  (1900,  in  French  1902,  in  Ger- 
man 1903)  ;  "The  Debt  of  Electrical  En- 
gineering to  C.  E.  L.  Brown"  (1901); 
"Engineering  Education"  (1907);  and 
many  monographs  on  the  theory  of  alter- 
nating- '  currents,  motors  and  generators 


in  American  and  European  publications. 
He  is  a  fellow  and  vice-president  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers; fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences,  and  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science; 
member  of  the  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers,  Engineers'  Club  (Bos- 
ton) and  Engineers'  Club,  New  York. 


CHARLES   SCHENCK   BRADLEY 


Holding  a  place  of  recognized  promi- 
nence among  the  engineers  and  inventors 
who  in  recent  years  have  so  successfully 
harnessed  the  resources  of  science  to  the 
motive  forces  of  industry  and  progress  is 
Charles  Schenck  Bradley,  whose  electrical 
and  electrochemical  researches  and  inven- 
tions have  been  made  the  basis  of  several 
thriving  and  important  enterprises. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  born  in  Victor,  On- 
tario County,  New  York,  April  12,  1853, 
the  son  of  Alonzo  and  Sarah  (Schenck) 
Bradley.  On  the  paternal  side  the  original 
surname  of  his  family  was  Foskett,  his 
first  American  ancestor  being  John  Fos- 
kett, who  came  from  Bristol,  England,  to 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  in  1648.  For  some 
undiscovered  reason  Mr.  Bradley's  pa- 
ternal grandfather,  Samuel  Foskett,  se- 
cured a  legal  change  of  name  from 
"Foskett"  to  "Bradley"  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature  in  1820.  Mr. 
Bradley's  earliest  maternal  ancestor  in 
America  was  Roeloff  Schenck,  from  Hol- 
land, who  settled  at  Flatlands,  on  Long 
Island,  in  1650,  and  was  a  son  of  Sir 
Martin  Schenck,  of  Holland.  Thus  in 
both  lines  Mr.  Bradley  belongs  to  racial 
elements  which  enter  into  the  best  Ameri- 
can citizenship. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Rochester,  New  York,  and  took  chemi- 
cal courses  at  the  University  of  Rochester, 
supplemented  by  persistent  study  and  read- 
ing of  books  of  scientific  knowledge,  and 
took  great  interest  in  all  matters  of  ap- 
plied science  and  particularly  in  chemistry 
and  electrical  science.  He  began  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession  with  the  Edison 
Illuminating  Company,  from  July  5,  1881, 
to  1883,  in  which  connection  he  was  in  in- 
timate association  with  Thomas  A.  Edison 


in  the  working  out  of  electrical  problems. 
He  then  organized  his  own  laboratory  in 
New  York  City,  in  which  he  developed  his 
discoveries  and  inventions  in  connection 
with  the  multiphase  transmission  of  power. 
Since  then,  as  a  practicing  electrician,  he 
has  been  retained  on  inventive  work  with 
the  Fort  Wayne  Electric  Company,  Thom- 
son-Houston Electric  Company  and  the 
General  Electric  Company.  His  electrical 
inventions  and  researches  have  been 
largely  connected  with  the  development 
and  application  of  the  alternating  current, 
power  transmission,  motors,  and  many 
new  and  valuable  applications  of  electro- 
chemistry. 

Among  the  scores  of  patents  which  have 
been  issued  to  Mr.  Bradley  are  many 
which  cover  basic  applications  of  electric 
and  chemical  science  to  many  useful  ends 
of  the  highest  economic  and  industrial  im- 
portance. One  sphere  of  usefulness  in 
which  he  has  gained  widespread  promi- 
nence is  that  of  the  fixation  of  nitrogen. 
In  the  wonderful  advance  in  agriculture  it 
has  been  demonstrated  that  many  chemical 
elements  most  necessary  to  the  vitality  of 
important  food  crops  are,  so  far  as  pres- 
ent known  sources  of  supply  can  make 
them  available,  rapidly  approaching  ex- 
haustion. This  is  especially  true  with 
respect  to  the  nitrates  which  are  especially 
necessary  to  the  production  of  wheat  and 
other  grains,  the  approaching  famine  of 
which  chemical  authorities  have  been  ac- 
tively predicting  for  several  years.  These 
predictions  did  not  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  the  air  contained  practically  un- 
limited supplies  of  nitrogen,  but  the  pro- 
cesses known  to  analytical  chemistry  made 
it  impossible  to  separate  and  fix  the  nitrous 
elements  of  the  atmosphere  so  as  to  make 


150 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


them  available  to  the  uses  of  agriculture. 
Mr.  Bradley,  taking  hold  of  this  problem, 
devised  a  method  by  which  by  means  of 
the  generation  of  a  number  of  electric  arcs 
in  a  confined  space,  through  which  atmo- 
spheric air  in  regulated  and  continuous 
flow  is  forced  and  emerges  from  this  super- 
heated vehicle  laden  with  nitrous  oxides 
and  peroxides  resulting  from  the  combus- 
tion and  ready  for  chemical  treatment  and 
collection.  Thus  opening  a  way  for  pro- 
ducing this  most  essential  ingredient  of 
plant  food,  Mr.  Bradley  established  and 
is  president  of  The  Atmospheric  Products 
Company  for  the  Fixation  of  Nitrogen, 
and  is  licensor  of  the  Hope  Company,  Inc., 
engaged  in  the  same  industry.  He  is  also 
president  of  the  Ampere  Electrochemical 
Company,  engaged  in  the  general  practice 
of  electrochemistry.  Mr.  Bradley  is  also 


inventor  of  electrochemical  processes  for 
ore  reduction,  including  a  process  for  re- 
duction of  copper,  operated  by  the  Brad- 
ley Copper  Process  Company,  of  which  he 
is  vice-president;  and  he  is  inventor  and 
licensor  to  the  United  States  Reduction 
Company,  Inc.,  for  the  reduction  of  iron 
by  natural  gas.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Chemists'  Club,  of  New  York;  the  Ameri- 
can Chemical  Society,  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
Franklin  Institute,  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  and  the  Genesee  Val- 
ley Club,  of  Rochester. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  from  1906  to  1907 
acting  professor  of  chemical  practice  in  the 
Carnegie  Technical  Schools  and  is  a  dis- 
tinguished leader  in  practical  applications 
of  electrochemistry. 


HENRY  J.  BLAKESLEE 


The  development  of  the  electrical  indus- 
try has  been  greatly  aided  by  the  invention 
and  use  of  improved  instruments  of  preci- 
sion for  the  measurement  and  testing  of 
the  machines  and  apparatus  used  in  vari- 
ous ways  for  electrical  operation.  By 
means  of  these  improved  devices  electrical 
measurements  and  values  have  been 
brought  to  a  high  degree  of  exactness. 
Their  creation  is  the  work  of  electrical  en- 
gineers of  exceptional  scientific  attain- 
ments. Among  those  who  have  specialized 
along  this  line  with  a  record  of  commend- 
able achievement  is  Henry  J.  Blakeslee, 
M.S.,  now  treasurer  and  electrical  engineer 
of  The  States  Company,  of  Hartford, 
Connecticut. 

Mr.  Blakeslee  was  born  in  Hartford,  a 
descendant  of  colonial  stock  of  early  New 
England,  on  August  15,  1876.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  and  high  schools  of 
Hartford  and  in  Trinity  College,  Hart- 
ford, from  which  he  was  graduated  with 
the  degrees  of  B.S.  in  1898  and  M.S.  in 
1901  after  post-graduate  work  in  physics 
and  electricity.  While  at  Trinity  he  re- 
ceived election  to  the  Alpha  Chi  Rho  fra- 
ternity. 

A  natural  preference  for  science  and  en- 
gineering had  led  him  to  specialize  in 
studies  along  that  line,  and  training  and 


opportunity  furnished  further  incitement, 
leading  him  into  the  electrical  profession, 
in  which  he  has  pursued  a  successful  and 
constructive  career.  He  began  in  1900 
with  the  Hartford  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany, at  Tariffville,  Connecticut,  as  field 
engineer  and  superintendent  in  charge  of 
construction  of  the  hydro-electric  power 
plant.  Upon  the  completion  of  that  work 
he  became  electrical  inspector  for  the  New 
England  Insurance  Exchange,  and  later 
served  the  Underwriters'  Association  of 
the  State  of  New  York  in  a  like  capacity. 
After  that  he  was  in  the  service  of  the  City 
of  Syracuse,  New  York,  continuing  until 
taking  his  present  connection  as  treasurer 
and  electrical  engineer  of  The  States  Com- 
pany, of  Hartford. 

With  that  company  Mr.  Blakeslee  has 
been  actively  engaged  in  the  development 
of  what  is  practically  a  pioneer  line  of 
electrical  apparatus  used  in  testing  by  cen- 
tral stations  not  only  in  all  sections  of  the 
United  States,  but  also  in  many  other  coun- 
tries. The  line  has  been  developed  with 
infinite  carefulness  and  has  attained  a  high 
reputation  with  electrical  people.  It  has 
kept  up  with  the  march  of  events  in 
things  electrical,  and  the  line  is  notable 
for  its  unique  completeness.  Especially 
interesting  from  the  point  of  view  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


151 


HENRY   J.    BLAKESLEE 


electrical  men  connected  with  electric  light 
and  power  companies  and  particularly 
those  engaged  in  electrical  measurements 
are  the  "Phantom  Load"  and  "Phase 
Shifter"  devices,  which  are  now  so  widely 
used  in  meter  testing.  These  devices, 
which  were  practically  unknown  ten  years 
ago,  are  now  used  with  great  satisfaction 
by  thousands  of  electrical  men,  who  are 
making  their  work  more  effectual  by  their 
use. 

In  the  introduction  and  development  of 
this  line  of  useful  devices  Mr.   Blakeslee 


has  done  constructive  and  pioneering  work,, 
and  was  the  first  person  to  standardize  and 
to  develop  to  commercial  practicability  a 
line  of  meter  testing  devices  such  as  is  at 
present  manufactured  by  The  States  Com- 
pany. The  line,  though  somewhat  re- 
stricted in  range,  is  of  much  technical  and 
scientific  importance. 

Mr.  Blakeslee  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation. 


152 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


LE   ROY    CLARK 


Le  Roy  Clark,  president  of  the  Safety 
Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company,  is  a  na- 
tive of  New  York  City,  where  he  was  born 
February  16,  1872.  His  technical  training 
was  at  the  School  of  Mines,  Columbia 
University,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1894.  A  year  previous  to  this  period  he 
had  entered  the  employ  of  the  Safety  In- 
sulated Wire  &  Cable  Company  as  electri- 
cian, devoting  his  time  to  machine  shop 
and  wireless  work.  He  was  soon  made 


Electrical  Engineer  of  the  company  and 
successively  filled  the  offices  of  Assistant 
General  Manager  and  Vice-President 
until  he  was  elevated  to  the  presidency  ten 
years  ago.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Law- 
yers' Club,  Englewood  Country  Club, 
Englewood  Club  and  the  Electrical  Manu- 
facturers' Club.  Mr.  Clark's  business  ad- 
dress is  at  114  Liberty  Street,  and  he  re- 
sides at  Englewood,  N.  J. 


CO1 JOHN   J.  CARTV 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


153 


COL.  JOHN  J.  CARTY 


John  J.  Carty  was  born  in  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  April  14,  1861.  After  completing 
the  course  in  the  Cambridge  Latin  School, 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Telephone 
Dispatch  Company  of  Boston  in  1879, 
where  his  natural  aptitude  for  mechanics 
and  love  of  scientific  investigation  attracted 
him  to  the  technical  side  of  the  telephone 
business,  in  which  he  developed  rapidly, 
contributing  many  important  advances  in 
the  art  of  telephony.  Among  his  most 
notable  achievements  of  this  period  were 
the  invention  of  a  test  system  for  multiple 
switchboards  and  the  installation  of  the 
first  metallic  circuit  multiple  switchboard. 

In  1887  he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
cable  department  of  the  Western  Electric 
Company  in  the  East,  and  later  of  the 
switchboard  department.  While  at  the 
head  of  these  departments  he  made  many 
important  improvements  in  the  design  and 
installation  of  telephone  cables  and  switch- 
boards, including  a  fundamental  invention 
upon  which  is  based  the  common  battery 
switchboard  now  in  almost  universal  use. 

In  1889  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
Metropolitan  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company,  now  the  New  York  Telephone 
Company,  as  Electrician,  and  later  was 
made  Chief  Engineer  of  the  company. 
Under  his  direction  the  technical  founda- 
tion for  the  comprehensive  New  York  tele- 
phone system  was  established. 

In  1907  he  was  appointed  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  American  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company.  With  a  large  staff  of 
technically  trained  assistants  he  directs  the 
engineering  work  of  the  Bell  System.  Many 
important  advances  have  been  made  toward 
the  realization  of  universal  service  in  the 
Bell  System  under  his  leadership.  Among 
these  notable  achievements  are  : 

The  transcontinental  telephone  line, 
3,400  miles  long,  which  was  formally 
opened  for  commercial  use,  Jan.  25,  1915, 
connecting  San  Francisco  and  New  York, 
many  times  longer  than  any  other  telephone 
line  in  the  world. 

The  Washington  to  Boston  underground 
cable  system,  450  miles  long,  by  far  the 
longest  underground  cable  system. 

The  successful  demonstration  of  wireless 
telephony  made  by  the  Bell  System  under 


Col.  Carty's  direction  in  September,  1915, 
when  President  Theodore  N.  Vail  at  his 
office  in  New  York  talked  by  wire  to  the 
Naval  Radio  Station  at  Arlington,  Va.,  and 
thence  by  wireless  across  the  North  Ameri- 
can Continent  to  the  Navy  Yard  at  Mare 
Island,  California,  where  Mr.  Vail's  words 
were  heard  and  understood  by  Col.  Carty 
and  other  engineers  and  naval  officers. 

The  establishment  of  wireless  telephone 
communication  from  the  Naval  Radio  Sta- 
tion at  Arlington,  Va.,  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  to  the  Eiffel  Tower  at  Paris, 
in  France. 

To  Col.  Carty's  original  research  are 
due  the  modern  theories  of  telephone  in- 
duction and  cross-talk  and  the  theory  of  the 
transposition  of  telephone  circuits.  He 
has  also  been  granted  many  patents  for  in- 
ventions and  improvements  in  the  art  of 
telephony. 

The  Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia 
awarded  him  the  Edward  Longstreth 
medal  of  merit  for  his  engineering  work 
and  later  the  Franklin  medal,  the  highest 
honor  bestowed  by  the  institution. 

For  his  work  in  the  science  and  art  of 
telephone  engineering,  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  awarded  him 
the  Edison  medal. 

He  is  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  move- 
ment to  encourage  scientific  research  in  the 
universities  and  among  the  industries,  being 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the 
National  Research  Council,  founded  by 
President  Wilson;  trustee  of  the  Carnegie 
Institution  at  Washington;  director  of  the 
Research  Corporation;  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Academy  of  Sciences;  Fellow  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences; 
Fellow  of  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Sciences;  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers;  Past  President  of 
the  New  York  Electrical  Society;  member 
of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engi- 
neering Education,  the  National  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Education, 
the  American  Physical  Society,  the  Frank- 
lin Institute,  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advanceemnt  of  Science,  the  Society  of 
Arts  and  the  American  Geographical 
Society. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  St.  Botolph  Club, 


154 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Boston,  and  the  Century,  Lotos,  Engineers' 
and  University  clubs,  New  York. 

The  Emperor  of  Japan  decorated  him 
with  the  Imperial  Orders  of  the  Rising  Sun 
and  the  Sacred  Treasure  of  the  Meiji  and 
the  Imperial  Government  of  Japan  has 
twice  tendered  him  its  formal  thanks  for 
his  services  in  connection  with  the  estab- 
lishment and  development  of  the  telephone 
system  in  Japan. 

Mr.  Carty  received  the  honorary  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Engineering  from  the 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology;  the  de-  . 
gree  of  Doctor  of  Science  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  and  from  Bowdoin  College, 
and  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from 
McGill  University.  During  the  period  of 
1915-1916  he  was  President  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Previous  to  the  entrance  of  the  United 
States  into  the  World  War,  and  working  in 
conjunction  with  officials  of  the  United 
States  Navy,  Mr.  Carty  planned  the  mo- 
bilization of  the  communication  forces  of 
the  U.  S.  Navy,  which  was  successfully  car- 
ried out  on  May  6,  7  and  8,  1916,  when 
for  three  days  war  conditions  were  simu- 
lated and  war  plans  perfected  which  were 
put  into  practice  when  the  United  States 


entered  the  war.  During  this  mobilization 
the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Hon.  Josephus 
Daniels,  talked  from  his  desk  in  Washing- 
ton by  radio  telephone  to  the  battleship 
New  Hampshire  at  sea.  Throughout  the 
entire  period  of  the  mobilization  Captain 
Chandler,  in  command  of  the  New  Hamp- 
shire, was  in  constant  touch  with  Admiral 
W.  S.  Benson,  in  charge  of  naval  opera- 
tions at  the  Navy  Department  in  Washing- 
ton. This  is  the  first  time  such  an  achieve- 
ment had  been  accomplished. 

Mr.  Carty  was  offered  a  commission  as 
Major  in  the  Signal  Officers'  Reserve 
Corps,  which  he  accepted  and  was  commis- 
sioned on  January  6,  1917. 

With  the  generous  encouragement  of  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, and  acting  in  conjunction  with  the 
Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  United  States 
Army,  he  organized  among  the  employees 
of  the  Bell  System  twelve  battalions  of 
trained  signal  corps  troops  who  were  ready 
to  be  called  into  service  when  the  war  broke 
out.  On  April  20,  1917,  two  weeks  after 
the  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the 
war,  Mr.  Carty  was  called  to  active  service 
and  on  August  15,  1917,  he  was  promoted 
to  Colonel  in  the  Signal  Corps,  U.  S.  A. 


EDWARD    A.  COLBY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


155 


EDWARD   ALLEN    COLBY. 


Edward  A.  Colby,  of  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  who  has  spent  a  lifetime  in  elec- 
trical research  work  and  who  during  his 
long  activity  has  dene  much  for  the 
advancement  of  that  science,  was  born  in 
St.  Johnsbury,  Vermont,  August  i,  1857. 
He  is  the  son  of  James  Kelsey  Colby,  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College,  class  of 
1838,  who  was  principal  of  the  St.  Johns- 
bury  (Vermont)  Academy  from  the  foun- 
dation in  1842  until  his  death  in  1866,  and 
is  directly  descended  from  Anthony  Colby, 
of  Lincoln,  England,  who  settled  in  Salis- 
bury, Mass.,  in  1660.  Mr.  Colby  at- 
tended the  St.  Johnsbury  Academy,  the 
Hillhouse  High  School,  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  and  Yale  University,  graduating 
from  the  last-named  institution  in  1880 
with  the  Ph.B.  degree.  He  taught  sci- 
ences and  mathematics  at  the  Norwich 
Free  Academy  following  his  graduation 
and  in  August,  1881,  entered  the  employ 
of  the  U.  S.  Electric  Lighting  Company, 
in  their  New  York  factory  at  Avenue  B 
and  Seventeenth  Street,  beginning  his 
electrical  work  as  an  armature  winder, 
rising  to  the  position  of  assistant  engineer 
and  specializing  in  incandescent  lamp 
design.  During  his  connection  with  this 
company  he  was  engaged  in  assembling 
generators  and  arc  lamps  and  the  installa- 
tion of  outside  lighting  plants,  both  arc 
and  incandescent.  While  at  college  Mr. 
Colby  had  taken  special  courses  in  chemis- 
try and  physics.  There  was  no  course  in 
electrical  engineering  existing  prior  to  this 
time,  but  as  lecture  assistant  to  his  profes- 
sor in  physics  he  had  acquired  interest  in 
the  problems  awaiting  solution  in  the  then 
new  field  of  work — electrical  engineering 
— and  this  interest  was  intensified  by  the 
advice  of  his  professor  in  mathematics 
who  had  resigned  and  entered  the  employ 
of  the  Thomson-Houston  Co.  at  New 
Britain,  Conn.  From  1882  until  July, 
1886,  Mr.  Colby  was  engaged  in  experi- 
mental work  leading  to  the  perfection  of 
design  and  construction  of  incandescent 
lamps,  culminating  in  the  Weston-Nitro- 
cellulose  base  for  the  carbon  filament, 
which  until  the  recent  substitution  of  me- 
tallic filaments  was  universally  used  by 


lamp  manufacturers.  Innumerable  experi- 
ments were  conducted  and  processes  per- 
fected, but  not  published,  many  of  which, 
such  as  gas-filled  lamps,  have  been  rein- 
vented, all  pioneer  work  essential  to  the 
development  of  a  new  art,  but  not  easily 
decipherable  as  notable  achievements  at 
this  late  date. 

An  interesting  incident,  showing  the 
then  existing  conditions  in  the  electrical 
field  and  illustrating  by  comparison  with 
present  conditions  how  the  science  has 
progressed  through  the  efforts  of  its  pio- 
neers, occurred  in  July,  1881,  when  Mr. 
Colby  applied  for  a  position  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Co.,  then  located  at 
New  Britain,  Conn.  Prof.  Thomson,  E. 
W.  Rice  and  one  other  assistant  then  con- 
stituted the  laboratory  force,  and  Prof. 
Thomson  was  so  doubtful  of  their  finan- 
cial success  that  he  considerately  advised 
Mr.  Colby  to  form  a  connection  with  a 
company  of  undoubted  financial  backing. 
The  U.  S.  Electric  Lighting  Co.  operated 
two  plants  in  New  York  City  and  in  1881 
acquired  the  Weston  System,  in  Newark, 
N.  J.  Pending  the  completion  of  a 
research  laboratory  in  charge  of  Dr. 
Edward  Weston  in  Newark,  Mr.  Colby 
entered  the  New  York  factory  under  the 
supervision  of  the  late  Sir  Hiram  Maxim, 
who  was  chief  electrician.  Here  he  did  a 
great  variety  of  electrical  work,  much  of 
which  could  be  classed  as  pioneering, 
including  the  first  installation  of  incandes- 
cent lighting  on  the  North  River  ferry- 
boats, among  which  was  the  old  "Jersey 
City"  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  serv- 
ice, plying  between  Desbrosses  Street, 
New  York,  and  Jersey  City.  Moving  to 
Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1882,  Mr.  Colby  joined 
Dr.  Weston's  laboratory  staff  and  devoted 
the  following  four  years  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nitro-cellulose  filament  for 
incandescent  lamps.  Incidentally  in  these 
early  days  much  work  was  done  in  allied 
lines,  generator  and  motor  designs,  test- 
ing and  the  design  and  construction  of 
electrical  measuring  instruments.  In 
1889,  after  the  Weston  Electrical  Instru- 
ment Company  was  organized,  Mr. 
Colby  was  engaged  as  electrician  and  gave 


156 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


the  first  public  demonstration  of  the  now 
universally  recognized  merits  of  the 
Weston  electrical  measuring  instruments 
by  using  the  first  completed  volt  meter  as 
a  standard  in  comparing  the  unit  of  volt- 
age used  in  the  various  incandescent  lamp 
factories.  In  1891-2  Mr.  Colby  widened 
his  experience  by  serving  as  resident  engi- 
neer in  building  trolley  roads  and  power 
plants  in  San  Antonio,  Texas,  and  in 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  In  1887  he 
applied  for  patents  on  an  induction  elec- 
tric furnace  for  the  melting  and  casting  of 
metals,  the  distinguishing  feature  being 
the  absence  of  electrodes  and  incident  con- 
tamination of  the  molten  charge  there- 
from. The  design  also  included  the  melt- 
ing and  casting  of  rnetals  either  in  a 
vacuum  or  any  desired  atmosphere. 
Basic  patents  were  granted  before  it  was 
possible  to  obtain  alternating  current  gen- 
erators suitable  for  its  operation,  and  the 
original  patents  expired  before  steel 
makers  in  this  country  recognized  their 
value;  nevertheless  Mr.  Colby  was  the 
first  to  make  what  is  known  as  electric 
steel  in  this  country.  Modified  forms  of 
his  original  design  in  sizes  from  labora- 
tory models  up  to  15  tons  capacity  of  mol- 
ten steel  are  now  in  daily  use  in  this  coun- 
try and  abroad.  As  a  pioneer  in  this  field, 
Mr.  Colby  has  been  awarded  the  John 
Scott  Medal  and  Diploma  of  the  Franklin 
Institute  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Colby's 
original  furnace  patents  anticipated  the 
better  advertised  Kjellin's  by  some  twelve 
years.  Their  separate  interests,  together 
with  those  of  several  other  inventors,  were 
brought  together  in  1907  under  the  control 
of  the  American  Electric  Furnace  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Colby's  induction  furnace  was 
originally  designed  for  melting  refined 
metals  and  casting  them,  freed  from  gases. 
Working  at  ordinary  frequencies  and  volt- 
ages the  sectional  area  of  iron  required 
in  the  core  necessitated  a  secondary  charge 
of  metal  to  be  melted,  in  excess  of  that 


available  for  ordinary  billets  of  a  precious 
metal — such  as  platinum.  Working  with 
high  frequency  currents,  using  spark  gap, 
air  blast  and  condensers,  Mr.  Colby  was 
able  in  1893  to  m^  platinum  as  the  secon- 
dary conductor  of  a  coreless  transformer 
and  so  reduce  the  metal  charge  to  a  mini- 
mum. Recent  work  by  others  along  this  line 
gives  great  promise  that  a  coreless  induc- 
tion furnace  of  commercial  efficiency  may 
shortly  be  available  for  melting  metals  of 
high  intrinsic  value,  such  as  gold  and  plati- 
num. Since  1893  Mr.  Colby  has  given  his 
attention  chiefly  to  electrochemical  and 
electro-metallurgical  problems  in  connec- 
tion with  the  commercial  application  of  his 
electric  induction  furnace  and  to  the  vari- 
ous chemical  and  mechanical  problems  inci- 
dent to  the  refining  and  working  of  the 
platinum  group  of  metals,  in  which  latter 
work  for  the  past  twenty-five  years  he  has 
been  the  chief  engineer  and  superintendent 
of  the  Baker  Platinum  Works,  whose 
large  plant  is  located  at  54  Austin  Street, 
Newark,  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Colby  became 
a  member  of  the  Electric  Club  in  1887, 
and  also  holds  membership  in  the  Olympic 
and  Yale  Clubs  of  New  York  City,  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, the  American  Electrochemical  Soci- 
ety, the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  Am- 
erican Chemical  Society  and  the  National 
Geographic  Society.  In  addition  to  his 
connection  with  the  Baker  Platinum 
Works,  Mr.  Colby  was  president  of  the 
Induction  Furnace  Co.  until  its  absorp- 
tion by  the  American  Electric  Furnace 
Co.,  of  which  he  became  vice-presi- 
dent and  consulting  engineer.  He  has 
also  acted  as  consulting  electrical  engi- 
neer for  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Co., 
the  Consolidated  and  Sawyer-Mann  Elec- 
tric Companies  and  for  Charles  H.  Davis 
in  his  Texas,  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland 
work.  Mr.  Colby  is  married  and  resides 
at  74  Hedden  Terrace,  Newark. 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


157 


WALTER  GORDON  CLARK 


Walter  Gordon  Clark,  born  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  Utah,  Oct.  23d,  1876,  is  the  son  of 
Thomas  A.  and  Eunice  M.  (Wright) 
Clark.  He  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools,  Salt  Lake  City  Academy,  and  tech- 
nical schools  in  San  Francisco,  California. 
He  began  his  electrical  work  with  the 
Rocky  Mountain  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany while  attending  school  in  1889,  and 
continued  with  the  Salt  Lake  Street  Rail- 


way Company  and  with  the  R.  M.  Jones 
Electrical  Company,  of  Salt  Lake  City, 
while  in  school. 

Upon  completing  his  school  work  in 
San  Francisco  he  became  Superintendent 
of  the  Western  Light  &  Power  Company 
at  San  Francisco.  Following  this,  he  became 
General  Manager  of  the  Peninsula  Light 
&  Power  Company,  Redwood  City,  Cali- 
fornia. While  filling  this  position,  he 


158 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


opened  engineering  offices  at  San  Francisco 
and  began  operating  as  consulting  and 
supervising  engineer,  supervising  the  con- 
struction of  steam  and  hydro-electric 
plants  along  the  Pacific  Coast,  Central 
America,  Hawaiian  Islands  and  Japan. 

In  1899  he  organized  and  became  Vice- 
President,  Engineer  and  Managing  Direc- 
tor of  the  Kilbourne  &  Clark  Manufactur- 
ing Company  of  Seattle,  Wash.,  engineer- 
ing and  construction  contractors,  conduct- 
ing a  commercial  electrical  business. 
During  the  previous  years,  he  had  devoted 
much  time  to  the  development  of  high  ten- 
sile strength  electrical  conductors,  and  in 
1904  he  was  made  electrical  engineer  and 
manager  of  the  Ansonia  Brass  &  Copper 
Company,  of  New  York,  where  he  com- 
pleted the  development  of  high  tensile 
strength,  high  conductivity  cable  for  use 
in  long  distance  transmission,  the  first  of 
these  cables  being  installed  at  Guanajuato, 
Mexico,  in  1905,  on  spans  averaging  500 
feet  in  length.  This  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  other  long  span  transmission 
lines,  with  spans  from  600  to  1,700  feet, 
made  possible  by  the  development  of  this 
cable. 

From  1907  to  1909  Mr.  Clark  was  en- 
gaged in  research  work  at  Columbia  Uni- 
versity, where,  in  cooperation  with  Pro- 
fessor Herschel  C.  Parker,  he  developed 
a  new  incandescent  electric  lamp,  using  a 
combination  of  silicon  and  carbon  as  the 
conducting  filament.  This  lamp  operated 
successfully  at  2  i/io  watts  per  candle 


power,  which  was  then  i  watt  less  per 
candle  power  than  the  best  carbon  filament 
lamps  available;  but  before  the  silicon 
carbon  lamp  was  ready  for  the  market  the 
development  of  the  tungsten  lamp,  which 
was  capable  of  operating  at  a  much  higher 
efficiency,  stopped  the  further  development 
of  this  conductor  for  use  in  an  incandes- 
cent lamp,  but  the  material  was  further  de- 
veloped and  used  as  a  resistor  for  electrical 
heating  and  in  electrical  instruments  under 
the  name  of  "Helion." 

In  1908  he  opened  engineering  offices  in 
New  York  City,  in  the  Singer  Building, 
149  Broadway,  where  he  has  acted  in  the 
capacity  of  consulting  electrical  engineer. 
In  1910  he  was  made  consulting  engineer 
and  American  representative  of  the  Vic- 
toria Falls  and  Transvaal  Power  Com- 
pany, of  London  and  South  Africa.  He  is 
President  of  the  Clark  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  New  York;  Vice- 
President  of  the  Kilbourne  &  Clark  Manu- 
facturing Company,  of  Seattle,  Wash. ; 
member  of  the  American  Electrochemical 
Society,  Pacific  Northwest  Society  of  Engi- 
neers, American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, American  Institute  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science  and  32nd  degree 
Mason.  His  New  York  clubs  are:  The 
Union  League,  the  Engineers'  Club,  the 
Faculty  Club  of  Columbia  University,  the 
Railroad  Club,  the  Greenwich  Country 
Club,  of  Greenwich,  Conn.  Mr.  Clark  is 
unmarried  and  resides  at  the  Engineers' 
Club,  of  New  York  City. 


JAMES     FULTON     CUMMINGS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


159 


JAMES  FULTON  CUMMINGS 


James  F.  Cummings,  consulting  engi- 
neer, had  become  noted,  previous  to  his 
untimely  death  July  26,  1917,  as  one  of 
the  most  able  electrical  and  conduit  ex- 
perts, both  in  the  United  States  and  many 
of  the  countries  of  Europe.  He  was  a 
hard,  consistent  worker  and  at  all  times 
a  student,  and  this  application  to  his  pro- 
fession soon  made  him  a  dominating  figure 
in  all  things  electrical.  Mr.  Cummings 
was  born  in  London,  Canada,  in  1867  and 
was  educated  at  Tammarack  College.  He 
came  to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  and  secured  a  position  as  night 
operator  with  the  Bell  Telephone  Com- 
pany at  Detroit.  After  a  short  time  in 
this  capacity  he  was  made  night  clerk  and 
then  manager  of  the  office,  a  position  he 
retained  for  nearly  three  years.  During 
his  term  of  employment  with  the  Bell 
Telephone  Company  he  exerted  that  power 
of  perception  and  analysis  which  after- 
wards brought  him  success,  with  the  re- 
sult that  he  mastered  every  detail  of  the 
business.  After  becoming  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  the  instruments  and  their 
operation,  he  began  to  perceive  points 
where  the  service  was  weak  and  to  offset 
this  he  designed  several  improvements  on 
the  telephone  switchboard.  His  success 
led  to  a  determination  to  get  into  the  con- 
struction end  of  the  business,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  this  determination  he  went  to 
the  Edison  Machine  Works  as  an  under- 
ground man  during  the  installation  of  the 
Detroit  plant.  From  this  period  he  was 
recognized  as  one  of  Mr.  Edison's  "young 
men"  and  was  intrusted  with  most  in- 
tricate work  by  that  inventor.  Upon  the 
completion  of  the  Detroit  plant,  he  was 
transferred  to  Columbus,  Ohio,  as  assist- 
ant foreman  on  the  Edison  underground 
work.  From  there  he  went  to  Chicago, 
where  he  was  made  assistant  superintend- 
ent of  all  underground  work  then  being 
installed  for  the  Chicago  Edison  Com- 
pany. The  Marr  Construction  Company 
had  the  contracts  for  installing  the  elec- 
tric machinery  and  fittings  for  the  Edison 
station,  and  Mr.  Cummings  was  trans- 
ferred to  that  company  and  given  charge 
jf  the  station  work,  including  the  putting 
in  of  all  the  cables.  This  was  the  first 


thorough  experience  Mr.  Cummings  had  in 
central  station  work  and  he  remained  in 
charge  until  the  plant  was  running  and 
turned  over  to  the  Chicago  Edison  Com- 
pany. His  next  work  was  in  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  superintended  the  exten- 
sion of  a  feeder  line  for  the  Rochester 
Edison  Company,  and  from  there  he  was 
transferred  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  construction  work  for  the 
Philadelphia  Edison  Company.  He  was 
finally  made  assistant  superintendent  of  all 
the  electrical  work  in  Philadelphia,  both 
interior  and  underground,  and  for  the  sta- 
tion, and  after  its  completion  was  superin- 
tendent and  electrical  engineer  until  the 
plant  was  turned  over  to  the  Philadelphia 
Edison  Company.  Mr.  Cummings  then 
went  to  Toronto,  Canada,  as  engineer  and 
superintendent  of  construction  of  the  Tor- 
onto Edison  system,  which  was  the  first 
Edison  underground  plant  in  Canada. 
After  this  work  was  finished  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Engineering  Department  of 
the  Edison  General  Electric  Company, 
New  York  City.  He  laid  the  first  Edison 
tubes  in  Milwaukee  and  all  the  feeders  for 
the  Milwaukee  Street  Railway.  He  was 
altogether  nearly  six  years  with  the  Edi- 
son Company  and  spent  two  winters  in  the 
testing  room  of  the  Edison  Machine 
Works  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  devoting 
special  attention  to  underground  problems. 
His  wide  experience  in  construction  and 
his  research  work  while  in  the  testing  room 
of  the  Edison  Machine  Works  awakened 
his  thoughts  to  the  possibilities  of  the  un- 
derground branch  of  electric  work,  both 
for  railways  and  the  general  transmission 
of  electrical  energy,  especially  in  the  line 
of  high  tension  currents,  and  he  began  to 
devote  particular  attention  to  this  branch 
of  the  service.  He  designed  a  complete 
electric  railway  conduit  system,  including 
a  system  of  distribution  that  is  now  em- 
braced in  some  of  the  present  systems  of 
underground  construction.  He  also  de- 
vised a  complete  underground  system  for 
the  transmission  of  current  with  bare 
copper  conductors  and  he  was  the  first  in 
this  country  to  demonstrate  that  high  po- 
tential currents  could  be  taken  care  of  un- 
derground in  bare  conductors.  Mr.  Cum- 


160 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


mings  spent  considerable  time  in  designing 
an  interior  conduit  system.  The  result  of 
this  was  "amorite,"  an  iron  tube  with  a 
lining  of  wood  for  electrical  purposes, 
which  took  the  place  of  the  old  style  heavy 
tubing.  This  tubing  could  be  bent  to  any 
position  without  splitting  the  interior  lin- 
ing and  could  be  cut  so  that  the  interior 
could  be  viewed  at  a  point  in  the  curve. 
Mr.  Cummings  organized  the  Cummings 
&  Engleman  Company,  of  Detroit,  for  the 
development  of  these  systems,  and  this 
firm  was  later  succeeded  by  the  Cummings 
Conduit  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Cum- 
mings became  president.  A  factory  was 
located  in  Detroit  and  a  large  amount  of 
the  Cummings  tube  was  installed  in  many 
of  the  largest  office  buildings  throughout 
the  country.  The  Niagara  Falls  Hy- 
draulic Power  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany found  the  Cummings  system  of  carry- 
ing bare  wires  underground  very  service- 
able and  installed  it.  The  service  has  been 
continuous  night  and  day  for  years  and  is 
still  satisfactory.  The  factory  of  the  Cum- 
mings Conduit  Company  was  eventually 
removed  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  where  Mr. 
Cummings  sold  his  interest  in  the  business 
and  devoted  his  time  to  other  branches  of 
the  industry.  He  installed  the  first  storage 
battery  on  the  28th  and  2Qth  street  line, 
New  York  City,  and,  acting  as  motorman, 
piloted  the  first  car  over  the  road.  After 
Mr.  Cummings  had  sold  his  American 
interests  he  removed  to  London,  where 
he  opened  a  large  contracting  office  as 
a  partner  of  the  firm  of  Maguire  & 
Baucus,  5  Warwick  Court.  While  abroad, 
Mr.  Cummings  was  connected  with  many 
important  underground  installations  in  the 
United  Kingdom  and  Italy,  the  most  nota- 
able  of  the  latter  being  in  Milan  and  Turin. 
His  greatest  achievement  along  this  line, 
however,  was  in  Russia,  where  he  installed 
a  system  in  Petrograd,  covering  the  entire 


city,  which  attracted  wide  attention  in  the 
technical  press  and  electrical  circles  of  both 
Europe  and  America.  While  a  resident 
of  London  he  was  one  of  the  most  popular 
members  of  the  American  colony  and  was 
noted  for  his  friendliness  to,  and  interest 
In,  all  Americans  who  were  temporary  resi- 
dents of  the  city.  In  all,  Mr.  Cummings 
spent  fifteen  years  in  Europe,  and  upon 
his  return  to  this  country  in  19 1 1  he  retired 
from  active  business.  Mr.  Cummings'  in- 
terest in  all  things  electrical  and  the  com- 
mercial and  scientific  development  of  the 
industry,  is  shown  by  his  efforts  to  make 
an  unqualified  success  of  the  electrical 
show  in  this  country,  held  at  Madison 
Square  Garden  in  the  '903.  Mr.  Cummings' 
father,  Alfred  A.  Cummings,  was  one  of 
the  best  known  and  most  highly  respected 
men  in  Canada.  He  was  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  and,  removing  to  Canada 
when  a  young  man,  soon  attracted  atten- 
tion by  his  poetic  contributions.  The  one 
by  which  he  is  best  known  and  which  en- 
deared him  to  the  hearts  of  all  Cana- 
dians is,  "The  Maple  Leaf  Forever," 
a  national  hymn  that  will  stand  as  a 
monument  to  the  author  as  long  as 
the  nation  lasts.  Mr.  Cummings'  mother 
was  a  direct  descendant  of  Robert  Fulton, 
and  it  is  doubtlessly  due  to  the  sturdiness 
of  the  one  ancestor  and  the  inventive  genius 
of  the  other  that  Mr.  Cummings  became 
possessed  of  his  tenacity  and  power  of  dis- 
covery. Mr.  Cummings  was  a  member 
of  the  National  Sporting  Club  of  London, 
the  St.  Stephens  Club  of  the  same  city  and 
the  New  York  Athletic  Club.  His  death 
was  from  apoplexy  while  a  guest  at  the 
Hotel  Nassau,  Long  Beach,  and  interment 
was  at  Battleboro,  Vermont,  after  services 
at  his  home,  "The  Langham,"  135  Central 
Park  West.  He  left  a  widow,  but  no 
children. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


161 


WILLIAM    J.    CLARK 


William  J.  Clark,  a  pioneer  in  the  com- 
mercial development  of  electric  railways 
throughout  the  United  States,  and  who  ob- 
tained the  legislative  charter  authorizing 
the  construction  of  the  first  electric  railway 
in  the  world  intended  for  freight  traffic, 
was  born  July  29,  1854,  in  Derby,  Con- 
necticut, where  he  acquired  his  education 
at  the  public  schools  and  in  private  study, 
which  he  still  continues.  He  began  his 
business  career  in  1868  as  a  post-office 
clerk  at  Birmingham,  now  Derby.  In  1872 
he  entered  the  employ  of  his  father  and 
brother,  who  were  in  the  coal  business,  be- 
coming a  partner  three  years  later  and 
continuing  the  connection  until  1888.  He 


was  postmaster  of  his  native  city  from 
1879  until  1888,  during  which  period  he 
was  frequently  called  upon  by  the  Post 
Office  Department  to  perform  important 
special  duties  elsewhere.  As  postmaster 
he  secured  for  the  city  the  finest  equipped, 
second-class  post  offices  in  the  United 
States  and  succeeded  in  having  a  free 
delivery  service  established.  He  also 
investigated  important  criminal  matters, 
convicting  over  one  hundred  violators  of 
Federal  laws.  During  his  tenure  of  office 
he  shot  post-office  burglars  and  was  shot 
at  by  them.  In  1882,  at  Ansonia,  Con- 
necticut, he  held  up  a  large  mob  single 
handed  to  rescue  a  negro  who  was  threat- 


162 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ened  with  lynching  by  the  excited  crowd. 
Acting  upon  the  advice  of  the  late  William 
Wallace,  the  pioneer  of  arc  lighting  and 
motor  production,  and  attracted  by  the 
possibilities  presented  by  electric  traction 
for  the  betterment  and  expansion  of  local 
transportation  facilities,  Mr.  Clark  en- 
tered the  electric  field  and  participated  in 
the  commercial  expansion  of  almost  every 
phase  of  the  Thomson-Houston  and  Gen- 
eral Electric  Companies'  business  through- 
out the  world.  In  the  spring  of  1888 
he  induced  the  Thomson-Houston  Elec- 
tric Company  to  purchase  the  Vande- 
poele  Electric  Railway  patents,  which 
from  the  patent  standpoint  were  essential 
to  the  fullest  possible  development  of  that 
character,  and  shortly  thereafter  making 
the  practical  accomplishment  of  this  pos- 
sible, as  well  as  great  expansion  by  the 
Thomson-Houston  Company,  in  other  di- 
rections through  securing  from  the  Con- 
necticut Legislature  amendments  to  the 
special  charter  under  which  that  company 
was  organized  and  which  had  previously 
restricted  its  expansion.  An  immediate 
result  from  this  feat  was  a  sensational  rise 
in  the  price  of  the  company's  stock  from 
about  $150  to  over  $350  per  share. 

The  pioneering  and  commercial  devel- 
opment of  the  electric  railways  throughout 
the  United  States  necessitated  Mr.  Clark 
having  the  mastery  of  everything  contribu- 
tory to  that  great  objective,  from  publicity, 
organization  and  finance  to  legal  proced- 
ure and  practical  politics.  Early  recogni- 
tion of  the  great  practical  value  of  certain 
fundamental  patented  electric  inventions, 
with  active  work  in  bringing  these  under 
the  control  of  corporate  interests  repre- 
sented by  Mr.  Clark,  who  subsequently 
played  an  important  part  in  their  commer- 
cial exploitation,  were :  Sprague's  Electric 
Railway  Motor  Suspension;  Vandepoele's 
Carbon  Commutator  Brush;  The  Pivoted 
Under-Running  Trolley;  Potter's  Series 
Parallel  Control;  Sprague's  Multiple  Unit 
Train  Control;  Curtis'  Steam  Turbine; 
various  inventions  incident  to  the  construc- 
tion of  underground  conduit  systems  for 
electric  railway  operation  and  important 
pioneering  and  similar  work  on  the  electri- 
fication of  steam  railways,  both  in  this 
country  and  abroad.  In  1896,  at  Milwau- 
kee, Mr.  Clark  made  the  first  in  this  coun- 


try of  what  is  now  termed  "Physical  Valu- 
ation" of  a  large  electric  public  utility. 
This  work  was  highly  complimented  by  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court,  to  which  it 
was  presented,  and  the  general  plan  then 
inaugurated  has  since  been  frequently  fol- 
lowed by  others. 

At  various  periods  Mr.  Clark  has  made 
exhaustive  investigations  of  public  utility, 
manufacturing  and  commercial  situations 
in  this  country,  Europe  and  South  Amer- 
ica, and  important  negotiations  incident 
thereto,  both  for  the  General  Electric 
Company  and  for  prominent  banking  inter- 
ests of  this  country  and  Europe,  as  well  as 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. 

A  trip  for  the  purpose  last  indicated 
through  Cuba,  in  1895,  resulted  in  impor- 
tant work  for  the  War  Department  in 
1898,  incident  to  which  was  the  nursing  of 
the  late  Colonel  Waring  during  his  last  ill- 
ness with  yellow  fever  and  the  elaboration 
of  his  notes  on  the  "Sanitation  of  Ha- 
vana," which  permitted  their  subsequent 
utilization,  also  the  writing  of  Mr.  Clark's 
book,  "Commercial  Cuba,"  in  1898.  Mr. 
Clark  was  in  charge  of  the  bureau  which 
secured  the  reopening  of  the  Knicker- 
bocker Trust  Company  in  the  latter  part  of 
1907  and  the  first  part  of  1908. 

The  feature  in  his  whole  career  which 
has  been  most  satisfactory  to  him  has  been 
the  selection  and  training  of  many  prom- 
ising young  men,  some  of  whom  today  oc- 
cupy most  important  positions  both  with 
the  General  Electric  Company  and  else- 
where in  the  electrical  industry,  or  who 
have  become  wealthy  and  retired. 

Mr.  Clark  has  been  continuously  con- 
nected with  the  same  corporate  interests 
since  March  28,  1888,  during  which  time 
he  filled  the  following  positions,  on  occa- 
sions holding  two  or  more  at  the  same 
time :  General  Agent,  Railway  Depart- 
ment, Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany; Managing  Director,  British  Thom- 
son-Houston Company,  Ltd. ;  General 
Agent  Railway  Department,  Manager 
Cincinnati  Office,  Manager  Railway  De- 
partment, Manager  Foreign  Department, 
Manager  of  the  London  Office,  and  for  the 
General  Electric  Company,  of  which  he  is 
at  present  manager  of  the  Traction  De- 
partment, with  offices  at  120  Broadway. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


163 


In  1898  Mr.  Clark  was  Expert  on  Cuban 
Affairs  for  War  Department,  which  posi- 
tion brought  him  in  close  touch  with  the 
Secretary  of  War  during  the  period  of  the 
Spanish-American  War.  In  1906  and 
1907  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee  of  the  National  Civic 
Federation,  in  which  connection  he 
financed  the  extensive  investigations  of 
municipal  ownership  conducted  by  the 
Federation  in  this  country  and  in  Europe, 
and  was  also  a  member  of  the  Commission 
which  made  the  investigation.  He  was 
also  connected  with  the  Republican  Na- 
tional Committee  in  the  campaigns  of 
1880,  1884,  1896  and  1904. 


Mr.  Clark  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Ameri- 
can Electro-Chemical  Society,  American 
Economic  Association,  American  Academy 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  American  Electric  Rail- 
way Association,  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  British  Light,  Railway  & 
Tramway  Association;  Bankers'  Club, 
Railroad  Club,  New  York  Railroad  Club, 
Engineers'  Club,  Mohawk  Golf  Club  and 
Mohawk  Club,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  Ma- 
sonic Fraternity,  Scottish  Rite,  Mystic 
Shrine,  Elks,  and  Jovians.  He  resides  at 
255  West  9Oth  Street,  New  York  City. 


ROBERT  B.  COREY* 


After  a  preparatory  education  at  the  El- 
mira  Free  Academy,  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  Rob- 
ert Corey  entered  Yale  University,  class  of 
'82,  but  left  before  graduating  to  join  his 
father,  who  was  in  the  banking  business  in 
Bradford,  Pa.  He  was  born  in  Elmira, 
July  2,  1 86 1,  and  after  being  engaged  for 
some  years  in  financial  pursuits,  he  became, 
in  1889,  general  manager  of  the  Electric 
Construction  Supply  Company.  He  re- 
mained in  this  capacity  until  1896,  when 
he  organized  the  R.  B.  Corey  Co.,  dealers 
in  electric  appliances  and  supplies.  While 
general  manager  of  the  Electric  Construc- 
tion &  Supply  Co.,  Mr.  Corey  was  instru- 
mental in  developing  the  arc  lamp  for  con- 
stant potential  circuit,  two  in  series  on  no 
volt.  The  electrician  of  the  company  at 
that  time  was  B.  B.  Ward,  and  the  Ward 


Arc  Lamp  was  developed,  many  thousands 
of  which  were  sold  to  the  Edison  lighting 
companies  throughout  the  United  States. 
About  4,000  were  in  use  on  the  circuits  of 
the  New  York  Edison  Company,  and  a 
similar  number  on  the  circuits  of  the  Brook- 
lyn Edison  Company.  The  Ward  arc 
lamp  was  the  first  of  its  character,  and 
afforded  the  Edison  lighting  companies  a 
chance  to  strengthen  themselves  as  against 
the  high-tension  lighting  companies.  Mr. 
Corey  is  a  member  of  the  Engineers'  and 
Machinery  Clubs.  In  addition  to  his  in- 
terest in  the  R.  B.  Corey  Company,  he  is 
president  of  the  American  Kron  Scale 
Company.  His  business  address  is  39 
Cortland  street. 


*Mr.   Corey  died   October  7th,  1918,  at  his  home  in  Plain- 
field,  N.  J. 


164 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ROBERT    B.    COREY 
(deceased) 


JOHN    B.  GROUSE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


165 


JOHN  B.   GROUSE 


In  John  B.  Grouse  Cleveland  has  a  citi- 
zen who  has  achieved  an  enviable  prom- 
inence in  the  industrial  world.  Following 
a  course  unique  in  its  far-sighted  purpose 
and  results,  he  has  been  active  in  the  move- 
ment to  annihilate  competition  through  co- 
operation, and  to  put  into  the  business 
world  ,  as  a  practical  asset  that  energy 
which  was  previously  dissipated  in  efforts 
to  build  up  one  business  at  the  sacrifice 
of  another. 

Mr.  Crouse  was  born  November  29, 
1842,  in  Hartland,  Michigan,  and  after 
attending  the  common  schools  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  High  School  of  Ann  Arbor, 
Michigan.  He  then  turned  his  attention 
to  general  merchandizing  and  also  became 
connected  with  the  milling  business  in 
Highland.  Gradually  he  extended  the 
scope  of  his  activities,  recognizing  and 
utilizing  every  legitimate  opportunity  to 
further  his  interests.  He  early  asociated 
with  H.  A.  Tremaine  in  the  establishment 
and  conduct  of  a  pickle  and  vinegar  fac- 
tory an  association  which  has  been  main- 
tained ever  since  in  other  and  more  ex- 
tensive enterprises.  They  went  to  Cleve- 
land in  the  '8os  and  there  established 
business  under  the  name  of  the  Cleveland 
Carbon  Company,  later  merging  with  the 
Bolton  &  Crystal  Carbon  Company,  form- 
ing the  Standard  Carbon  Company,  Mr. 
Crouse  being  at  the  head  of  the  sales  de- 
partment. Later  controlling  interest  in 
the  latter  company  was  sold  to  the  Nation- 
al Carbon  Company.  Mr.  Crouse  con- 
tinued in  active  business  with  H.  A.  Tre- 
maine, going  to  Fostoria,  Ohio,  where  they 
conducted  business  under  the  style  of  the 
Crouse  &  Tremaine  Carbon  Company. 
Later  they  sold  a  half  interest  in  this  com- 
pany also  to  the  National  Carbon  Com- 
pany and  continued  to  operate  the  plant. 
Mr.  Crouse  in  company  with  H.  A.  Tre- 
maine, B.  G.  Tremaine,  R.  Crocker  and 
Ira  Cadwalder,  organized  the  Seneca 
Banking  Company  at  Fostoria,  Ohio,  also 
the  Fostoria  Incandescent  Lamp  Company, 
Mr.  Crouse  becoming  president  of  the 
latter.  The  partners  in  those  enterprises 
soon  afterward  purchased  the  Fostoria 
Bulb  &  Bottle  Company,  changing  the 
name  of  the  plant  to  the  Fostoria  Glass 
Specialty  Company.  The  output  of  this 


factory  was  largely  used  by  them  in  the 
incandescent  lamp  business. 

Continually  studying  for  new  methods 
to  improve  their  business,  to  extend  trade 
and  to  meet  competition,  J.  B.  Crouse, 
H.  A.  Tremaine,  J.  R.  Crouse,  F.  S.  Terry 
and  B.  G.  Tremaine,  after  many  discus- 
sions of  the  problems  and  questions  that 
confronted  them  in  manufacturing  lines, 
conceived  the  idea  of  concentrating  the 
lamp  business  of  the  country,  with  the  re- 
sult that  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
Association  was  formed,  which  is  today 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  business  or- 
ganizations in  the  country.  America  is 
fast  coming  to  realize  that  the  great- 
est success  and  prosperity  are  to  be 
found  in  cooperation;  which  cooperation 
must  exist  not  only  among  manufacturing 
interests,  but  must  extend  from  the  manu- 
facturer to  his  distributor  and  thence  to 
the  ultimate  consumer.  Interest  has  been 
keenly  directed  to  the  broad-gauge  policy 
of  cooperation  instituted  and  maintained 
by  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Associa- 
tion. For  years  before  its  organization 
there  had  been  bitter  warfare  between 
lamp  manufacturers,  and  competition  was 
so  pronounced  that  in  order  to  make  sales, 
various  companies  were  sacrificing  quality, 
a  fact  the  public  came  to  realize,  and  it  de- 
manded a  return  to  the  former  and  higher 
standard.  Understanding  the  conditions, 
several  of  the  prominent  lamp  manufac- 
turers decided  to  unite  upon  a  standard  of 
quality  and,  as  stated,  Mr.  Crouse,  H.  A. 
Tremaine,  J.  R.  Crouse,  F.  S.  Terry  and 
B.  G.  Tremaine  organized  the  National 
Electric  Lamp  Association.  The  first  step 
in  this  direction  was  a  mutual  engineering 
department  and  the  laboratories  were 
established  and  an  organization  perfected 
in  Cleveland,  that  city  being  the  natural 
center  of  the  industry.  Many  thought  the 
movement  a  visionary,  impractical  scheme, 
but  as  the  broad-minded,  enterprising  busi- 
ness men  came  together  they  found  that 
mutual  understanding  and  cooperation 
would  be  most  beneficial,  and  soon  widened 
the  scope  of  their  cooperative  effort  until 
it  embraced  sections  in  chemical  and  phy- 
sical research,  testing,  factory  inspection 
and  organization,  illuminating  engineering, 
technical  publicity,  business  development 


166 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


and  managerial  and  sales  conferences. 
For  the  betterment  of  the  trade  in  general 
the  association  established  in  Cleveland  a 
physical  laboratory,  operating  at  a  cost  of 
twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  exclu- 
sive of  equipment.  Here  scientists  of  re- 
cognized standing  are  undertaking  ad- 
vanced investigations  in  the  field  of  light 
and  illumination.  The  association  has  also 
established  a  school  of  electrical  illuminat- 
ing engineering,  from  which  one  hundred 
or  more  technical  graduates  are  entered 
for  training.  The  plan  is  continuous,  each 
year  a  new  student  body  enters,  the  gradu- 
ates being  absorbed  by  the  various  compa- 
nies forming  the  organization.  The  stand- 
ard of  admission  is  high  and  the  curri- 
culum comprehensive  along  both  theoreti- 
cal and  practical  lines,  the  leading  techni- 
cal schools  of  the  country  being  drawn 
upon  for  students. 

Today  the  National  Electrical  Lamp 
Association  has  a  membership  of  twenty- 
three  companies,  manufacturing  about 
fifty  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  in- 
candescent lamps  used.  Every  question 
involved  in  the  manufacture  of  four 
hundred  and  thirty-five  sizes,  styles  and 
types  of  incandescent  lamps  is  discussed  by 
the  association.  Advanced  research  and 
test  work  is  carried  on  by  the  association 
whereby  each  member  company  knows  the 
quality  of  its  product  from  month  to 
month,  and  tests  are  made  as  often  as  any 
company  may  request.  It  was  found  that 
variation  in  quality  was  often  due  to  the 
chemicals  and  raw  material  used  in  manu- 
facture, and  one  direct  result  of  the  as- 
sociation's move  has  been  an  improvement 
in  such  raw  materials,  the  dealers  coming 
to  understand  that  member  companies  of 
the  association  will  accept  only  such  as  will 
stand  a  test  made  by  their  engineering  de- 
partment. A  cooperative  feature  of  the 
work  of  this  department  is  that  of  supply- 
ing superintendents  or  skilled  assistants  to 
any  member  company  that  may  need  them. 
There  is  also  a  commercial  engineering 
department  which  prepares  and  publishes 
bulletins,  pamphlets  and  articles  on  sub- 
jects broadly  devoted  to  illuminating  en- 
gineering. The  bulletins  of  the  association 
are  regularly  accepted  by  central  stations, 
illuminating,  engineers  and  even  by  lead- 
ing schools  and  colleges  as  authority  as 


they  are  kept  free  of  commercial  bias  and 
the  data  contained  therein  has  stood  crit- 
ical inspection  of  scientific  men. 

The  cooperative  spirit  is  fostered  and 
furthered  and  in  fact,  largely  has  its  root 
in  the  semi-annual  meetings  which  are  held 
on  an  island  of  sixty-five  acres  in  Lake 
Ontario  near  Sackett's  harbor.  There  is 
maintained  a  well  equipped  camp,  the 
tents  all  being  supplied  with  electric  light 
and  running  water;  there  are  tennis  courts, 
a  handball  court,  a  common,  a  bathing 
beach,  bowling  alleys  and  boathouses. 
Here  men  meet  in  social  intercourse,  result- 
ing in  many  life  long  friendships.  There 
are  days  which  are  given  over  only  to  out- 
door sports,  but  there  is  another  side  to 
this  camp;  intimacy.  Each  man  learns 
how  the  other  thinks  and  feels,  each  learns 
to  appreciate  the  other's  good  points  and 
to  forgive  faults.  This  personal  relation 
is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  strongest 
elements  in  the  success  of  the  association, 
doing  away  with  the  feeling  of  warfare 
and  contest  that  existed  between  hitherto 
rival  manufacturers.  The  members  have 
come  to  know  that  they  must  give  and 
take,  that  the  ideas  and  plans  of  one  com- 
pany may  be  of  benefit  to  another  and  that 
the  upbuilding  of  the  trade  will  react  in 
favor  of  all.  To  his  duties  in  connection 
with  this  association  Mr.  Crouse  is  devot- 
ing much  attention  and  at  the  same  time 
is  superintending  his  private  interests.  In 
addition  to  his  previously  mentioned  con- 
nections he  is  also  vice  president  of  the 
Cleveland  Gas  &  Electric  Fixture  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Crouse  has  converted  the  old  home- 
stead farm  at  Hartland,  Michigan,  into 
one  of  the  most  modern  and  up-to-date 
dairy  farms  in  the  country,  on  which  he 
has  built  a  barn  after  his  own  ideas  of 
modern  construction,  embodying  all  the 
latest  sanitary  features.  The  floors,  man- 
gers and  feed  troughs  are  of  cement,  while 
the  stanchions  and  partitions  are  of  iron. 
The  utmost  regard  is  paid  to  cleanliness 
and  sanitary  conditions.  The  milking  is 
done  by  machinery,  one  man  milking  sixty 
cows.  Although  Mr.  Crouse  has  invested 
many  thousands  of  dollars  in  this,  he  takes 
great  pride  in  conducting  it  upon  a  paying 
basis.  The  herd  consists  entirely  of  Jersey 
cows,  and  the  butter  is  marketed  under  the 


J.   ROBERT    GROUSE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


167 


name  of  Grouse's  Jersey  Creamery  Butter 
and  is  regarded  as  the  standard  of  excel- 
lence in  the  market  where  it  is  sold.  The 
plant  has  a  capacity  of  four  thousand 
pounds  of  butter  each  week  and  consumes 
the  cream  purchased  from  neighboring 
farmers  as  well.  It  is  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Crouse  to  succeed  in  everything  that  he 
undertakes  and  he  has  done  this  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  dairy  farm  as  well  as  in  the 
commercial  and  industrial  interests  of 
magnitude  to  which  he  gives  his  attention. 
At  Hartland,  Michigan,  in  1864,  Mr. 
Crouse  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 


Betsey  Westfall  and  they  had  one  son,  J. 
Robert,  who  was  graduated  from  the  Cen- 
tral High  School  of  Cleveland  in  1893  and 
from  the  University  of  Michigan  in  1897, 
since  which  time  he  has  been  his  father's 
intimate  associate  and  partner  in  business 
enterprises.  The  mother  died  in  1893  and 
in  1900  Mr.  Crouse  wedded  Mrs.  Edith 
May  Avery,  of  Stockbridge,  Michigan. 
Mr.  Crouse  is  a  thirty-second  degree 
Mason,  belongs  to  Al  Koran  Temple  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine  and  has  many  pleasant 
social  relations  of  other  characters. 


J.   ROBERT  CROUSE 


Though  science  is  the  foundation  and 
invention  the  creative  force  which  has  so 
expanded  the  known  uses  of  electricity  as 
a  contributor  to  human  comfort  and  in- 
dustry, it  is,  after  all,  salesmanship  which 
gives  to  the  inventions  access  to  commer- 
cial rewards  which  encourage  further 
invention  and  larger  efficiency.  In  the 
manufacturing  branch  the  sales  department 
figures  largely  in  the  creation  of  success. 

Of  national  prominence  in  electrical 
salesmanship  is  Mr.  J.  Robert  Crouse, 
who  has  spent  his  entire  life  in  the  sales 
branch  of  the  incandescent  lamp  business, 
coming  into  it  with  a  hereditary  predispo- 
sition to  sales  work.  He  was  born  Jan- 
uary i,  1874,  and  was  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Michigan  with  the  degree 
of  A.B.  in  the  Class  of  1897,  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Delta  Upsilon  while  at  col- 
lege. His  father,  J.  B.  Crouse,  and  his 
uncle,  H.  A.  Tremaine,  were  identified 
with  the  electric  light  carbon  business  in 
its  inception,  and  he  naturally  came  in  on 
their  later  and  more  extended  operations. 
He  began  his  active  business  life  as  a 
salesman  of  the  Fostoria  Incandescent 
Lamp  Company,  of  Fostoria,  Ohio,  and 
advanced  in  the  service  of  that  company  to 
the  position  of  sales  manager.  Under  the 
same  proprietorship  were  the  Crouse- 
Tremaine  Carbon  Company,  the  Fostoria 
Bulb  Company  and  the  Seneca  Banking 
Company,  all  of  Fostoria,  Ohio,  the  opera- 
tions of  these  companies,  in  1901,  aggre- 
gating about  $2,000,000.  In  1901  his 


father,  J.  B.  Crouse,  and  associates,  H.  A. 
Tremaine,  B.  G.  Tremaine,  F.  S.  Terry 
and  J.  Robert  Crouse,  organized  the  Na- 
tional Lamp  Company,  of  which  Mr.  J. 
Robert  Crouse  became  Vice-president  and 
Sales  Manager,  and  he  was  also  Vice- 
president  of  the  Crouse-Tremaine  Com- 
pany, organized  in  1907.  The  National 
Lamp  Company's  works  in  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  became  a  factor  of  great  promi- 
nence in  the  development  of  electrical 
lighting  upon  a  large  commercial  scale  and 
in  its  development  Mr.  Crouse  took  a 
prominent  part.  In  1911  the  business  was 
sold  to  the  General  Electric  Company,  and 
has  since  been  conducted  as  the  National 
Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric 
Company.  Mr.  Crouse  continues  as  Vice- 
president  of  the  Crouse-Tremaine  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Crouse  founded  the  Electrical 
League  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  of  which  he 
is  a  prominent  member,  and  was  the  Sev- 
enth Jupiter  of  the  Jovian  Order,  is  a 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  the  Illuminating  Engineers' 
Society,  and  the  Electrical  Manufacturing 
Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Cleveland 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  vice-chairman 
of  its  Industrial  Development  Committee, 
is  vice-president  of  the  Society  of  Electrical 
Development  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  Club  (Cleveland),  the  Shaker 
Hakes  Country  Club,  Cleveland  Athletic 
Club,  and  Cleveland  Automobile  Club. 
He  has  been  especially  active  recently  as 
director  of  Red  Cross  work  among  elec- 


168 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


trical  men  in  Cleveland  and  has  achieved  a 
notable  degree  of  success  in  that  work. 
Through  the  various  societies  in  which  he 
has  membership,  and  close  business  asso- 
ciation with  leaders  in  electrical  affairs, 
Mr.  Crouse  has  been  actively  prominent  as 
an  advocate  of  cooperation  of  the  efforts 
of  those  in  the  electrical  business  to  in- 
crease the  use  of  electricity  in  all  estab- 
lished ways  and  in  many  others  to  which 
it  is  applicable  and  to  promote  a  general 
propaganda  of  the  uses,  applications  and 
benefits  of  doing  things  electrically. 

Largely  as  the  result  of  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  Crouse,  whose  adherence  to  this  cam- 
paign of  publicity  included  many  articles 
in  the  technical  press  and  the  proceedings 
of  electrical  societies,  the  Society  of  Elec- 
trical Development  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
to  which  all  engaged  in  electrical  business 
whether  as  dealer,  manufacturer,  Contrac- 


tor or  the  management  of  the  central  sta- 
tions are  eligible.  It  was  formed  to  pro- 
mote and  increase  the  use  by  the  public  of 
the  electric  current  for  all  useful  purposes 
as  an  end  in  itself  and  as  a  means  of  in- 
creasing the  demand  for  apparatus  and 
supplies,  and  to  promote  and  facilitate  a 
cooperative  planning  and  execution  of 
various  means  and  methods  effective  to 
this  end.  The  plans  and  purposes  of  the 
Society  extend  to  a  very  earnest  endeavor 
to  secure  harmony  of  effort  in  promoting 
the  greatest  possible  development  of  elec- 
trical science,  art  and  industry,  both  tech- 
nical and  commercial;  to  develop  means 
and  methods  tending  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  individuals  identified  with  all 
branches  of  the  business.  Mr.  Crouse  in 
an  address  delivered  at  Camp  Coopera- 
tion held  at  Association  Island  in  1913  set 
forth  in  a  convincing  way  the  value  of  such 
cooperation. 


ALBERT  BROWN  CHANDLER 


Albert  Brown  Chandler,  former  Presi- 
dent of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Cable  Com- 
pany, has  had  a  varied  and  interesting 
career  during  his  long  life  of  business  activ- 
ity, rising  from  a  printer  and  compositor  to 
the  presidency  of  a  powerful  corporation 
and  filling,  in  the  interim,  various  positions 
in  the  railway  service  and  as  a  Government 
attache  during  the  Civil  War.  Mr.  Chand- 
ler was  born  in  West  Randolph,  Vermont, 
August  20,  1840,  a  descendant  of  the 
family  of  Chandlers,  the  American  branch 
of  which  was  established  by  William 
Chandler  and  his  three  sons  who  settled 
in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  in  1637. 
Among  the  descendants  of  these  early  set- 
tlers were  Senator  Zachariah  Chandler, 
Senator  William  E.  Chandler,  Commander 
Benjamin  F.  Chandler,  U.  S.  N.,  and  Pro- 
fessor Charles  F.  Chandler  of  Columbia 
University.  After  attending  school  in 
West  Randolph,  Vermont,  during  which 
period  his  vacations  were  spent  in  learning 
the  printing  art  and  working  as  a  com- 
positor, Mr.  Chandler  finally  studied  teleg- 
raphy while  working  as  a  messenger  in 
the  local  office  and  was  appointed  man- 
ager of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
office  at  Bellaire,  Ohio,  in  1858.  The  fol- 


lowing year  he  was  made  agent  of  the 
Cleveland  &  Pittsburgh  Railroad  at  Man- 
chester, Pennsylvania,  and  in  May  1863, 
he  was  assigned  to  duty  as  Cipher  Tele- 
graph Operator  in  the  War  Department 
at  Washington.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  he  became  Disbursing  Clerk  for  Gen- 
eral Eckert,  who  was  then  Superintendent 
of  Military  Telegraph  in  the  Department 
of  the  Potomac,  dealing  directly  with  Pres- 
ident Lincoln.  This  was  in  addition  to 
his  duties  as  Cipher  Operator,  and  in 
August  1866,  he  was  made  Chief  Clerk 
in  the  office  of  the  General  Superintendent 
of  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company,  having  in 
charge  the  trans-Atlantic  and  Cuba  cable 
traffic.  In  addition  to  this  position,  he  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  the  Sixth  Dis- 
trict of  the  Eastern  Division  of  the  com- 
pany, resigning  to  accept  the  position  of 
Assistant  General  Manager  of  the  Atlan- 
tic &  Pacific  Telegraph  Company,  of  which 
General  Eckert  was  then  President,  in 
1875.  He  successively  filled  the  positions 
of  Secretary,  Treasurer  and  vice-President, 
and  in  1879  succeeded  General  Eckert  as 
President.  After  the  company  was  com- 
bined with  the  Western  Union  in  1881, 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


169 


ALBERT    B.    CHANDLER 


Mr.  Chandler  became  President  of  the 
Fuller  Electrical  Company,  which  was  one 
of  the  first  to  develop  the  arc  system  of 
electric  lighting.  In  December,  1884,  he 
became  counsel  for  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Company,  and  one  year  later  was  ap- 
pointed Receiver  of  that  company.  He 
succeeded  in  reorganizing  the  company  and 
became  its  President  and  General  Manager 
in  1886,  at  the  same  time  serving  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Executive  Committee  and  vice- 


President  of  the  Commercial  Cable  Com- 
pany. He  was  made  acting  President  of 
the  Pacific  Postal  Telegraph  lines,  when 
they  were  constructed,  and  in  March,  1887, 
became  a  director  and  soon  afterwards 
President  of  the  Commercial  Telegram 
Company,  a  local  organization  engaged  in 
reporting  transactions  of  the  stock  ex- 
change. This  property  was  acquired  by 
the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  in  1890, 
and  Mr.  Chandler  was  in  charge  of  its 


170 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


operation  from  1890  to  1915.  In  1887, 
in  connection  with  several  officials  of  the 
Western  Union  Company,  Mr.  Chandler 
effected  arrangements  for  the  discontinu- 
ance of  the  previously  existing  wasteful 
telegraph  competition,  the  result  of  which 
was  the  reduction  of  rates,  the  abolition 
of  rebates  and  better  service  for  the  public. 
The  fine  building  of  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Company,  at  Broadway  and  Murray  Street, 
was  erected  under  Mr.  Chandler's  super- 
vision and  when  he  finally  retired  from  the 
Presidency  of  that  company  he  was  induced 
to  continue  in  close  relations  with  the  man- 
agement as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors. After  occupying  this  position  for 
some  years  he  retired  from  business,  com- 


pleting one  of  the  most  active  careers  in 
the  history  of  telegraph.  Mr.  Chandler 
has  been  a  director  or  official  of  several 
financial  and  commercial  companies  in 
which  he  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest. 
He  was  married  October  11,  1864,  to 
Marilla  Eunice  Stedman,  of  West  Ran- 
dolph, Vermont,  the  union  bringing  three 
children,  Florence,  Albert  Eckert,  and 
Willis  Derwin,  of  whom  only  Albert 
Eckert  survives.  His  wife,  Marilla,  died 
September  14,  1907.  On  December  13, 
1910,  he  married  Mildred  Vivian  of  New 
York  City.  They  reside  at  389  Clinton 
Avenue,  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  also 
have  a  handsome  summer  home  at  Ran- 
dolph, Vermont. 


COL.  ROBERT  C.  CLOWRY 


Col.  Robert  C.  Clowry,  who  has  been 
for  over  half  a  century  one  of  the  best 
known  and  most  active  figures  in  the  field 
of  telegraphy,  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Illinois,  September  8th,  1838.  He  was 
educated  in  the  schools  in  the  district 
where  he  was  born,  and,  taking  a  great 
interest  in  telegraphy,  then  in  its  infancy, 
he  determined  to  become  a  telegraph  op- 
erator. He  served  six  months  as  a  mes- 
senger boy  at  Joliet,  Illinois,  without  pay, 
for  the  privilege  of  learning  the  business. 
After  mastering  all  the  details  he  was 
given  a  responsible  position  as  manager 
with  the  Illinois  &  Mississippi  Telegraph 
Company  at  Lockport,  Illinois,  when 
only  fourteen  years  of  age.  This  was 
in  1852.  After  a  short  period  of  service 
at  Lockport  he  was  transferred  to  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  where,  in  1853,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  he  was  employed  as  manager 
of  the  office.  He  was  later  transferred 
to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and,  after  filling  vari- 
ous positions  in  that  office,  he  was,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  appointed  to  the 
position  of  Superintendent  of  the  St.  Louis 
&  Missouri  River  Telegraph  Company 
and  later  to  the  position  of  Superintend- 
ent of  the  Missouri  &  Western  Tele- 
graph Company.  He  was  afterwards 
located  at  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  and 
Omaha,  Nebraska.  During  the  time  he 
was  located  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  Abraham  Lincoln, 


who  at  that  time  was  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  Following  Mr.  Lincoln's 
election  to  the  Presidency  and  the  breaking 
out  of  the  civil  war,  he  commissioned  Mr. 
Clowry  Captain  and  Assistant  Quarter- 
master and  assigned  him  to  duty  in  charge 
of  the  military  telegraph  service  in  the 
Southwest.  Capt.  Clowry  also  served  the 
Government  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  and  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  and  was  brevetted  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  by  President  Johnson,  who  com- 
mended him  "for  meritorious  service  and 
devoted  application  to  duty."  Col.  Clowry 
was  mustered  out  of  service  May  3ist, 
1866,  and  was  immediately  appointed  Dis- 
trict Superintendent  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  in  charge  of  the 
lines  in  the  Southwest,  with  headquarters 
at  St.  Louis.  He  was  made  Assistant 
General  Superintendent  of  the  Western 
Union  Company  at  Chicago  in  1879,  and 
two  years  later  succeeded  General  Anson 
Stager  as  General  Superintendent.  In  this 
position  he  was  in  complete  control  of  all 
of  the  company's  lines  west  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, north  of  the  Ohio  River  and  west 
of  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific 
Coast  In  1885  he  was  elected  to  the  di- 
rectorate of  the  Western  Union  Company, 
a  member  of  the  executive  committee,  and 
Vice-President,  still  retaining  the  position 
of  General  Superintendent.  In  1902  he  was 
elected  President  and  General  Manager  of 
the  Company.  During  all  of  these  years  of 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


171 


COL.   ROBERT   C.   CLOWRY 


172 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


successive  promotions,  Col.  Clowry  at- 
tained recognition  as  the  foremost  author- 
ity in  the  field  he  had  selected  as  his  life 
work  in  early  boyhood.  He  had  reached 
the  highest  pinnacle  in  the  field  of  teleg- 
raphy, and,  in  addition  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Western  Union  Company,  he  was 
the  executive  head  of  numerous  auxiliary 
telegraph,  cable  and  telephone  companies 
of  the  Western  Union  Company  and  a  di- 
rector in  various  other  companies.  Col. 
Clowry  retired  from  active  participation 
in  business  affairs  some  time  ago,  but  still 
maintains  an  office  at  30  Church  Street, 
New  York,  for  the  conduct  of  his  private 
interests.  At  the  present  time  he  is  a  di- 
rector of  the  Dominion  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, the  Texas  &  Pacific  Railway 
Company,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  and  is  a  trustee  of  the  Equitable 
Trust  Company  of  New  York.  He  holds 
membership  in  the  Metropolitan,  Lotos, 
Railroad,  Sleepy  Hollow  Country,  and 
Ardsley  Clubs  of  New  York  and  vicinity; 
the  Chicago  Club  and  the  Commercial 
Club  of  Chicago,  and  the  Jekyl  Island 
Club  at  Jekyl  Island,  Georgia.  He  was 
married  in  1865  to  Caroline  Augusta 
Estabrook  of  Omaha,  Nebraska,  the 
daughter  of  General  Experience  Esta- 
brook, who  was  the  first  United  States 
District  Attorney  for  the  territory  of  Ne- 
braska. Mrs.  Clowry  died  in  1897. 
Col.  dowry's  residence  is  at  Tarrytown, 
New  York. 


Alfred  Hutchinson  Cowles,  inventor  of 
the  electric  process  for  reducing  aluminum 
from  alumina  by  which  that  metal,  for- 
merly expensive,  was  made  available  for 
the  production  of  goods  in  common  use, 
was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  December  8, 
1858,  a  son  of  Edwin  Cowles,  founder, 
owner  and  editor  of  The  Cleveland 
Leader  and  Evening  News,  later  The 
News  and  Herald,  and  descendant  of  John 
Cowles,  a  settler  of  Farmington,  Mass., 
1636,  and  also  of  Thomas  Hooper. 

After  two  years  at  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity and  four  years  at  Cornell  University, 
specializing  in  physics,  chemistry  and  other 


science  studies,  he,  with  his  brother, 
Eugene  H.  Cowles,  engaged  in  developing 
ore  lands  in  New  Mexico,  the  ores  of 
which  were  unresponsive  to  ordinary  re- 
duction processes,  to  remedy  which  they 
designed  an  electric  furnace  to  volatilize 
and  recover  the  zinc  from  the  ore  in  1884. 
He  then  followed  this  up  by  experiments 
which  resulted  in  processes  for  successful 
commercial  reduction  of  various  metallic 
oxides  by  pyro-electric  treatment,  which 
the  Cowles  brothers  patented,  and  by  pur- 
chasing the  rights  of  Charles  S.  Bradley, 
who  had  applied  for  a  patent  germane  to 
their  own  invention,  they  secured  sole  con- 
trol of  electric  processes  for  producing 
aluminum  commercially.  Litigation  fol- 
lowed, the  results  of  which  fully  sustained 
the  validity  and  priority  of  their  patents 
and  secured  them  royalties  and  damages 
from  the  Aluminum  Company  of  America 
of  $1,300,000,  and  $300,000  from  the 
Carborundum  Company,  for  infringement. 
Many  industries  to  which  their  patented 
treatment  applied  were  established  and 
paid  royalties,  and  their  own  great  plant 
at  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  now  known  as  The 
Electric  Smelting  and  Aluminum  Company, 
was  originally  completed  in  1886,  Mr. 
Alfred  H.  Cowles  being  its  metallurgist 
for  eight  years,  and  after  that  President  of 
the  Company.  He  is  also  President  of  the 
Pecos  Copper  Company,  owning  the  origi- 
nal New  Mexico  lands  and  now  under 
large  development  by  Goodrich,  Lockhart 
Co.,  with  promise  of  becoming  one  of  the 
great  mines  of  the  world.  He  is  also 
President  of  the  Weiller  Manufacturing 
Company. 

The  Cowles  brothers  were  awarded  for 
their  invention  the  John  Scott  Legacy 
medal  and  the  Elliott  Cresson  medal  by  the 
Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia.  As  the 
result  of  it,  many  valuable  and  useful  ar- 
ticles are  available  at  greatly  reduced  cost. 

Mr.  Cowles  is  a  fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers;  a  founder 
and  past  Vice-President  of  the  American 
Electrochemical  Society;  a  founder  mem- 
ber^  of  the  Mining  and  Metallurgical 
Society  of  America;  and  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  the  United  States  Naval 
Institute,  the  Franklin  Institute  and  the 
American  Chemical  Society. 


WALTER    GARY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


173 


WALTER  GARY 


The  electrical  industries,  like  all  others 
involving  complex  problems  of  mechanism 
in  the  products  they  have  to  sell,  have  their 
commercial  as  well  as  their  technical  side, 
but  belong  to  the  highly  specialized  class 
in  which  a  considerable  amount  of  techni- 
cal knowledge  is  required  to  be  possessed 
by  thpse  in  administrative  as  well  as  by 
those  in  technical  authority.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  of  the  electrical  field,  where  the 
expert  of  yes'erday  is  no  longer  expert  un- 
less he  is  abreast  of  today's  progress  and 
current  problems. 

There  art  certain  great  electrical  manu- 
facturing corporations  that  have  gained 
and  maintained  prominence  in  the  industry, 
and  in  which  their  position  of  successful 
mastery  may  be  in  large  measure  traced  to 
the  fact  that  their  administrative  officers, 
as  well  as  ihe  heads  of  their  engineering 
departments,  combine  technical  and  scien- 
tific attainments  with  executive  ability. 
The  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufac- 
turing Company  is  prominent  among  those 
great  concerns  which  have  been  consistent 
in  placing  in  executive  positions  men  of 
electrical  as  well  as  administrative  equip- 
ment. Among  the  illustrations  of  this 
policy  was  the  election,  on  June  20,  1917, 
of  Walter  Cary  to  the  position  of  a  vice- 
president  of  the  Company.  Years  of  activ- 
ity in  the  field  of  electrical  illumination 
have  made  Mr.  Cary  known  to  electrical 
men  in  all  sections  of  the  country,  and  his 
election  to  his  present  position  was  an  im- 
portant additional  step  upward  in  his  al- 
ways progressive  career  of  twenty-four 
years  in  connection  with  the  electrical  in- 
dustry. 

He  was  born  in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin, 
on  April  26,  1871;  was  educated  at  the 
Milwaukee  High  School  and  at  Harvard 
University,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  the  Class  of 

1893- 

Soon  after  graduation  from  the  univer- 
sity he  was  induced  by  Mr.  George  Gibbs 
to  associate  himself  with  the  Gibbs  Elec- 
tric Company,  of  Milwaukee,  with  which 
he  served  as  secretary  from  1894  to  1898. 
This  introduced  him  to  the  electrical  indus- 
try, which  he  found  congenial,  and  he  fitted 
himself,  by  intensive  study  of  both  the 
technical  and  administrative  principles  of 


the  industry,  for  further  progress  in  it. 
Early  in  1899  he  associated  himself,  with 
some  other  Milwaukeans,  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Milwaukee  Electric  Company 
for  the  manufacture  of  dynamos  and  mo- 
tors, becoming  its  vice-president  on  organ- 
ization and  its  president  in  1902.  That 
company,  under  his  energetic  administra- 
tion, became  an  important  factor  in  its 
branch  of  the  electrical  industry,  and  in  the 
development  and  improvement  of  electrical 
machinery.  He  remained  with  it  as  presi- 
dent until  1904,  when  he  was  called  into 
service  with  the  Westinghouse  Lamp  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  soon  became  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager,  a  position  which 
he  has  held  ever  since.  The  importance  of 
the  service  rendered  by  this  company  to  the 
marked  improvement  that  has  taken  place 
in  the  field  of  incandescent  lighting  during 
the  eighteen  years  that  Mr.  Cary  has  held 
his  executive  connection  with  it  is,  in  large 
measure,  due  to  his  personal  initiative, 
which  has  at  all  times  been  exerted  along 
lines  of  advancement.  Under  his  active 
management  the  Westinghouse  Lamp  Com- 
pany has  attained  and  retained  its  eminent 
place  in  the  incandescent  lighting  field. 

To  translate  Mr.  Gary's  abilities  to  a 
larger  field  he  was  honored  by  election  to 
a  vice-presidency  in  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company, 
while  still  retaining  his  responsible  place 
as  vice-president  of  the  Westinghouse 
Lamp  Company.  The  Westinghouse  ag- 
gregation, covering  the  entire  field  of  elec- 
tric manufactures,  has  attained  its  great- 
ness by  its  well-defined  policy  of  testing 
and  training  exceptional  men  for  executive 
positions,  and  its  higher  officials,  chosen  on 
that  basis,  are  all  men  who  have  made  their 
mark  in  the  electrical  industry. 

Mr.  Cary  has  been  especially  active  in 
the  affairs  of  the  Electrical  Manufacturers' 
Club,  having  served  as  its  secretary  for 
five  years,  as  vice-president  one  year,  and 
for  one  year  as  president  of  the  club. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  he  is  also 
a  member  of  the  Harvard  Club  of  New 
York  City,  and  also  of  the  University  Club 
and  the  Union  Club  of  New  York. 


174 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


MAURICE  COSTER 


Maurice  Coster,  Managing  Director  of 
the  Westinghouse  Electric  Export  Com- 
pany, was  born  in  1856.  He  graduated 
from  Stevens  Institute  of  Technology  with 
degree  of  Mechanical  Engineer  in  1877, 
and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 
in  1888.  Mr.  Coster  was  Honorary  Con- 
sulting Engineer  to  the  Commissioner- 
General  of  the  United  States  to  the  Uni- 
versal International  Exposition  at  Paris 


in  1900.  He  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Foreign  Trade  Council,  Director  of  the 
Remington  Typewriter  Co.,  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
Member  of  the  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  and  the  following 
clubs:  Automobile  Club  de  France,  Uni- 
versity (New  York),  University  (Pitts- 
burgh), Engineers,  India  House  and 
Englewood  Country  Club. 


LOUIS   K.COMSTOCK 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


175 


LOUIS    KOSSUTH    COMSTOCK 


Louis  Kossuth  Comstock,  one  of  the 
foremost  electrical  and  mechanical  engi- 
neers in  the  country,  and  a  pioneer  in 
adapting  wiring  systems  (or  electrical  dis- 
tribution at  an  even  drop  in  potential)  to 
the  modern  skyscraper,  has  for  years  been 
engaged  in  some  of  the  most  important 
electrical  work  throughout  the  United 
States.  He  was  born  in  Kenosha,  Wis- 
consin, January  8,  1865,  the  son  of 
Charles  Henry  and  Mercy  Carolyn  (Bron- 
son)  Comstock.  After  thorough  prepara- 
tion, he  entered  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan, from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1888,  with  the  Ph.B.  degree.  Immediately 
upon  receiving  his  degree,  he  began  his 
business  career  in  Chicago  as  a  salesman 
"for  Sprague  motors.  The  following  year 
he  was  associated  with  the  Marr  Construc- 
tion Co.,  afterwards  the  North  American 
Construction  Co.  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  as 
engineer  in  charge  of  testing  the  Edison 
underground  tube  system. 

Mr.  Comstock  often  tells  that  he 
drifted  into  electrical  work  because  he 
thought  he  had  been  somewhat  prepared 
for  it  by  his  college  training,  but  found 
that  he  was  not.  He,  however,  recognized 
the  possibilities  of  the  electrical  field  and 
burned  the  midnight  oil  and  applied  him- 
self to  the  hardest  and  most  grinding 
work  to  fit  himself  for  the  career  he  had 
selected.  The  result  was  the  acquirement 
of  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  electri- 
cal practice  and  recognition  in  the  elec- 
trical world  as  one  of  the  foremost  men 
in  the  profession. 

Mr.  Comstock's  practical  experience  has 
been  wide  and  valuable.  He  was  for  three 
years  superintendent  of  construction  for 


the  Western  Electric  Co.,  and  for  four 
years  electrical  and  mechanical  engineer 
for  George  A.  Fuller  &  Co.,  of  New  York 
City.  In  each  of  these  positions  he  was 
constantly  improving  upon  old  methods  of 
wiring  and  installation  until  January  i, 
1904,  when  he  decided  to  use  his  advanced 
ideas  for  his  own  benefit  and  organized  the 
firm  of  L.  K.  Comstock  &  Co.,  of  which  he 
became  president.  The  firm  has  become 
one  of  the  most  successful  in  its  line  in  the 
country. 

Mr.  Comstock  comes  of  old  New  Eng- 
land ancestry  of  English  extraction.  On 
the  paternal  side  he  is  descended  from 
William  Comstock,  who  settled  in  Pequa, 
now  New  London,  Conn.,  in  1637. 
Through  his  grandmother,  Mary  Doan 
Bronson,  his  first  maternal  forebear  in 
America  was  John  Done,  who  came  to  this 
country  in  1620  with  his  friends  Myles 
Standish  and  Edward  Wynslow. 

Mr.  Comstock  has  been  an  extensive 
traveller  and  during  his  tours  has  visited 
the  West  Indies,  Mexico  and  Central  and 
South  America.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, the  Electrochemical  Society,  the  Il- 
luminating Engineers,  the  Japan  Society, 
the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Association  of 
New  York,  the  Lawyers'  Club,  Engineers' 
Club,  Lotos  Club,  Railroad  Club,  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago  Club  and  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 
He  was  married  in  New  York  City,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1902,  to  Anne  Stevens  Wilson, 
and  is  the  father  of  one  son,  Thomas 
Brownell  Comstock,  born  in  1904.  Mr. 
Comstock's  offices  are  at  30  Church 
Street,  New  York  City. 


176 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES   S.  COOK 


On  March  i,  1917,  Charles  S.  Cook 
became  general  manager  of  the  Duquesne 
Light  Company  of  Pittsburgh,  succeeding 
Robert  S.  Orr,  deceased. 

Mr.  Cook  was  born  in  Amherst,  Mass., 
and  graduated  from  the  Worcester  Poly- 
technic Institute.  He  became  connected 
with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manu- 
facturing Company  in  1887,  when  the  com- 
pany was  developing  the  alternating  cur- 
rent system  of  distribution.  He  served 
with  them  in  their  first  manufacturing 
plant  at  Garrison  Alley  until  1888,  when 
he  became  a  construction  engineer.  In 
1889  he  was  made  construction  engineer  of 
the  Chicago  office.  In  1891  he  became 


identified  with  the  commercial  department 
of  the  Westinghouse  Company.  In  1895 
he  returned  to  Pittsburgh  to  take  up  spe- 
cial engineering  sales  work.  From  1899 
to  1904  he  was  manager  of  the  Pittsburgh 
office  of  the  Westinghouse  Company.  In 
1904  he  became  manager  of  the  Railway 
and  Lighting  Department  of  the  Westing- 
house  Organization,  having  control  of  the 
commercial  relations  of  the  company  on  all 
business  relating  to  power  machinery  for 
public  service  corporations,  which  con- 
nection was  only  severed  when  he  left  the 
Westinghouse  Organization  to  take  up  the 
duties  of  his  present  office. 


SEARS    B.CONDIT,JR. 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


177 


SEARS  B.  CONDIT,  JR. 


As  a  representative  of  both  the  manu- 
facturing and  the  selling  branches  of  the 
business,  in  electrical  machines,  devices  and 
specialties  Mr.  Sears  B.  Condit,  Jr.,  by 
long  experience  and  important  connections 
in  the  industry,  has  become  widely  known 
in  the  electrical  world.  Today  he  is  at  the 
head  of  two  important  enterprises  in  Bos- 
ton engaged  in  extensive  activities  of  elec- 
trical production  and  distribution. 

He  was  born  in  Somerville,  Mass.,  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1872,  and  received  his  education 
at  the  Luther  V.  Bell  School  in  that  city, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1887.  ^n 
1888  he  entered  upon  his  business  career 
in  the  employ  of  the  Boston  Heating  Com- 
pany. This  was  a  corporation  which  was 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
a  central  heating  plant  from  which  to  fur- 
nish heat  to  the  prominent  office  buildings 
of  the  down-town  district  of  Boston.  In 
the  list  of  the  officers  and  incorporators  of 
that  company  were  many  men  since  promi- 
nent in  electrical  interests,  some  of  the  best- 
known  being  Messrs.  Theodore  N.  Vail, 
Calvin  A.  Richards,  Jasper  A.  Keller,  and 
Frank  A.  Houston. 

After  about  two  years'  connection  with 
that  company  Mr.  Condit  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  connect  himself  with  an  enter- 
prise which  placed  him  in  close  touch  with 
the  electrical  machinery  business,  in  an 
offer,  which  he  accepted  in  1890,  of  a  po- 
sition with  the  firm  of  Howard  &  Stone, 
who  were  then  the  New  England  agents 
for  the  C.  &  C.  Motor  Company,  manu- 
facturers of  dynamos,  motors  and  other 
electrical  machinery.  Later,  through  the 
solicitation  of  Mr.  Harvey  L.  Lufkin, 
general  sales  manager  of  the  (C.  •&  C. 
Motor  Company,  Mr.  Condit  accepted  a 
position  in  the  factory  of  the  C.  &  C. 
Motor  Company  in  New  York  City.  In 
that  connection  he  widened  his  knowledge 
of  the  electrical  machinery  industry  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  larger  activities  and 
higher  relations  to  the  electrical  business 
which  afterward  came  to  him. 


In  the  early  part  of  1894  Mr.  Condit 
returned  to  Boston  and  took  charge  of  the 
experimental  department  of  Stone  &  Web- 
ster, which  was  then  operated  under  the 
firm  name  of  L.  A.  Chase  &  Company.  He 
successfully  developed  that  business  which 
was  later  consolidated  with  the  Shawmut 
Fuse  Wire  Company  under  the  name  of 
the  Chase-Shawmut  Company. 

In  August,  1899,  Mr.  Condit  engaged 
in  business  under  the  name  of  S.  B.  Condit, 
Jr.  &  Company  as  a  manufacturer  of  an 
extensive  line  of  electrical  specialties. 
These  specialties  were  later  taken  over  by 
the  Condit  Electrical  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, while  S.  B.  Condit,  Jr.  &  Company 
continued  to  represent  some  of  the  most 
prominent  manufacturers  of  electrical  sup- 
plies in  New  England  as  sales  repre- 
sentative. The  business  has  prospered 
continuously  under  the  personal  executive 
direction  of  Mr.  Condit,  whose  long  ex- 
perience and  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
electrical  supply  business  has  brought  wide 
acquaintance  with  dealers,  engineers  and 
contractors,  and  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
their  needs. 

Mr.  Condit  has  always  taken  great  in- 
terest in  the  many  and  rapid  developments 
of  electricity  in  application  to  new  indus- 
tries and  the  amplified  needs  of  this  age. 
The  field  of  electrical  invention  and  adap- 
tation, which  was  once  thought  to  be  ex- 
tremely limited  as  to  possibilities,  is  now 
recognized  as  being  practically  boundless. 
In  1904  Mr.  Condit  organized  the  Condit 
Electrical  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
which  he  is  now  President  and  Treasurer. 
This  Company  has  developed  a  special  line 
of  electrical  protective  devices,  such  as  oil 
switches,  air  circuit  breakers,  relays,  etc., 
which  have  been  adopted  by  some  of  the 
most  prominent  Lighting  and  Power  Com- 
panies in  the  country.  Under  the  progres- 
sive management  of  Mr.  Condit  the  busi- 
ness has  shown  a  continuous  and  steady 
growth. 


178 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HARRY  A.  CURRIE 

Harry  A.  Currie,  assistant  electrical 
engineer  of  the  New  York  Central  lines, 
was  born  in  Nova  Scotia  in  1872,  and 
was  educated  in  Halifax  and  New  York 
City.  His  father  was  a  Presbyterian 
minister  and  professor  in  the  Theological 


HARRY  A.  CURRIE 

Seminary  at  Halifax  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death  and  had  a  high  reputation 
in  Europe  and  America  as  a  Hebrew 
and  Arabic  scholar.  When  seventeen 
years  of  age  Mr.  Currie  went  to  sea  for 
over  three  years,  and  during  his  voyages 
visited  South  America,  China,  Australia 
and  France.  The  experience  gained  by 
these  trips  was  of  vast  benefit  to  him  in 
after  life.  Coming  to  New  York  City, 
he  took  a  special  course  in  electrical  en- 
gineering at  the  Cooper  Union,  and  in 
1894  entered  the  employ  of  the  Brooklyn 
Rapid  Transit  Company.  In  this  connec- 
tion he  assisted  in  the  electrification  of  the 
company's  elevated  lines  and  made  tests 
of  equipment  for  the  Interborough  Rapid 
Transit  Company  when  that  corporation 
first  projected  electricity  for  its  motive 
power.  In  1904,  he  was  appointed  to  his 
present  position  with  the  New  York  Cen- 


tral and  had  charge  of  all  the  work  at 
Schenectady  in  connection  with  the  build- 
ing of  experimental  tracks  and  the  testing 
of  electric  locomotives  and  cars.  He  also 
had  charge  of  the  electric  transmission 
work  for  the  company  in  the  electric  zone 
of  New  York.  Mr.  Currie  served  on  the 
Commander  Jessup  Committee  in  connec- 
tion with  the  inspection  and  electrical  weld- 
ing repairs  to  the  interned  German  ships 
in  the  Port  of  New  York.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Engineers  Club,  New  York  Elec- 
trical Society,  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  Canadian  Society  and 
Canadian  Club.  His  offices  are  in  the 
Grand  Central  Terminal  and  he  resides  on 
North  29th  Street,  Flushing,  L.  I. 

PROF.  CHARLES  R.  CROSS 

Charles  Robert  Cross,  a  descendant  of 
Robert  Cross,  immigrant  from  England  to 
Ipswich,  Mass.,  1637,  was  born  at  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  March  29,  1848,  and  graduated 
from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, 1870.  He  was  immediately  there- 
upon appointed  Instructor  in  Physics,  made 
full  Professor  in  1875  and  Thayer  Profes- 
sor of  Physics,  in  charge  of  the  Depart- 
ment, in  1878.  In  1885  he  was  given  the 
additional  title,  Director  of  the  Rogers 
Laboratory  of  Physics.  He  retired  from 
active  teaching,  and  was  made  Professor 
Emeritus  at  the  close  of  47  years  of  serv- 
ice in  1917.  During  the  above  years  his 
name  and  influence  became  known  to  thou- 
sands of  students  in  that  great  center  oi 
professional  learning. 

Professor  Cross  was  greatly  interested  ir 
the  practical  application  of  electricity  tc 
telephony,  electric  lighting,  and  power 
transmission,  which  began  to  assume  defi- 
nite shape  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  teach- 
ing. He  desired  that  the  Institute  should 
establish  a  Course  in  Applied  Electricity 
or  Electrical  Engineering  as  early  as  i88c 
and  in  1881  gave  an  optional  course  oi 
lectures  devoted  to  these  subjects  which 
excited  so  much  interest  that  a  year  later 
he  proposed  to  the  Corporation  of  the  In- 
stitute the  establishment  of  such  a  course 
leading  to  a  separate  degree.  This  propo- 
sition was  accepted  and  public  announce- 
ment made  of  it  in  August,  1882.  In  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year  this  course  was 


FARLEV    G_CLARK 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


179 


opened  to  students,  a  class  of  six  entering. 
This  first  class  was  graduated  in  1885. 
Professor  Cross  continued  in  charge  of  this 
course  for  twenty  years.  Almost  imme- 
diately after  its  establishment  it  became 
one  of  the  leading  courses  at  the  Institute, 
and  before  long  it  and  the  Mechanical  En- 
gineering Course  became  the  two  largest. 

Professor  Cross  was  a  member  of  the 
National  Conference  of  Electricians  and  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Judges  at  the 
Franklin  Institute  Electrical  Exhibition  in 
1884.  He  was  Chairman  of  Section  B  of 
the  World's  Electrical  Congress  at  the  Chi- 
cago Columbian  Exhibition,  1893.  Also 
he  was  one  of  the  six  Vice-Presidents  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers chosen  at  its  organization  in  1884. 

He  has  published  various  papers  upon 
physical  subjects,  mostly  in  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences,  and  has  given  many  public  courses 
of  lectures,  among  others  a  number  before 
the  Lowell  Institute  at  Boston. 

He  has  been  largely  concerned  with  the 
furtherance  of  scientific  research  in  this 
country.  For  many  years  he  has  occupied 
the  position  of  Chairman  of  the  Rumford 
Committee  of  the  American  Academy  of 
Arts  and  Sciences,  which  is  charged  with 
the  appropriation  of  the  income  of  the 
Rumford  Fund  of  $66,000  in  aid  of  re- 
searches in  light  and  heat  and  for  the 
award  of  the  Rumford  Medal  to  distin- 
guished investigators  in  those  subjects.  He 
is  also  a  Trustee  of  the  Elizabeth  Thomp- 
son Science  Fund  and  Chairman  of  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  having  to  do  with 
the  collection  of  statistics  regarding  sci- 
entific research  funds  of  this  couwntry. 

Professor  Cross  has  acted  as  an  expert 
in  much  of  the  patent  litigation  in  the 
United  States  Courts  regarding  electrical 
inventions.  He  acted  thus  for  the  Ameri- 
can Bell  Telephone  Company  in  all  the 
"Telephone  Suits"  relative  to  the  patents 
of  Professor  Bell  and  also  in  various  other 
suits  relating  to  telephony.  He  also  took 
part  in  many  suits  relating  to  dynamo  elec- 
tric machinery,  electric  lamps,  both  arc 
and  incandescent,  the  transmission  and  dis- 
tribution of  energy  and  storage  batteries. 
He  likewise  acted  for  the  Marconi  Com- 
pany in  the  fundamental  suits  relative  to 
the  invention  of  radio  telegraphy. 


FARLEY  G.   CLARK 

Farley  G.  Clark,  who  is  now  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  Toronto  Railway  Company 
and  its  numerous  subsidiaries,  thus  filling 
one  of  the  most  important  executive  posi- 
tions in  the  list  of  Canada's  electrical  in- 
terests, has  won  his  way  by  gradual  but 
consistent  progress  from  a  beginning  as 
general  electrical  worker  to  his  present  im- 
portant responsible  position. 

He  was  born  in  Palmer,  Massachu- 
setts, July  21,  1871.  By  maternal  descent 
he  traces  his  ancestry  back  to  a  Mayflower 
passenger,  and  his  ancestors  were  English, 
Scotch  and  Irish.  His  elementary  and 
preparatory  education  was  received  in  the 
public  schools  and  in  Wilbraham  Aca- 
demy, and  his  college  work  was  done  in 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
and  in  Cornell  University,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  in  1894.  His  college  fra- 
ternity is  Sigma  Alpha  Epsilon. 

He  had  always  been  interested  in  the 
problems  and  phenomena  of  electricity, 
and  following  his  graduation  he  took 
it  up  in  an  effective  and  practical  way  by 
engaging  in  August,  1894,  as  a  general 
worker  in  the  employ  of  E.  C.  Hughes  & 
Company,  doing  a  general  electrical  con- 
tracting business  at  Providence,  Rhode 
Island.  The  position  proved  valuable 
from  an  educational  standpoint,  for  his 
next  position  was  as  an  inspector  with  the 
Electrical  Maintenance  Company,  in  New 
York  City.  From  there  he  went  into  the 
employ  of  the  Crocker- Wheeler  Company 
as  salesman  for  the  extensive  line  of  elec- 
trical machinery  of  which  that  company 
is  manufacturer. 

He  began  electric  railway  service  after 
that,  beginning  with  the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  Company  of  New  York, 
with  which  company  he  held  various  posi- 
tions up  to  electrical  superintendent.  He 
left  that  connection  to  engage  as  electrical 
engineer  with  the  noted  engineering  firm 
of  Westinghouse,  Church,  Kerr  &  Co., 
and  after  that  was  superintendent  of 
power  of  the  Pennsylvania  Tunnel  and 
Terminal  Company  in  New  York  City, 
operating  the  Tunnel  Terminals  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  .System.  After 
that  be  became  superintendent  of  power 
with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 


180 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Manufacturing  Company  at  its  great 
works  at  East  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 

He  remained  in  that  position  until  ap- 
pointed to  his  present  one  of  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  Toronto  Railway  Company 
and  its  subsidiaries.  This  is  a  large  and 
very  important  electric  street  railway  en- 
terprise, owning  the  entire  railway  system 
of  Toronto  and  also  owning  as  subsidi- 
aries corporations  engaged  in  electric  rail- 
way, light,  power,  and  electrical  transmis- 
sion activities.  The  subsidiaries  are  the 
Toronto  Power  Company,  Toronto  and 
Niagara  Power  Company,  Electrical  De- 
velopment Company,  Toronto  Electric 
Light  Company,  London  (Ont.)  Electric 
Company,  and  the  Niagara  Falls  Gas  and 
Electrical  Transmission  Company.  This 
represents  a  very  large  combination  of 
electrical  activities  under  a  single  control, 
and  Mr.  Clark  is  giving  to  the  extensive 
electrical  operations  of  these  enterprises 
the  benefit  of  long  experience  and  of 
trained  technical,  practical  and  executive 
skill.  He  has  been  continuously  occupied 
with  electrical  and  engineering  operations 
since  leaving  college  except  for  a  period 
of  military  service  in  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can War  and  part  of  the  Philippine  Insur- 
rection, with  the  United  States  Engineers. 

Mr.  Clark  is  deeply  interested  in  the 
problems  and  progress  of  electrical  science 
and  mechanical  engineering  in  general. 
Outside  of  his  direct  professional  occupa- 
tion as  an  electrical  engineer  he  gives  much 
thought  and  experiment  to  the  theory  and 
design  of  aeroplanes,  the  theory  and  de- 
sign of  internal  combustion  engines  and  to 
electrochemical  research  and  experiment. 


He  keeps  in  close  touch  with  the  progress 
and  development  of  electrical  science  and 
is  an  expert  in  all  that  pertains  to  electri- 
cal railway  operation  and  management  and 
to  the  many  problems  connected  with  the 
generation  and  transmission  of  electric 
light  and  power. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, the  Canadian  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, London;  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  American  Electric  Railway 
Association,  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York,  Engineers'  Club  of  Toronto,  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  and  a  fellow  of  the  American 
Geographical  Society,  membership  in  these 
technical  and  general  scientific  societies 
representing  the  interest  taken  by  Mr. 
Clark  in  cognate  subjects,  and  the  prog- 
ress and  development  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge in  general,  as  well  as  the  special  ap- 
peal made  to  him  by  the  problems  and  ad- 
vancing developments  in  his  own  profes- 
sion. His  own  work  and  methods  have 
done  much  to  improve  electrical  engineer- 
ing practice  in  the  departments  of  electri- 
cal service  to  which  they  have  been 
devoted. 

The  social  organizations  in  which  he 
has  membership  include  the  Niagara  Club 
of  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. ;  the  Lambton  Golf 
Club  of  Toronto,  and  the  Engineers'  Coun- 
try Club  of  Roslyn,  N.  Y.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  a  Knight 
Templar  and  member  of  the  Order  of 
Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 


HARRY   H.  CUTLER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


181 


HARRY  H.  CUTLER 


Harry  H.  Cutler,  one  of  the  leading 
electrical  experts  of  New  England,  who  is 
an  inventor  of  many  appliances  connected 
with  the  industry,  was  born  in  Brookline, 
Mass.,  in  1859,  the  descendant,  in  a 
straight  line,  of  an  ancestry  that  located 
in  Massachusetts  in  1630,  all  of  whom 
have  since  lived  in  Boston  or  within 
a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of  that  city.  He 
was  educated  at  the  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tute of  Technology,  and  graduated  in  1 8  8 1 , 
with  the  S.B.  degree,  and  this  training 
was  supplemented  by  a  special  post-grad- 
uate course  of  one  year.  He  was  induced 
to  adopt  electricity  as  a  profession  largely 
from  knowledge  gained  in  writing  his  grad- 
uating thesis  in  1881,  and  conducting  a 
series  of  tests  on  the  subject  "Losses  in 
Transmitting  Power  by  Means  of  Belts 
and  Shafting."  In  his  thesis  Mr.  Cutler 
stated  that  this  method  was  a  disgrace  to 
the  mechanical  profession  and  that  the 
ideal  way  would  be  to  transmit  electrical 
power  over  insulated  wires  direct  to  elec- 
tric motors  attached  to  the  various  ma- 
chines to  be  driven,  provided  an  electric 
motor  could  be  developed  to  do  this  work. 
By  the  time  he  had  acquired  sufficient 
experience,  he  took  up  his  life  work 
designing  and  building  electric  control- 
lers adapted  for  special  appliances  of 
electric  motor  drive.  After  leaving  col- 
lege Mr.  Cutler  was  in  1883  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Cutler  &  Mower, 
mechanical  engineers,  at  Boston,  Mass., 
and  in  1884-5  ne  took  the  student's 
course  at  the  Thomson-Houston  Elec- 
tric Company's  plant,  Lynn,  Mass. 
His  special  preparation  for  his  future 
work  also  included  one  year  as  assistant 
instructor  in  the  steam  engine  laboratory 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technol- 
ogy, six  months  as  salesman  for  the  Crosby 
Steam  Engine  Indicator  and  in  instructing 
purchasers  how  to  use  it  and  set  the  valves, 
etc.,  on  steam  engines,  and  one  year  with 
the  Southwark  Foundry  &  Machine  Co., 
builders  of  the  Porter-Allen  high-speed 


engine.  With  this  practical  preparation 
along  all  lines  he  began  his  active  business 
career  in  May,  1885,  as  superintendent  and 
general  manager  of  the  Citizens  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Akron,  Ohio. 
His  subsequent  connections  were :  superin- 
tendent and  general  manager  of  the  New- 
ton Electric  Light  &  Power  Co.,  Newton, 
Mass.,  in  1887-89;  superintendent  elec- 
trical department  Newton  &  Watertown 
Gas  Light  Company,  Newton,  Mass.,  in 
1890;  manufacturer  of  electric  street  light- 
ing fixtures  in  Newton,  Mass.,  1890-91; 
general  manager  Electrical  Expert  Com- 
pany, Chicago,  111.,  1891-92.  He  organ- 
ized the  firm  of  Cutler  &  Hammer,  Chi- 
cago, 111.,  February  22,  1893,  and  in  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year  F.  S.  Terry  joined 
the  organization  and  the  Cutler-Hammer 
Manufacturing  Co.  was  incorporated. 
This  company  manufactured  electric  con- 
trolling devices  and  Mr.  Cutler  became 
its  treasurer  and  chief  engineer,  September 
i,  1893,  advancing  to  the  position  of 
president  and  continuing  as  treasurer  and 
chief  engineer  from  1896  until  1898.  The 
company  afterwards  removed  to  Milwau- 
kee, Wis.,  Mr.  Cutler  becoming  general 
manager  and  chief  engineer  in  1899,  and 
from  1903  until  1907  was  vice-president 
and  chief  engineer  of  the  company.  He 
continued  as  vice-president  until  1916  and 
the  year  following  sold  his  interests  and 
retired  entirely  from  the  organization. 
Mr.  Cutler's  first  notable  achievement  was 
in  designing  and  reconstructing  the  arc 
lighting  circuits  in  Akron,  Ohio,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1885,  so  as  to  stop  all  inductive 
effects  on  the  grounded  telephone  lines 
used  at  that  time.  This  successful  instal- 
lation caused  the  withdrawal  of  a  suit  for 
$40,000  damages  brought  by  the  Central 
Union  Telephone  Company  and  it  con- 
stituted the  first  electric  lighting  plant  ar- 
ranged to  stop  all  induction  troubles  on 
the  telephone  lines.  His  second  work  of 
large  importance  was  designing  and  instal- 
ling at  Newton,  Mass.,  in  1887,  the  high 


182 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


tension  alternating  current  system  of  in- 
candescent street  lighting,  using  several 
circuits  of  forty  25  volt  lamps  connected 
in  series,  directly  across  the  1000  volt 
primaries  and  carrying  transformers  on 
the  same  lines  stepping  down  to  50  volts. 
This  successful  system  was  used  for  light- 
ing stores  and  other  business  places  six 
miles  from  the  central  station.  The  gen- 
erator used  was  the  first  one  sold  by  the 
Thomson-Houston  Company  and  it  was 
exhibited  at  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  Convention  held  at  the  Parker 
House,  Boston,  Mass.,  in  1887.  While 
located  in  Akron,  Ohio,  Mr.  Cutler  in- 
stalled and  operated  the  city's  first  incan- 
descent lighting  system.  The  first  man 
he  tried  to  induce  to  use  the  service  said: 
"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  can 
light  my  place  with  those  red  hot  hairpins  ? 
It's  nonsense,  get  out  of  here."  Within 
ten  days,  however,  he  had  contracted  for 
the  1000  lamp  capacity  of  the  dynamo, 
which  generated  150  volts  with  circuits  ar- 
ranged for  two  75  volt  lamps  in  series. 
During  his  work  in  Newton,  Mass.,  Mr. 
Cutler  was  employed  on  many  occasions 
as  an  expert  witness  for  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company  and  its  cus- 
tomers, who  were  invariably  opposed  by 
the  New  England  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  whenever  said  customers  asked 
for  an  electric  lighting  franchise.  The 
objections  of  the  telephone  company  were 
based  on  the  ground  that  an  electric  light- 
ing system  would  cause  serious  induction 
troubles  in  the  telephones.  In  every  one 
of  these  cases  Mr.  Cutler  was  able  to  show 
that  there  would  be  no  induction  troubles 
from  electric  lighting  circuits,  if  the  sys- 
tems he  had  devised  and  constructed  in 


Akron,  Ohio,  and  Newton,  Mass.,  and 
other  installations,  which  he  had  laid  out, 
were  adopted.  Mr.  Cutler's  clear  and 
concise  explanation  was  instrumental  in 
winning  every  case  in  spite  of  the  testi- 
mony of  Prof.  Charles  Cross  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
Thomas  B.  Lockwood  and  other  notable 
telephone  experts.  The  telephone  people 
at  that  time  claimed  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  earth  as  a  return  circuit  for  telephone 
lines,  because  they  were  the  first  in  the 
field.  The  trolley  car  and  lighting  circuits 
doubtlessly  compelled  the  telephone  com- 
panies to  build  complete  metallic  circuits 
to  the  great  benefit  of  the  service,  long 
before  they  would  otherwise  have  adopted 
this  method.  Mr.  Cutler's  investigation 
and  research  work  has  been  thorough  and 
continuous.  He  has  been  a  most  indefati- 
gable worker  in  the  development  of  the 
science  and  has  evolved  many  valuable  ap- 
pliances for  various  uses  where  the  mys- 
terious current  is  used.  In  all  he  has  taken 
out  seventy-six  patents  and  is  still  engaged 
in  the  inventive  field,  his  time  now  being 
spent  in  experimenting  with  mechanical  in- 
ventions, and  as  a  diversion  from  his  ardu- 
ous work  he  has  taken  up  automobiling  and 
golf  playing,  two  pastimes  in  which  he 
finds  complete  relaxation  from  the  man- 
ual and  brain  fatigue  resulting  from  the 
intricate  problems  in  which  he  is  enthus- 
iastically interested.  Mr.  Cutler  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  the  Boston  City  Club,  several 
golf  clubs  and  other  social  and  scientific 
organizations.  He  makes  his  home  at 
Brookline,  Mass.,  and  spends  a  part  of 
each  winter  in  the  South. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


183 


CHARLES  E.  CAMPBELL 


Charles  E.  Campbell,  of  Lynn,  Mass., 
President  of  the  Campbell  Electric  Com- 
pany, is  an  engineer  whose  inventive  genius 
has  been  exercised  most  successfully  in  the 
electrical  field.  From  his  boyhood  it  has 
been  his  ambition  to  draw  from  their  hid- 
ing places  electrical  truths.  How  well  he 
has  succeeded  in  his  chosen  calling  is  nicely 
told  by  the  records  of  the  U.  S.  Patent 
Office  and  by  the  modern  and  magnificent 


plant  erected  to  supply  the  ever  increasing 
demand  for  Campbell  products.  His  early 
practical  work  was  on  telephones,  selective 
signal  systems  and  special  lighting  appli- 
ances. Among  the  lighting  devices  in- 
vented and  patented  by  Mr.  Campbell  are 
the  self-winding  time  switch  and  several 
high  tension  time  switches  and  the  induc- 
tion lamp.  The  demand  that  followed  the 
introduction  of  his  inventions  warranted 


184 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


his  establishing  business  as  a  manufacturer 
in  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  1901. 

The  more  complicated  field  of  radio- 
graphy and  fluoroscopy,  however,  which  at 
that  time  was  in  its  infancy,  supplied  him 
an  opportunity  to  reveal  to  his  fellow  men 
and  the  world  his  superior  inventive  genius. 
He  invented  and  patented  the  first  portable 
X-Ray  coil  based  on  the  Tesla  current,  and 
to-day  there  are  thousands  of  them  in  use 
by  the  leading  members  of  the  medical  pro- 
fession. Then  followed  the  invention  of 
the  Surex  transformer,  which  embodied 
electrical  principles  in  construction  that 
enabled  the  roentgenologist  to  depart  from 
the  elements  of  guess  and  approximation 
that  surrounded  him  in  producing  a  radio- 
graph. In  a  word,  the  Surex  transformer 
revolutionized  the  construction  of  X-Ray 
transformers.  Following  the  same  elec- 
trical principles  embodied  in  the  Surex 
transformer,  he  set  to  work  to  again  sim- 
plify the  apparatus,  with  the  result  that  the 
Campbell  Electric  Company  has  now 
made  available  an  automatic  Surex  trans- 
former so  simple  in  its  operation  that  the 
novice  in  X-ray  can  operate  it.  Second 
only  to  the  automatic  transformer  is  his  in- 
vention of  the  Campbell  motor-driven 
Tube  Tilt  X-Ray  Table,  which  has  revo- 
lutionized technique  in  both  radiography 
and  fluoroscopy,  making  it  possible  to  ex- 
amine and  radiograph  all  parts  of  the 
human  body  in  all  positions  without  mov- 
ing the  patient  from  the  table.  The  results 
accomplished  by  Mr.  Campbell  in  produc- 
ing this  table  were  regarded  as  impossible 
of  accomplishment  by  leading  manufactur- 
ers of  X-Ray  apparatus  of  the  country 
without  the  construction  of  a  large  un- 
wieldy and  impractical  apparatus.  The 
Campbell  Tube  Tilt  Table  is  no  larger  than 
the  ordinary  X-Ray  table,  and  requires 
only  the  pressing  of  a  button  to  place  it  and 
the  patient  in  any  desired  position. 

Mr.  Campbell  received  the  highest 
award  from  the  Panama-Pacific  Interna- 
tional Exposition,  held  in  San  Francisco  in 
1915,  -for  his  X-Ray  and  high  frequency 
apparatus,  and  was  the  only  manufacturer 
to  receive  an  award  at  the  International 
Red  Cross  Conference,  held  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  May  7-17,  1912. 


L.  H.  CON  KLIN 

When  the  vast  industries  and  innumer- 
able applications  of  electricity  to  the  uses 
of  the  common  life  are  considered,  and 
how  in  reference  to  light,  heat,  power  and 
other  necessary  concomitants  of  civilized 
existence  we  depend  so  greatly  on  the  ver- 
satile utility  of  electric  currents,  it  seems 
truly  wonderful  that  most  of  these  electric 
manifestations  have  been  evolved,  so  far 
as  their  common  uses  are  concerned,  in  the 
past  three  or  four  decades.  In  the  profes- 
sion of  electrical  engineering  men  still 
young  or  in  early  middle  age,  who  have 
been  in  practice  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years,  rank  as  "old-timers"  at  ages  when 
in  other  professions  they  would  be  ranked 
as  junior  practitioners. 

It  is  these  "old-timers"  who  are  to  be 
credited  with  most  of  the  creative  work 
and  among  whom  may  be  found  most  of 
the  notable  examples  of  success  in  things 
electrical.  Strong  in  the  fundamentals, 
their  technical  and  practical  knowledge  is 
strongly  reasoned  and  soundly  based. 

One  of  these  men  whose  career  has  been 
constructive  and  successful  is  L.  H.  Conk- 
lin,  whose  work,  both  technical  and  admin- 
istrative, has  earned  him  prominence  in  the 
electrical  profession. 

Mr.  Conklin  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
New  York,  December  7,  1872,  descendant, 
in  the  maternal  line,  of  a  Connecticut  pio- 
neer settled  in  1630,  and  on  the  father's 
side  of  an  old  Long  Island  family.  He 
was  graduated  from  Pratt  Institute,  in 
Brooklyn,  in  1891,  and,  beyond  the  man- 
ual training  course  there,  had  no  school 
preparation  for  his  profession.  He  had 
from  boyhood  looked  forward  to  an  elec- 
trical career,  but  he  is  one  of  the  few  "old- 
timers"  who  never  worked  for  the  larger 
companies,  such  as  the  General  Electric 
Company  or  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company.  His  first  con- 
nection with  the  electrical  business  was  in 
the  factory  of  Eickenmeyer  &  Osterheld, 
Yonkers,  New  York.  After  a  short  time 
there  he  went  to  the  Excelsior  Electric 
Company,  Brooklyn,  as  assistant  to  Mr. 
William  Hochhausen,  its  manager,  a  won- 
derful electrical  engineer  and  an  inventor 
of  profound  insight  and  commanding 
genius.  Working  with  that  skillful  pioneer 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


185 


L.   H.   CONKLIN 


inventor  in  his  private  office  every  business 
day  for  two  years,  Mr.  Conklin  obtained 
the  most  valuable  training.  He  became  Mr. 
Hochhausen's  chief  assistant  in  design  and 
experimentation,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  years  was  made  superintendent  of  the 
electric  department  of  the  Flatbush  Gas 
Company,  Brooklyn. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Weiderman  &  Conklin,  contractors  and  en- 
gineers, and  was  engineer  for  plants  con- 
trolled by  A.  M.  Young  in  New  England. 
Later  he  accepted  the  position  of  General 
Superintendent  of  the  West  Penn  Rail- 
ways Co.,  operating  in  the  Pittsburgh  dis- 
trict, and  from  there  went  to  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania,  to  become  manager  of  the 
Scranton  Electric  Company,  owned  by  the 
American  Gas  and  Electric  Company;  su- 
pervising operating  for  J.  G.  White  & 


Company,  and  he  is  at  present  Secretary, 
Treasurer  and  General  Manager  of  the 
United  Service  Company.  He  has  had 
especially  notable  success  in  the  work  of 
combining  small  plants  in  a  successful  hold- 
ing company. 

Mr.  Conklin  is  a  fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers;  member 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
and  for  the  past  six  years  a  member  of  its 
Rate  Research  Committee;  was  organizer 
and  first  President  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Electric  Association ;  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Electric  Railway  Association,  and  of 
its  Committee  on  the  Training  of  Em- 
ployees. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Railroad  Club, 
New  York,  the  Scranton  Club  and  several 
smaller  golf  clubs,  and  has  a  great  liking 
for  outdoor  recreation  and  boy  scout  work. 


186 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HENRY  HAVELOCK  CUMMINGS 


Henry  H.  Cummings,  of  Boston,  Mass., 
who  is  an  inventor  of  many  contrivances 
used  for  the  navigation  of  steamships,  is 
now  engaged  in  perfecting  an  electric  log 
and  several  special  electric  instruments 
that  will  be  of  great  help  to  mariners.  Mr. 
Cummings  was  born  February  28,  1858,  in 
Worcester,  Mass.,  the  son  of  Elkanah  An- 
drews and  Emily  Cleveland  (Spicer) 
Cummings.  The  father  was  a  Baptist  min- 
ister, who  afterwards  took  up  teaching  and 
the  development  of  real  estate.  Mr.  Cum- 
mings was  educated  at  the  Maplewood 


Grammar  School,  Maiden,  graduating  in 
1871.  As  a  child  he  displayed  remarkable 
mechanical  tact,  and  in  his  early  boyhood 
invented  and  constructed  a  household  de- 
vice that  saved  his  mother  much  labor. 
Previous  to  and  during  the  time  he  was  at 
school  he  aided  his  father  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  heels  for  the  boston  and  Lynn  shoe 
manufacturers.  After  the  completion  of 
his  education  he  started  a  small  printing 
establishment  in  connection  with  one  of  his 
brothers.  He  was  then  employed  in  a  dry 
goods  store  in  Boston,  but  left  this  posi- 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


187 


tion  in  1875  to  learn  the  trade  of  machin- 
ist. He  was  twenty-three  years  old  in  1 88 1 
when  he  started  the  Cummings  Machine 
Works,  one  year  later  taking  A.  D.  Crom- 
bie  as  a  partner.  This  connection  continued 
for  twenty-two  years,  and  was  dissolved  by 
the  retirement  of  Mr.  Crombie,  whose  in- 
terest Mr.  Cummings  purchased.  The 
business  was  incorporated  in  1905,  Mr. 
Cummings  becoming  president  and  treas- 
urer. Before  he  established  his  own  busi- 
ness, he  began  his  career  as  an  inventor, 
and  since  that  time  has  been  granted  one 
hundred  and  thirty  patents.  The  most  im- 
portant among  these  is  a  button-sewing 
machine,  a  device  for  seed  packing,  an  im- 
proved printing  press,  a  sub-target  gun  and 
an  engine-log  system  by  which  the  speed 
of  a  steamship  is  automatically  indicated. 
It  also  records  the  distance  traveled,  the 
direction  of  rotation  of  each  propeller,  the 
total  average  number  of  revolutions  and 
the  average  number  per  minute.  These 
are  all  indicated  simultaneously,  with  ex- 
treme accuracy,  and  the  system  aroused  the 
keen  interest  of  marine  people  in  this 
country  and  abroad.  It  is  now  the  stand- 
ard equipment  for  ships  of  the  United 
States  Navy.  He  also  invented  many 
other  machines  and  devices  to  be  used  on 
steamships  in  connection  with  the  engines 
and  other  parts  of  the  ship's  apparatus. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  inventions  is 
The  Cummings  "Dot  Rifle,"  a  simple  and 
scientifically  accurate  device  by  which  a 
person  can,  without  using  ammunition,  en- 
gage in  target  practice  with  an  ordinary 
rifle.  The  system  can  also  be  used  in  ma- 
chine guns,  pistols  and  on  the  large  naval 
guns.  By  this  system  a  marksman  can 
attain,  in  a  few  weeks,  a  higher  grade  of 
skill  than  he  could  by  devoting  the  same 
number  of  months  on  a  regular  range  with 
service  ammunition. 

Mr.  Cummings  is  a  Republican,  and  dur- 
ing 1894  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
City  Council  of  Maiden  by  that  party, 
serving  during  1894-95.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Massachusetts  Republican  Club, 
and  the  other  organizations  with  which  he 
is,  or  has  been  connected,  are  the  Highland 
Glee  Club,  Boston  Yacht  Club,  Boston 


Chamber  of  Commerce,  Bostonian  Society, 
American  Society  of  Naval  Engineers, 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, Navy  League,  Reciprocity  Club  of 
America,  United  Order  of  the  Golden 
Cross,  Workmen's  Benefit  Association, 
Aero  Club  of  New  England,  and  the  Mai- 
den City  Government  Association.  He  has 
resided  in  Newton  since  1904,  and  is  an  at- 
tendant at  the  Congregational  Church, 
Newton  Highlands.  He  served  as  a 
deacon  from  1912  to  1915,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Congregational  Club.  He  is  the 
owner  of  motor  boats  and  takes  great 
pleasure  in  short  ocean  trips. 

On  February  24,  1886,  he  married  Jane 
Clark  Crombie,  daughter  of  his  former 
partner,  Albert  D.  Crombie,  of  Maiden, 
the  union  bringing  two  children,  Sylvia, 
who  died  at  the  age  of  five  years,  and 
Esther  Cummings. 

Mr.  Cummings  believes  a  boy  should 
decide  what  work  he  was  best  fitted  for  as 
early  as  possible,  and  then  (bend  every 
energy  to  attain  success  in  that  line  and 
philosophically  supplements  this  advice  by 
the  statement  that  "it  is  much  better  to  be 
a  good  mechanic  than  a  poor  doctor." 

During  his  entire  life  Mr.  Cummings  has 
been  one  of  the  most  industrious  and  per- 
sistent workers,  which  accounts  for  his  suc- 
cess both  in  the  line  of  manufacture  and 
that  of  invention.  He  has,  however,  found 
time  to  devote  to  religious,  educational  and 
social  matters,  and  his  relaxation  from  the 
strain  of  business  comes  from  these  and 
yachting. 

He  is  now  working  on  an  electric  log 
and  special  electric  navigating  instruments. 

Mr.  Cummings,  by  reason  of  his  work 
for  the  Navy  Department,  has  authority 
from  Secretary  Daniels  to  board  any 
steamship  in  the  service,  in  order  to  test 
his  instruments.  He  is  passionately  fond 
of  the  sea  and  makes  frequent  trips  upon 
the  boats  going  out  for  target  practice.  He 
has  also  made  short  trips  in  American  sub- 
marines. 

The  Cummings  machine  works,  which 
are  located  at  no  High  Street,  Boston, 
give  employment  to  160  hands,  60  of 
whom  are  women. 


188 


H.  C.  GUSHING,  JR. 


H.  C.  Gushing,  Jr.,  who,  in  addition  to 
his  achievement  in  electrical  work,  has  con- 
tributed much  literature  to  the  advance- 
ment of  the  science,  was  born  in  Maryland, 
May  14,  1869.  He  began  practical  work 
in  the  testing  department  of  the  Mather 
Electrical  Company,  Manchester,  Con- 
necticut, in  the  fall  of  1888,  under  Profes- 
sor William  A.  Anthony  and  after  one 
year  in  this  connection  entered  Cornell 


University  for  a  two-years'  special  course 
in  Electrical  Engineering.  Upon  gradua- 
tion he  was  employed  by  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company  and  the 
General  Electric  Company  from  1891 
until  1893,  when  he  was  appointed  Chief 
Electrical  Inspector  of  the  Boston  Board 
of  Fire  Underwriters,  a  position  he  re- 
tained until  his  selection  as  Chief  Electri- 
cal Inspector  of  the  Fire  Underwriters' 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


189 


Tariff  Association  of  New  York  City  in 
1895.  Five  years  later  he  became  business 
manager  of  the  Electrical  World  and  in 
1901  resigned  this  position  to  establish  and 
publish  the  Central  Station,  which  at 
this  time  is  entering  its  seventeenth  year  of 
publication.  In  1894  Mr.  Gushing 
brought  out  the  first  edition  of  his  hand- 
book, "Standard  Wiring,"  for  electric 
light  and  power.  This  book  is  revised  an- 
nually, and  since  its  first  issue,  twenty-five 
years  ago,  it  has  been  the  acknowledged 
authority  on  electric  light  and  power  wir- 
ing and  installation.  Mr.  Gushing  is  a 
direct  descendant  of  John  Gushing,  who 
came  to  America  in  1638  and  founded  the 
town  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  which 
he  named  after  his  birthplace  in  England. 

He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  member 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, the  Cornell  University  Club,  the 
Country  Club  of  West  Chester,  the  Hugue- 
not Yacht  Club  and  the  Kappa  Alpha  Fra- 
ternity. His  business  address  is  8  West 
40th  Street,  New  York  City. 

WILLIAM  DAVID  COOLIDGE 

Dr.  William  D.  Coolidge,  assistant  di- 
rector of  the  Research  Laboratory  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  was  born  in 
Hudson,  Mass.,  October23.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  B.  S.,  1896,  and  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Leipzig,  as  Ph.D.,  in  1899. 

He  has  since  been  identified  with  the 
important  research  work  conducted  in  the 
laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany under  the  general  direction  of  Dr. 
Whitney.  He  has  made  many  important 
investigations  and  inventions,  the  most  im- 
portant being  the  invention  of  ductile  tung- 
sten and  its  various  applications,  and  for 
this  invention  was  awarded  the  Rumford 
Medal  in  1914.  Another  important  inven- 
tion of  his  is  a  Roentgen  Ray  Tube  with  a 
Pure  Electron  Discharge,  and  there  are 
several  others  to  his  credit  that  rank 
among  the  most  valuable  contributions 
to  electrical  science. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Chem- 
ical Society,  American  Electrochemical  Soci- 
ety, American  Physical  Society,  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  Washington 


WILLIAM  DAVID  COOLIDGE 

Academy  of  Sciences,  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  American  Roentgen 
Ray  Society,  Roentgen  Society  of  England, 
and  the  Chemists'  Club  of  New  York. 

W.  G.  CHACE 

The  profession  of  electrical  engineer  has 
attracted  to  its  ranks  many  of  the  brightest 
minds.  It  is  only  two  or  three  decades 
since  the  profession,  as  applied  to  light, 
heat  and  power,  had  its  inception.  Its 
possibilities  for  creative  work,  adding  the 
joys  of  scientific  achievement  to  the  re- 
wards of  success  led  many  who  had  begun 
other  vocations  to  seek  the  training  pre- 
requisite to  success  in  electrical  paths. 
Thus  it  was  that  Mr.  W.  G.  Chace,  a  na- 
tive of  Lincoln  County,  Ontario,  who,  after 
taking  public  and  high  school  courses  at 
St.  Catherine's  in  that  county,  had  himself 
taught  in  public  schools  for  six  years,  en- 
tered the  University  of  Toronto  and,  spe- 
cializing in  courses  in  electricity  and  hy- 
draulics, was  graduated  with  honors  in  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Applied  Science. 

During  the  period  of  his  university  stud- 
ies he  served  a  summer  apprenticeship  in 
electrical  work,  and  after  graduation  began 


190 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


as  field  draughtsman,  then  became  engi- 
neer in  hydro-electric  work,  later  adding  to 
experience  in  electrical,  hydraulic,  and  con- 
struction works.  He  was  resident  engi- 
neer on  extensions  of  the  hydro-electric 
plant  of  The  International  Railway  Com- 
pany, 1903-1905.  Since  1905  he  has  held 
a  series  of  responsible  relationships  as  as- 
sistant to  chief  or  chief  engineer,  and  in  ad- 
ministrative positions  chiefly  in  connection 
with  developments  and  constructions.  He 
was  electrical  engineer  of  the  Temiskaming 
&  Northern  Ontario  Railway  Commission, 
1905-1906,  and  hydraulic  engineer  for  the 
Hydro-Electric  Power  Commission  of  Onta- 
rio, 1906-1907.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Smith,  Kerry  &  Chace,  Toronto, 
1907-1912,  and  of  Kerry  &  Chace,  Lim- 
ited, Toronto,  1913-1916,  in  general  prac- 
tice as  consulting  and  supervising  engi- 


neers. He  was  chief  engineer  of  the  City 
of  Winnipeg  Power  Development,  1908- 
1911,  and  since  1913  has  been  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  Greater  Winnipeg  Water  Dis- 
trict. 

Mr.  Chace  holds  a  representative  place 
in  the  profession,  especially  in  the  develop- 
ment of  hydroelectric  systems.  He  is 
chairman  of  the  Winnipeg  Technical  Com- 
mittee, associated  with  the  Honorary 
Council  for  Scientific  and  Industrial  Re- 
search of  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Engineering  Institute 
of  Canada,  and  was  chairman  of  its 
Manitoba  Branch,  1915-1916.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers of  Great  Britain,  and  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 
He  is  president  (1917-18)  of  the  Elmhurst 
Golf  Links,  Ltd.,  Winnipeg. 


DR.  LEE  DE  FOREST 


Dr.  Lee  de  Forest,  one  of  the  pioneers 
in  wireless  telegraphy,  whose  genius  cre- 
ated the  De  Forest  Audion  Amplifier,  an 
instrument  that  made  possible  transconti- 
nental telephony  and  transoceanic  radio 
telephony,  has  during  his  entire  lifetime 
been  one  of  the  most  indefatigable  and 
successful  workers  in  this  branch  of  elec- 
trical science.  He  has,  in  all,  taken  out 
over  one  hundred  patents  here  and  abroad 
on  radio  telegraphy  and  telephony,  each 
one  of  which  has  materially  aided  in  the 
world  development  of  the  wireless,  but  his 
crowning  achievement  is  the  Audion  Ampli- 
fier, which  has  accomplished  what  the  sci- 
entists of  the  world  have  vainly  endeav- 
ored to  do  for  a  score  of  years.  Dr.  de 
Forest  is  a  native  of  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa, 
where  he  was  born  August  26,  1873,  and 
was  educated  at  the  Mt.  Hermon  (Mass.) 
Boys'  High  School.  He  then  entered  the 
Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity for  the  electrical  and  mechanical  engi- 
neering course,  graduating  in  1896.  In 
1899  he  received  from  Yale  University  the 
degree  of  Ph.D.  for  work  in  physics  and 
mathematics.  For  a  time  after  leaving 
college  he  was  attached  to  the  Western 
Electric  Company's  Telephone  Depart- 
ment in  research  work,  when  he  began 
business  for  himself.  From  early  youth 


he  had  determined  to  devote  his  energies 
to  electricity  and  inventions,  and  he  fol- 
lowed this  inclination  consistently  by  care- 
fully educating  himself  for  research  along 
the  lines  selected  for  his  life  work.  His 
first  important  work  was  the  development 
of  the  Radio  Teleraph  System,  which  bore 
his  name  from  1902  until  1910.  In  1906 
he  began  work  on  the  Radio  Telephone. 
For  over  a  score  of  years  telephone  en- 
gineers had  sought  in  vain  a  repeater  or 
amplifying  relay  which  should  be  at  once 
extremely  sensitive,  free  from  delicate  and 
frequent  adjustments,  and  yet  which  would 
amplify  every  modulation  or  variation  of 
the  human  voice  without  distortion.  With- 
out such  a  relay  the  telephone,  at  that  time, 
was  limited  to  a  few  hundred  miles.  The 
problem  was  a  baffling  one  to  the  inventors 
and  engineers  in  the  telephone  industry, 
and  to  stimulate  action  along  this  line  of 
research  an  Eastern  telephone  company,  in 
the  late  nineties,  offered  "one  million  dol- 
lars" for  a  successful  telephone  relay. 
This  prize  was  never  claimed  or  awarded. 
The  engineers  still  continued  to  work  along 
the  same  lines,  numberless  patents  were 
issued  and  untold  thousands  of  dollars 
were  spent  on  the  problem.  Meanwhile, 
through  all  those  years,  the  long-distance 
telephone  halted,  stopped  effectively  by 


LEE     DE     FOREST 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


191 


that  trifling  little  barrier — the  repeater  re- 
lay. Prof.  Pupin,  of  Columbia  Univer- 
sity, had  discovered  and  patented  the  in- 
ductance coils  which  alone  made  it  possible 
to  speak  intelligibly  on  overhead  lines  one 
thousand  miles  or  over  cables  twenty  miles 
in  length.  He  sold  his  patents  to  the  Bell 
Telephone  Company  many  years  ago,  but 
the  transcontinental  telephone  still  re- 
mained a  commercial  impossibility.  The- 
oretically it  was  possible  to  build  a  line 
with  very  large  copper  conductors  and 
plentifully  spaced  with  Pupin  coils,  which 
would  enable  one,  by  using  large  electrical 
currents  in  the  transmitter,  to  telephone 
across  the  continent.  But,  commercially, 
the  staggering  cost  of  such  a  line  put  this 
method  absolutely  out  of  consideration — 
it  was  impossible.  So  the  telephone  world 
waited  hopefully  for  that  yet  unfound — 
the  relay  which  could  alone  enable  one  to 
send,  clear  and  audible,  the  infinitely  deli- 
cate variations  of  the  voice  across  North 
America.  At  last  that  result  was  attained 
— not  by  telephone  engineers,  whose  minds 
had  for  years  spun  in  the  old  rut  of  re- 
ceiver-michrophone  "Siamesed"  together, 
but  by  de  Forest,  who,  beginning  his 
pioneer  experiments  with  wireless  detec- 
tors, 'way  back  in  1902,  discovered  that 
a  heated  gas  was  "sensitive"  to  the  weak 
"wireless"  waves  and  could  constitute  a 
new  detective  for  use  in  radio  telegraphy. 
In  1903-4  Dr.  de  Forest  made  on  this 
principle  a  genuine  practical  detector,  pos- 
sessing a  sensitiveness  far  in  excess  of  any 
hitherto  known  wireless  receiver.  Inde- 
fatigable in  his  efforts  to  further  improve 
and  apply  his  "Audion,"  this  little  incan- 
descent lamp  (which  made  audible  the  ac- 
tion of  the  "ions,"  or  sub-atoms,  of  the 
heated  gas  around  the  filament),  Dr.  de 
Forest  discovered  that  these  "ions"  re- 
sponded to  telephonic  currents  as  well  as 
to  those  of  the  far  higher  frequencies  used 
in  wireless.  He  found  that  when  this 
strange  device,  so  utterly  new  to  the  tele- 
phone field,  was  properly  connected  in  the 
line  between  a  transmitter  and  a  receiver, 
the  Audion  actually  amplified  the  voice  cur- 
rents, giving  a  reproduction  of  perfect 
fidelity  without  a  trace  or  lag  or  distortion, 
yet  with  an  increase  in  volume,  or  inten- 
sity. He  patented  the  Audion  Amplifier 
in  1907,  but  it  was  not  until  1912  that  he 


had  brought  it  to  such  a  state  of  perfec- 
tion that  he  felt  justified  in  bringing  it  to 
the  attention  of  the  engineering  staff  of 
the  American  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company.  Three  times  this  company  has 
purchased  patent  rights  under  the  Audion 
and  other  patents,  paying  nearly  a  half 
million  dollars  for  them.  The  Audion 
Amplifier  proved  to  be  the  long-sought 
telephone  repeater,  or  relay,  of  almost  in- 
finite sensitiveness  and  power,  free  of  ad- 
justment and  distortion.  Its  use  made  pos- 
sible, in  1915,  the  opening  of  the  first 
transcontinental  telephone  service.  Since 
then  its  introduction  in  long-distance  tele- 
phone service  in  this  country  and  abroad 
has  been  almost  universal. 

By  use  of  large  oscillating  Audions, 
wireless  telephony  from  Washington  to 
Honolulu  has  been  achieved,  and  the  de- 
tector is  now  used  exclusively  for  long-dis- 
tance signalling  the  world  over — especially 
in  the  U.  S.  Navy  Service.  A  work  de- 
voted to  the  progress  of  electrical  science 
would  be  as  incomplete  without  a  descrip- 
tion of  Dr.  de  Forest's  wonderful 
invention  as  it  would  be  were  the  discover- 
ies of  Professors  Morse  and  Bell  left  out; 
hence  a  few  words  about  the  Audion  Am- 
plifier. This  instrument  consists  of  a  small 
incandescent  lamp  bulb  exhausted  of  air, 
containing,  in  addition  to  the  usual  fila- 
ment, two  thin  plates  of  nickel  about  one- 
eighth  of  an  inch  from  the  filament  on 
either  side.  Between  the  filament  and  the 
plates  are  two  pieces  of  nickel  wire  bem. 
grid-shaped.  That  is  all.  Can  you  im- 
agine anything  more  simple,  more  utterly 
unlikely  to  operate  as  a  repeater  of  tele- 
phone currents?  Yet  this  little  lamp  was 
the  one  thing  missing  in  the  successful  sys- 
tem of  transcontinental  and  transoceanic 
communication.  It  links  the  Eastern  with 
the  Central,  the  Central  with  the  Moun- 
tain, and  that  with  the  Pacific  Coast.  In 
the  Amplifier,  the  incoming  current,  to  be 
repeated  and  amplified,  is  conducted  to  the 
"grid"  wire.  The  outgoing  line  is  con- 
nected, one  terminal  to  the  plates,  the  other 
to  the  filament.  In  this  circuit  is  found  a 
battery.  A  separate  battery  lights  the  fila- 
ment to  incandescence.  The  heated  gas 
becomes  then  a  conductor  of  the  local  cur- 
rent from  the  battery,  which  can  pass  from 
the  cold  plates  to  the  'hot  filament.  In 


192 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


other  words,  negatively  charged  "car- 
riers," "ions,"  or  "thermions,"  as  they 
may  be  termed,  speed  in  invisible  streams 
of  almost  infinite  tenuity  from  filament  to 
plates,  passing  in  their  migration  through 
the  spaces  between  the  wires  of  the 
"grids."  Now,  the  slightest  electrical  po- 
tential, or  charge,  of  electricity  impressed 
upon  these  "grids"  from  the  incoming  tele- 
phonic currents  deflects  or  retards  some  of 
these  tiny  carriers  of  negative  electricity. 
This  effect  is  always  proportional  to  the 
cause,  so  that  the  current  changes  pro- 
duced in  the  outgoing,  or  "plate,"  circuit 
are  similar  to  those  current  changes,  or 
electrical  charges,  upon  the  "grid"  wires 
which  produced  them.  But  the  changes  in 
current  thus  produced  are  many  times  in 
volume  or  intensity  the  changes  in  current 
which  caused  them.  In  other  words,  a 
unit  electrical  charge  delivered  upon  the 
"grid"  produces  a  deflection,  or  stoppage, 
of  six  to  ten  unit  electrical  charges  passing 
from  the  filament  to  the  plates.  Hence  the 
strange  amplifying  properties  of  the  Au- 
dion.  The  one  most  essential  and  com- 
pletely novel  element  in  the  whole  strange 
device  is  the  "grid"  member,  interposed 
across  the  path  of  the  traveling  ions  ("wan- 
derers," as  their  Greek  name  implies). 
Dr.  de  Forest  chose  to  deal  then  with 
"ions,"  gas  atoms  or  sub-atoms — matter 
in  its  most  tenuous  form,  what  Prof. 
Crookes  well  styled  the  "fourth  state  of 
matter."  Try  to  imagine  one  of  these 
ionic  carriers  of  the  voice,  or  electric 
charges,  and  contrast  it  with  a  carbon 
granule  of  a  michrophone  transmitter  of 
the  early  "telephone  relays."  Compare  a 
soap  bubble  with  a  load  of  coal,  and  you 


will  have  some  relative  idea  of  the  differ- 
ence between  the  delicacy  and  elegance  of 
the  Audion  and  that  of  the  old  microphone 
relay.  Transoceanic  telephony  by  subma- 
rine cable,  with  numerous  Pupin  coils  and 
the  Audion  Amplifier,  is  theoretically  pos- 
sible; commercially,  an  utter  impossibility. 
The  cost  of  such  a  cable  would  be  prohibi- 
tive. But  transoceanic  wireless  telephony 
is  within  reach.  The  de  Forest  Audion  and 
Amplifier,  extending,  as  they  have,  the  range 
of  wireless  and  making  loud  those  signals 
which  otherwise  are  inaudible,  makes  this 
result  possible.  Dr.  de  Forest's  work  in 
wireless  telegraphy  was  recognized  by  the 
St.  Louis  Exposition  Jury  of  Awards  in 
1904  by  the  bestowal  of  a  gold  medal 
for  his  research  work  and  discoveries 
along  that  line.  He  was  also  awarded 
a  gold  medal  by  the  Panama  Pacific  In- 
ternational Exposition  held  at  San  Fran- 
cisco in  1915  for  the  part  his  Audion  Am- 
plifier played  in  the  transcontinental  tele- 
phone service  opening  that  year,  as  well  as 
for  the  Oscillion  and  Audion  Detector, 
which  made  possible  the  transoceanic  radio 
telephone  communication  from  Allington 
to  Honolulu  and  Paris  in  November,  1915. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Yale  Club,  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
the  Institute  of  Radio  Engineers,  Franklin 
Institute,  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Wire- 
less Association  of  America.  He  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Radio  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company  and  the  de  Forest  Radio 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company.  He 
resides  at  232nd  Street  and  the  Hudson 
River,  and  his  laboratory  is  located  at  1391 
Sedgwick  Avenue,  in  the  factory  of  his 
company. 


HENRY    |_.  DOHERTY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


193 


THE  DOHERTY  ORGANIZATION 


Doherty  means  much  in  the  world 
of  electricity.  It  designates  Henry  L. 
Doherty,  head  of  the  public  utility  operat- 
ing firm  of  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company; 
and  it  also  signifies  the  trade  name  of  the 
Doherty  Organization,  comprising  16,000 
members,  and  engaged  in  every  phase  of 
electrical,  manufactured  gas,  traction,  nat- 
ural gas  and  oil  operation.  Mr.  Doherty 
is  proud  of  his  rise  from  the  position  of 
office  boy  in  the  Columbus  Gas  Company, 
in  1882,  to  that  he  now  occupies,  but  his 
pride  in  the  Doherty  Organization  is  even 
greater.  It  is  the  members  of  this  Organ- 
ization who  must,  eventually,  carry  on  the 
principles  known  in  the  utility  world  as 
"Doherty  practice  and  service." 

The  Doherty  Organization,  in  its  em- 
bryonic state,  dates  back  thirty-five  years, 
as  its  inception  in  Mr.  Doherty's  mind 
anticipated  the  actual  founding  by  two 
decades,  but  its  growth  has  far  exceeded 
the  most  roseate  dreams  of  its  founder  and 
commander. 

Mr.  Doherty  had  long  been  one  of  the 
foremost  utility  operators  when  he  started 
what  has  become  one  of  the  most  noted  as 
well  as  valuable  features  of  the  Organiza- 
tion. This  innovation  was  first  generally 
termed  the  "cadet  school"  and  its  results 
were  known  as  the  "Doherty  Schools  of 
Practice"  and  now  as  the  "Doherty 
Schools  of  Training."  The  first  school  was 
run  in  connection  with  the  Denver  Gas  & 


Electric  Light  Company,  the  students  be- 
ing graduates  of  the  engineering  schools  of 
leading  colleges  and  universities.  In  the 
"cadet  school"  they  practiced  what  they 
had  studied  and,  in  addition,  secured  the 
priceless  privilege  of  being  able  to  demon- 
strate their  theoretical  knowledge  under 
the  tutelage  of  experienced  men.  The 
"cadets"  serve  a  two-year  course  and  are 
then  graduated  into  the  active  ranks.  As 
evidence  of  the  success  of  this  project  it 
may  be  stated  that  many  of  the  leading  ex- 
ecutives of  the  Organization  are  former 
"cadets."  As  the  Organization  grew  the 
number  of  schools  was  increased  and 
broadened  in  scope.  Today  four  schools 
train  men  for  all  the  phases  of  the  oil  in- 
dustry as  well  as  for  electric,  gas  and  trac- 
tion practice. 

When  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company 
opened  their  New  York  offices  the  force 
consisted  of  a  half  dozen;  today  it  is  300. 
In  those  days  the  number  of  companies 
operated  was  four;  today  sees  some  150 
controlled  and  directed  by  the  Doherty 
Organization,  located  in  twenty-eight 
states  of  the  Union,  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  and  even  in  Mexico.  Tank  cars 
bearing  the  Doherty  emblem  cross  the 
continent,  and  ships  flying  the  Doherty  flag 
sail  the  seven  seas.  These  are  but  a  few 
of  the  developments  of  fourteen  years,  but 
serve  to  indicate,  briefly,  the  scope  of  the 
Doherty  Organization. 


194 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HENRY   L.    DOHERTY 


Keen  business  judgment,  wide  experi- 
ence and  unusual  power  of  organization 
have  made  Henry  L.  Doherty  a  dominant 
figure  in  financial  and  commercial  affairs. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  person- 
alities in  the  public  utility  field,  and  his 
wonderful  rise  to  a  commanding  position 
in  a  few  years  equals  the  achievement  of 
any  of  those  who  have  risen  to  eminence 
along  similar  lines.  While  persistent  and 
energetic,  Mr.  Doherty  is  reticent  and  re- 
tiring, which  is  the  possible  reason  his 
name  is  not  as  well  known  as  those  of  men 
who  have  courted  publicity.  Mr.  Doherty, 
now  head  of  the  banking  house  of  Henry 
L.  Doherty  &  Company,  is  an  engineer  by 
profession  and  early  in  his  career  devoted 
his  entire  time  to  practical  utility  work. 
He  was  born  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  May  15, 
1870,  son  of  Frank  and  Anna  (McEl- 
wain)  Doherty.  His  father  was  an  engi- 
neer and  inventor  and  was  descended  from 
William  Doherty,  who  came  to  the  United 
States  about  1800  and  served  as  the  first 
adjutant  general  of  the  State  of  Ohio. 
Mr.  Doherty's  great-grandfather  was 
State  Librarian  of  Ohio  and  also  served 
with  distinction  under  Commodore  Perry, 
on  Lake  Erie,  being  brevetted  for  bravery 
on  that  occasion.  The  maternal  side  of  the 
family  is  of  English,  Scotch  and  Irish  an- 
cestry. Mr.  Doherty  attended  the  public 
schools  until  he  was  twelve  years  of  age 
and  finished  his  education  by  self-study. 
He  entered  the  employ  of  the  Columbus 


Gas  Company  in  1883  and,  after  serving 
in  various  capacities,  rose  to  the  dual  posi- 
tion of  chief  engineer  and  assistant  to  the 
manager.  Later  he  transferred  his  ener- 
gies to  the  Madison  Gas  and  Electric 
Light  Company,  Madison,  Wis.,  as  mana- 
ger and  rose  to  the  presidency  of  that  com- 
pany in  a  short  time.  He  afterwards  filled, 
either  successively  or  simultaneously,  the 
positions  of  engineer  of  the  Columbus 
Electric  Company;  general  manager  of  the 
St.  Paul  (Minn.)  Gas  Light  Company  and 
the  St.  Paul  Edison  Company;  constructing 
engineer  for  the  Jacques  Cartier  Electric 
Company,  of  Quebec,  Canada;  chief  engi- 
neer for  Emerson  McMillin  &  Co.,  of 
New  York  City;  chief  engineer  and  general 
manager  of  the  American  Light  and  Trac- 
tion Company;  engineer  and  manager  and 
afterwards  president  of  the  Denver  Gas 
and  Electric  Light  Company. 

Mr.  Doherty  has  made  many  important 
inventions  in  connection  with  the  improve- 
ment of  devices  and  methods  for  the  pro- 
duction, purification  and  distribution  of 
gas  and  improvement  in  gas-meters  and 
other  gas  applications.  He  was  the  win- 
ner of  the  Beall  gold  medal  awarded  by 
the  American  Gas  Light  Association  in 
1898  and  has  been  a  leader  in  the  success- 
ful movement  in  favor  of  gas  for  cooking 
purposes.  Mr.  Doherty  organized  the 
banking  house  of  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Co., 
and  since  that  time  his  interest  in  public 
utilities  has  been  greatly  extended. 


FRANK    W.     FRUEAUFF 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


195 


FRANK  W.   FRUEAUFF 


In  1891  a  young  man  of  seventeen  years 
received  his  diploma  as  a  graduate  of  the 
East  Denver  High  School  and  thereupon 
decided  that  he  must  continue  his  educa- 
tional course  while  earning  his  living,  and 
on  looking  over  the  business  fields  of  Den- 
ver the  high-school  graduate  espied  the 
Denver  Consolidated  Electric  Company, 
the  local  representative  of  a  palpably 
growing  industry.  So  far  so  good,  but  the 
electric  concern  had  no  job.  The  manager 
consented,  however,  to  take  the  applica- 
tion, which  set  forth,  among  other  things, 
that  Frank  W.  Frueauff  was  born  in  Lan- 
caster County,  Pennsylvania,  March  29, 
1874,  had  lived  much  of  his  life  in  Lead- 
ville,  Colorado,  and  had  but  the  previous 
day  graduated  from  the  East  Denver  High 
School  with  an  electrical  experience  of 
nothing  at  all.  Three  months  later  Mr. 
Frueauff  became  a  public  utility  operator 
with  the  Denver  Electric  Company.  True, 
his  official  title  was  lamp-boy  and  his 
salary  $50  a  month,  but  his  pathway  was 
already  illumined — and  by  electricity.  To- 
day, a  little  over  a  quarter  century  later, 
finds  the  always  cheerful  and  efficient  lamp- 
boy  the  president  of  the  Denver  Gas  & 
Electric  Company,  a  worthy  successor  to 
his  first  employer,  and  partner  in  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  powerful  public  util- 
ity operating  firms  in  the  world,  Henry 
L.  Doherty  &  Company,  whose  success  is 
known  in  Europe  as  in  America  as  Cities 
Service  Company.  The  proverbial  ladder 
of  success  was  climbed  rapidly  by  the  young 
Denverite.  From  lamp-boy  to  meter 
reader,  clerk,  cashier,  secretary  and  vice- 
president,  and  then  the  presidency,  though 
a  voting  resident  of  Garden  City,  L.  L, 
with  business  address  at  60  Wall  Street, 
New  York.  But  to  Colorado  Frank 
Frueauff  is  still  a  Denverite,  and  it  was 


Denver  that  first  remembered  his  silver 
anniversary  with  the  electrical  industry  by 
tendering  roses  and  congratulations.  In 
1908  Mr.  Frueauff  arrived  in  New  York 
with  Henry  L.  Doherty,  who  shortly 
before  had  successively  launched  his  bark 
on  the  sea  of  independent  public  utility 
operation  after  a  remarkable  career  as 
chief  lieutenant  of  Emerson  McMillin. 
At  that  time  the  office  force  of  Henry  L. 
Doherty  Company  totaled  six,  including 
the  firm,  and  there  were  four  properties 
operated,  of  which  Denver  was  easily  the 
leader.  Today  there  are  150  properties 
in  28  States  and  16,000  employees  in  the 
Doherty  organization,  and  250  are  em- 
ployed in  the  directing  offices  at  60  Wall 
Street.  Not  only  are  there  gas  and  elec- 
tric properties,  but  also  immense  natural 
gas  and  oil  industries,  and  the  Doherty 
emblem  even  sails  the  seven  seas  at  the 
masthead  of  steamers  that  carry  petroleum 
products  all  over  the  world.  From  its 
inception  the  function  of  the  members  of 
Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  were 
clearly  defined,  and  Frank  W.  Frueauff 
has  for  a  decade  been  the  man  behind  the 
guns  in  the  execution  of  the  firm's  plans. 
He  worked  out  the  details  of  the  expansion 
plans  when  there  were  but  four  companies, 
and  he  is  doing  it  today.  The  youth  who 
dealt  out  incandescent  lamps  to  Denverites 
is  now  a  recognized  figure  in  the  public 
utility  field,  with  a  reputation  of  possessing 
a  marvelous  knowledge  of  operation  and 
of  rates,  and  an  ability  in  finance  that  has 
enlisted  the  support  of  some  of  Wall 
Street's  most  powerful  houses.  This  is 
Mr.  Frueauff's  achievement  in  the  short 
time  that  has  elapsed  since  he  first  entered 
the  public  utility  field  in  a  minor  position 
in  Denver. 


196 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HOLTON  HENRY  SCOTT 


Holton  Henry  Scott,  general  manager 
of  operations  of  Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Com- 
pany, reached  his  present  high  place  in  the 
public  utility  field  at  a  comparatively  early 
age.  He  was  born  at  Orillia,  Canada, 
September  14,  1874,  and  was  taken  by  his 
parents  to  Ashland,  Wisconsin,  in  1882, 
where  he  received  his  early  education.  He 
graduated  from  the  Ashland  High  School 
in  1892,  subsequently  entering  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin,  from  which  he 
received  the  B.S.  degree  upon  graduation 
in  1896.  Immediately  after  leaving  col- 
lege he  entered  the  employment  of  Henry 
L.  Doherty,  who  was  at  that  time  con- 
nected with  the  Emerson  McMillin  inter- 
ests. Mr.  Scott's  first  position  was  with 
the  Madison  (Wis.)  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany. Four  years  later  he  went  to 
Lincoln,  Neb.,  as  superintendent  of  the 
Lincoln  Gas  &  Electric  Light  Company, 
and  in  1902  left  Lincoln  for  San  Antonio, 
Texas,  where  he  was  appointed  engineer 
for  the  San  Antonio  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  the  San  Antonio  Traction  Com- 
pany. He  subsequently  became  general 
superintendent  of  the  former  and  assistant 
to  the  president  of  the  latter,  both  com- 
panies being  at  that  time  part  of  the 
American  Light  &  Traction  Company 
holdings.  In  the  spring  of  1905  he  re- 
turned to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  as  general 
superintendent  of  the  Madison  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Company,  and  in  1906  went  to  New 


York  City  as  chief  engineer  for  Henry  L. 
Doherty  &  Company,  and  was  engaged  in 
examining  all  the  properties  taken  over 
and  owned  by  that  company.  He  is  at 
present  general  manager  of  operations  for 
Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  who  con- 
trol 150  public  utility,  natural  gas  and 
oil  properties  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  is  also  a  director  in  many  of  the  corpo- 
rations owned  and  controlled  by  the 
Doherty  interests. 

Mr.  Scott's  activities  in  the  fields  of  elec- 
trical organization  led  to  his  election  to 
the  presidency  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  in  1914.  He  worked 
assiduously  as  chairman  of  the  Organiza- 
tion Committee  of  the  Association  in 
making  that  body,  in  point  of  membership, 
one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  of  its 
kind  in  the  world.  During  the  five  years 
in  which  he  was  chairman  of  the  Organiza- 
tion Committee  the  membership  of  the 
Association  increased  from  3,000  to  over 
13,000.  Mr.  Scott  was  a  member  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Association 
for  three  years,  and  held  a  vice-president's 
rank  for  two  years.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  National  Commercial  Gas  Association, 
the  New  York  Electrical  Society  and  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  an 
associate  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
tric Engineers,  an  honorary  member  of 
Tau  Beta  Phi,  and  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  New  York. 


HOLTON     H.  SCOTT 


SAMUEL    E. DOANE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


197 


SAMUEL  EVERETT  DOANE 


The  most  important  developments  in 
things  electrical  are  creations  of  the  past 
three  decades  and  many  of  the  most  promi- 
nent leaders  in  the  electrical  field  today 
are  among  those  whose  training  began  in 
those  early  years  of  the  industry,  not  in 
the  technological  schools,  but  in  the  offices, 
workshops  and  laboratories  of  the  great 
leaders  and  inventors  who  created  and 
popularized  devices  and  methods  for  the 
use  of  electricity  for  the  generation  of 
light  and  power.  The  training  received  by 
those  pioneer  students  of  electrical  develop- 
ment was  intensified  by  the  inspiration  and 
example  of  the  creative  geniuses  under 
whom  they  served,  and  made  practical  by 
constant  association  with  new  develop- 
ments in  electrical  science.  Among  those 
whose  training  was  thus  received,  one 
whose  career  marks  an  advance  from  office 
boy  to  a  place  in  the  electrical  world  where 
he  is  recognized  as  the  most  expert  elec- 
trical lamp  manufacturer  in  the  country  is 
Samuel  Everett  Doane,  now  chief  engineer 
of  the  National  Lamp  Works  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  Mr.  Doane  was 
born  at  Swampscott,  Massachusetts,  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1870,  the  son  of  Captain  Edward 
E.  and  Helen  M.  (Nickerson)  Doane. 
The  earliest  American  ancestor  of  his  name 
was  John  Doane,  who  came  from  England 
to  the  Plymouth  Colony  in  1629.-  As  can 
every  other  descendant  of  the  old  Plym- 
outh Colony,  whose  descendants  so  largely 
compose  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution and  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  and  similar  Revolutionary  and 
Colonial  societies,  Mr.  Doane  can  trace 
his  ancestry  to  several  of  the  members  of 
that  pioneer  colony  which  came  over  on 
the  Mayflower.  Mr.  jDoane  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Swampscott  High  School  in 
1886.  He  had  a  decided  liking  for  things 
electrical,  and  as  a  high  school  boy  had 
taken  an  interest  in  such  work  as  electric 
bell  wiring,  running  and  operating  a  Morse 
Telegraph  with  a  lot  of  other  boys,  and 


similar  experiments.  In  September,  1886, 
he  began  business  life  with  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company  as  office  boy 
for  E.  W.  Rice  and  Elihu  Thomson.  He 
studied  under  tutors  and  worked  in  the 
testing  force  or  in  the  laboratory  four 
nights  each  week  for  six  years,  and  rose 
from  office  boy  to  acting  engineer  and 
assistant  foreman  of  the  incandescent 
lamp  department.  When,  in  consequence 
of  the  panic,  the  lamp  department  at 
Lynn  was  shut  down  in  1892,  all  of  the 
employees  were  released  but  Mr.  Doane, 
who  was  transferred  to  the  lamp  works  at 
Harrison,  N.  J.  He  continued  in  service 
with  the  General  Electric!  Company  from 
1892  to  1893  as  assistant  engineer  of  the 
Harrison  Lamp  Works ;  superintendent  of 
the  Harrison  Lamp  Works,  1893  to  1895. 
and  later  was  acting  engineer  of  the 
Foreign  Department  at  Schenectady,  New 
York,  until  1897.  He  was  superintendent 
of  the  Bryan-Marsh  Company  at  Marl- 
boro, Massachusetts,  from  1897  to  1900. 
When  the  National  Electric  Lamp  Associa- 
tion was  formed  in  1900  Mr.  Doane  was 
delegated  to  form  an  Engineering  Depart- 
ment. In  1902  Mr.  Doane  moved  to  the 
Ohio  headquarters  of  the  new  company, 
which  was  established  at  the  old  Brush 
plant  in  Cleveland.  Mr.  Doane  still  re- 
tains the  position  of  Chief  Engineer  for 
the  National  Works,  which  is  now  Na- 
tional Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric 
Co.  His  personal  success  and  prominence 
have  been  built  up  by  hard  work  and  untir- 
ing energy,  and  he  has  filled  a  creative  part 
in  the  development  of  the  electric  lamp 
industry  to  its  present  advanced  condition. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Illuminat- 
ing Engineers  Society,  Franklin  Institute, 
Industrial  Lighting  Committee  of  Ohio, 
Canadian  Electric  Association,  Association 
of  Car  Lighting  Engineers,  Ohio  Electric 


198 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Light  Association  and  other  State  Associa- 
tions, Ohio  Society  of  Mechanical,  Elec- 
tric and  Steam  Engineers,  Electric  League 
of  Cleveland,  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove, 
Engineers  Club  (New  York),  Union  Club 
(Cleveland),  Cleveland  Engineering  So- 
ciety, and  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cleve- 
land. He  is  an  active  factor  in  all  the 
organizations  in  which  he  has  membership 
and  is  influential  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 
In  the  electrical  profession  he  is  an  advo- 
cate of  the  best  engineering  practice,  and 
of  every  measure  for  the  advancement  of 
electrical  science  and  the  better  application 
of  electricity  to  the  uses  of  life  and  indus- 
try. Outside  of  his  deep  interest  in  his 
profession,  Mr.  Doane  is  a  devotee  of  out- 
door sports,  with  swimming  and  fishing  as 
prime  favorites.  During  winter  he  obtains 
his  regular  exercise  in  gymnasium  work. 
Another  diversion  in  which  he  takes  con- 
siderable interest  and  has  attained  pro- 
ficiency is  the  art  of  photography.  Most 
of  his  recreational  time  is  spent  with  his 
family.  Mr.  Doane's  place  of  leadership 
in  the  incandescent  lamp  business  is  that 
of  a  specialist  who,  having  found  his  voca- 
tion, has  pursued  it  to  a  mastery. 

A.  S.  DE  VEAU 

A.  S.  De  Veau,  secretary  of  Stanley  & 
Patterson,  Inc.,  has  been  actively  engaged 
in  the  electrical  business  for  over  thirty 
years.  He  is  a  descendant  of  the  Hugue- 
nots and  was  born  in  New  Rochelle,  N.  Y., 
October  20,  1866,  and,  following  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  there,  became 
an  employee  of  the  Westchester  Tele- 
phone Company,  at  New  Rochelle,  in 
1887.  Following  this  he  became  succes- 
sively employed  by  the  Western  Electric 
Company,  of  New  York  City;  Pearce  & 
Jones,  the  Echo  Telephone  Company, 
where  he  was  foreman  of  manufacture,  and 
the  Magneto  Electric  &  Manufacturing 
Company,  which  succeeded  the  Echo  Com- 


pany. He  was  deeply  interested  in  devel- 
oping the  automatic  intertalk  industry,  and 
in  this  connection  organized  the  De  Veau 
Telephone  Manufacturing  Company,  of 
Brooklyn,  of  which  he  became  president 
and  treasurer.  Upon  the  consolidation  of 
this  company  with  Stanley  &  Patterson, 
Inc.,  he  became  secretary  of  the  last- 


A.  S.  DE  VEAU 

named  organization  and  was  made  direc- 
tor in  charge  of  factory  sales.  Under  Mr. 
De  Veau's  direction  the  De  Veau  auto- 
matic inter-communicating  telephone  was 
devised,  and  this  apparatus  was  adopted 
largely  for  local  use.  Mr.  De  Veau  is  a 
member  of  the  Hardware  Club,  Brooklyn 
Club,  Forest  Park  Golf  Club,  Forest  Park, 
Long  Island;  the  Masonic  Fraternity,  and 
is  treasurer  of  the  Jovian  League.  His 
business  address  is  23  Murray  Street,  New 
York  City,  and  he  resides  at  1165  East 
37th  Street,  Brooklyn. 


ARTHUR    L.  DOREMUS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


199 


ARTHUR    LISPENARD    DOREMUS 


The  United  States  stands  pre-eminent 
in  the  manufacture  of  electrical  machinery 
and  embraces  the  whole  world  in  the  terri- 
tory reached  by  its  creations  in  this  line. 
One  of  the  most  prominent  men  engaged 
in  the  distribution  of  apparatus  designed 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  electrical  sci- 
ence is  Arthur  L.  Doremus,  of  the 
Crocker-Wheeler  Company.  Mr.  Dore- 
mus was  born  in  New  York  City,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1869,  the  son  of  the  late  Professor 
Robert  Ogden  Doremus,  M.D.,  LL.D., 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  American 
chemists,  who  died  in  1906  at  the  age  of 
eighty-two  years.  His  mother  was 
Estelle  Emma  (Skidmore)  Doremus.  Mr. 
Doremus  is  descended  from  the  Huguenot 
family  Dore,  which  migrated  from  France 
to  Holland  on  account  of  religious  perse- 
cution and  Latinized  the  name  to  Dore- 
mus. The  family  intermarried  with  the 
French  and  Dutch  residents  of  the  country 
of  its  adoption,  and  the  American  branch 
was  established  in  New  Amsterdam  and 
the  territory  now  the  State  of  New  Jersey 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  Mr.  Doremus 
is  also  related  on  both  the  paternal  and 
maternal  sides  to  many  prominent  people, 
among  whom  are  the  Ogden,  Haines,  Lis- 
penard,  Avery  and  Underbill  families.  He 
was  educated  at  MacMullen's  School, 
New  York  City,  and  at  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  taking  the  scientific 
course  at  the  latter  institution  and  gradu- 
ating in  1890.  Two  years  later  he  became 
an  employee  of  the  Crocker- Wheeler  Elec- 
tric Motor  Company,  now  the  Crocker- 
Wheeler  Company.  This  corporation  was 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  motors, 
dynamos  and  other  electrical  machinery, 
and  Mr.  Doremus  was  soon  advanced  to 
the  position  of  assistant  to  the  general 
sales  manager.  In  1896  he  was  made  sec- 
retary in  charge  of  the  sales  division  and 
in  1904  was  elected  a  director  of  the  com- 
pany, becoming  second  vice-president  in 
charge  of  the  sales  department  the  same 
year  while  retaining  the  position  of  secre- 


tary. Being  in  complete  control  of  the 
sales  division  of  this  great  organization, 
Mr.  Doremus  devoted  his  energies  to 
building  up  a  sales  system  which  is  notable 
for  its  efficiency  and  completeness.  He 
established  nineteen  district  and  branch 
offices  that  worked  as  a  unit  in  covering  all 
demands  in  an  effective  way  and  evolved 
a  policy  to  keep  them  in  constant  touch 
with  the  main  office.  Mr.  Doremus  is  a 
close  student  of  human  nature,  and  his  suc- 
cess in  perfecting  the  sales  organization 
for  the  Crocker- Wheeler  Company  was  in 
a  measure  due  to  his  selection  of  his  assis- 
tants, the  personnel  of  the  office  being  of 
such  a  character  that  success,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  followed  its  efforts.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  connection  with  the  Crocker- 
Wheeler  Company,  Mr.  Doremus  is  a  di- 
rector of  the  Canadian  Crocker-Wheeler 
Company.  He  gained  wide  experience  in 
all  lines  of  electrical  work  through  his 
travels  in  the  interest  of  the  company, 
whose  foreign  business  called  him  to  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Germany,  Holland,  Bel- 
gium and  Italy.  He  was  later  transferred 
to  executive  duties  as  a  vice-president  and 
district  manager  at  New  York  City,  where 
he  is  also  in  charge  of  the  export  depart- 
ment, which  is  constantly  increasing  under 
his  direction.  Mr.  Doremus  is  a  Repub- 
lican in  politics  and  was  chairman  of  his 
district  for  five  years  after  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  party  under  the  Committee  of 
Thirty.  He  is  unmarried  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Railroad  Club,  Machinery  Club, 
New  York  Athletic  Club,  Atlantic  Yacht 
Club,  New  York  Electrical  Society  and  the 
Electric  Power  Club.  He  was  elected 
president  of  the  New  Yo.rk  Electrical  So- 
ciety in  1918.  His  religious  affiliations 
are  with  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  in 
America — the  religion  of  his  forefathers. 
Mr.  Doremus  resides  at  31  East  3Oth 
Street  and  his  offices  are  in  the  Hudson 
Terminal  Building,  30  Church  Street,  New 
York  City. 


200 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WASHINGTON  DEVEREUX 

Long  and  influential  association  with  the 
electrical  industry  has  made  the  name  of 
Washington  Devereux  well  known  to  the 
electrical  profession.  He  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  February  9,  1863,  descend- 
ant of  an  old  colonial  family  of  French 
and  Irish  origins,  and  of  ancestors  who 
fought  in  the  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania 
battles  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  He 
was  graduated  from  Girard  College  in 
1878,  and  took  special  courses  in  mathe- 
matics and  literature.  He  always  had  an 
inclination  toward  scientific  study  and  re- 
search, and  this  led  him  into  a  connection 
with  telephony,  then  in  its  infancy,  becom- 
ing connected,  June  i,  1880,  with  the  Bell 
Telephone  Company  of  Pennsylvania. 

Later  he  was  with  the  Central  Pennsyl- 
vania Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company, 
in  charge  of  the  Bloomsburg  Division  from 
Northumberland  to  Kingston,  installing 
the  first  systems  of  telephones  in  Columbia 
County,  Pennsylvania,  and  building  lines 
connecting  up  various  towns  along  the 
West  Branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River. 
After  that  he  was  with  the  Jurugua  Rail- 
way and  Mining  Company  of  Cuba,  instal- 
ling systems  of  Telegraph  and  Telephones 
from  Santiago  de  Cuba  to  El  Caney,  Si- 
bonay,  Jurugua-Cedars  and  Firmaza;  and 
later  with  Walker  &  Kepler,  electrical  en- 
gineers of  Philadelphia,  engaged  in  con- 
struction and  installation  of  electric  light 
and  power  equipments.  From  that  con- 
nection he  went  to  his  present  position  as 
chief  of  the  electrical  department  of  the 
Philadelphia  Fire  Underwriters'  Associ- 
ation. 

Mr.  Devereux  is  past  vice-president  of 
the  Engineers'  Club  of  Philadelphia;  as- 
sociate member  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers;  member  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  (Class 
B),  American  Electrochemical  Society,  Il- 
luminating Engineering  Society,  associate 
member  National  Fire  Prevention  Associ- 
ation (member  of  its  Electrical  and  Uni- 
formity Committees),  president  of  Na- 
tional Inspectors'  Association,  chairman 
Philadelphia  Electrical  Conference,  mem- 
ber Electrical  League  of  Philadelphia, 
Electrical  Council  of  Underwriters'  Lab- 
oratories, Inc.;  Fire  Insurance  Society  of 


Philadelphia,  and  is  chairman  of  the  Elec- 
trical Section,  Insurance  Institute  of  Amer- 
ica. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Athletic 
Club  of  Philadelphia,  Business  Science 
Club,  and  Girard  College  Alumni  Associ- 
ation and  Past  Tribune  of  the  Jovian 
Order,  honorary  member  International 
Association  of  Municipal  Electricians  and 
member  of  the  Western  Association  of 
Electrical  Inspectors. 

PAUL  M.  DOWNING 

The  life  work  of  Paul  M.  Downing  has 
been  very  intimately  associated  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  hydro-electrical  industry 
in  Californnia,  where  his  accomplishments 
have  been  of  such  consequence  to  the  indus- 
try as  to  have  won  him  a  fine  reputation. 
He  is  now  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
Electric  Department  of  the  Pacific  Gas  & 
Electric  Company  at  San  Francisco,  with 
which  company  he  has  been  connected  since 
1901,  serving  them  in  several  capacities 
prior  to  being  advanced  to  his  present  posi- 
tion. Mr.  Downing,  though  born  in  New- 
ark, Missouri,  Nov.  27,  1873,  went  to  Cal- 
ifornia as  a  youth  to  secure  an  education  at 
Leland  Stanford  University.  During  his 
college  days  he  was  prominent  on  the  var- 
sity football  team,  of  which  he  was  captain 
in  1 894,  and  he  was  a  member  of  the  Sigma 
Nu  fraternity.  After  being  graduated  in 
1895,  and,  having  prepared  himself  by 
electrical  engineering  studies,  he  entered 
the  practical  field  of  his  chosen  profession, 
becoming  a  dynamo  tender  with  the  Ta- 
coma  Light  &  Power  Company  of  Tacoma, 
Washington.  But  he  soon  returned  to  Cal- 
ifornia to  serve  the  Market  Street  Railway 
Company  of  San  Francisco  as  a  power 
house  operator,  and  later  to  fill  a  similar 
position  with  the  Blue  Lakes  Water  Com- 
pany of  Jackson,  Calif.  His  next  occupa- 
tion, and  the  last  before  he  joined  the  Pa- 
cific Gas  &  Elecric  Co.,  was  as  electrician 
with  the  Standard  Consolidated  Mining 
Company  of  Bodie,  Calif.  Mr.  Downing 
is  a  member  of  the  Engineers'  Club,  Com- 
monwealth Club  and  Olympic  Club  of  San 
Francisco,  the  local  branches  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association  and  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  the  Masonic  Blue  Lodge,  including 
Chapter,  Shrine  and  Commandery. 


L.  DAME 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


201 


FRANK  L.  DAME 


Frank  L.  Dame,  well  known  in  the 
public  utility  field,  was  born  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  March  21,  1867.  After  a  varied 
early  school  experience  in  New  York,  Chi- 
cago and  Michigan,  he  returned  to  Boston 
and  after  going  through  the  English  High 
School  there,  graduated  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology  in  1889, 
with  the  degree  of  B.S.,  in  Electrical  En- 
gineering. In  the  last  two  institutions  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  military  organiza- 
tions and  as  a  member  of  the  football 
teams.  , 

In  September,  1889,  in  the  old  shop  in 
Garrison  Alley,  Pittsburgh,  he  began  his 
business  career  in  the  testing  room  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  Company.  After 
about  thirty  days  his  first  construction  as- 
signment was  made  at  Newburgh,  N.  Y., 
and  in  December,  1889,  he  reached  Port- 
land, Oregon,  as  the  Engineer  of  that  office 
of  the  Westinghouse  Company.  A  year 
later  the  company's  financial  troubles 
caused  the  closing  of  the  Portland  office 
among  others  and  Mr.  Dame  operated  the 
Vancouver  (B.  C.)  Railway  &  Light  Com- 
pany, with  the  title  of  General  Superin- 
tendent, for  a  year.  The  end  of  1891 
found  him  again  located  in  Portland  as 
Engineer  of  the  Lighting  Department  of 
the  Northwest  Thomson-Houston  Electric 
Company.  In  the  following  two  years  he 
was  also  active  in  street  railway  construc- 
tion, and  with  the  replacement  of  equip- 
ment in  several  Oregon  and  Washington 
cities.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an 
association  of  twenty-one  years  with  the 
General  Electric  Company  in  various  ca- 
pacities, during  which  he  was  successively 
General  Manager  of  the  Seattle  Consoli- 
dated Street  Railway;  General  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Tacoma  Railway  &  Motor 
Company  and  its  associated  companies; 
General  Manager  Union  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  was  engaged  in  railway 
operation  and  lighting  in  Dubuque,  Iowa; 
Engineer  of  the  Committee  on  Local 
Companies  (supervising  local  public  utility 
interests  then  controlled  by  the  General 
Electric  Company)  ;  and  concurrently  with 
the  last  position  he  was  Engineer  of  the 


Electric  Securities  Corporation,  finally  be- 
ing chosen  vice-president  of  the  Electric 
Bond  and  Share  Company.  This  period 
covered  construction,  reconstruction,  de- 
velopment management  and  financing  of 
various  utilities  and  many  official  con- 
nections with  corporations  not  enum- 
erated. In  Tacoma,  Mr.  Dame  had 
a  disagreeable  personal  experience  with 
a  train  robber  of  some  note,  which, 
although  he  was  more  fortunate  than 
the  bandit,  left  him  with  a  crippled 
left  arm.  The  last  important  work  in  this 
period  was  the  field  work  of  purchasing 
and  getting  together  the  various  power 
companies  in  Utah  and  Idaho  for  consoli- 
dation with  the  Telluride  Power  Company 
to  form  the  Utah  Power  and  Light  Com- 
pany in  the  latter  half  of  1912. 

Feeling  that  he  needed  a  rest,  Mr.  Dame 
severed  his  connection  with  the  Electric 
Bond  &  Share  Company,  at  the  end  of 
1912,  and  succeeded  in  taking  a  partial 
vacation  during  the  next  eight  months,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  he  took  up  his  pres- 
ent connection  with  the  Harrison  Williams 
interests.  At  the  present  time  Mr.  Dame 
is  president  and  director  of  the  Central 
States  Electric  Corporation  and  the  Elec- 
tric Investment  Corporation;  vice-presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  Mahoning  & 
Shenango  Railway  &  Light  Company,  the 
General  Vehicle  Company,  the  Utilities 
Securities  Corporation,  Republic  Engi- 
neers, Inc.,  and  Federal  Utilities,  Inc., 
and  a  director  of  the  Republic  Rail- 
way &  Light  Company  and  the  Peer- 
less Truck  and  Motor  Corporation.  As 
a  dollar-a-year  man  he  devoted  his  en- 
ergies to  the  nation  in  the  Facilities  Di- 
vision of  the  War  Industrial  Board.  He 
is  a  member  of  various  trade  organiza- 
tions and  societies  and  of  the  Bankers' 
Club  of  America,  the  Cherry  Valley  Club, 
the  Garden  City  Country  Club  and  the 
Engineers'  Club.  Mr.  Dame  was  married 
in  1906  to  Mary  E.  Elvidge  and  with  their 
two  sons,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dame  now  reside 
at  79  Oxford  Boulevard,  Garden  City, 
L.  I.  His  New  York  offices  are  in  the 
Columbia  Trust  Building,  60  Broadway. 


202 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 
DOUBLEDAY-HILL  ELECTRIC  COMPANY 


The  Doubleday-Hill  Electric  Company, 
of  Pittsburgh,  manufacturers  and  dis- 
tributors of  electrical  appliances  and  sup- 
plies, commenced  business  in  April,  1897, 
as  a  partnership  between  H.  M.  Double- 
day,  C.  Phillips  Hill,  G.  Brown  Hill,  and 
H.  G.  Shaler,  succeeding  the  Electrical 
Supply  &  Construction  Co.,  of  which  H. 


The  partnership  was  ijncorpprated  in 
1906,  with  C.  Phillips  Hill,  president; 
G.  Brown  Hill,  vice-president-treasurer, 
and  H.  G.  Shaler,  secretary  and  sales  man- 
ager. In  addition  to  these  officers  the 
board  of  directors  includes  G.  Frank  Slo- 
cum  and  Elliott  Reynolds.  Subsequent  to 
1906  W.  D.  Shaler  was  made  secretary; 


C.    PHILLIPS    HILL 

M.  Doubleday  was  president.  The  Elec- 
trical Supply  &  Construction  Co.,  together 
with  the  North  American  Construction  Co., 
began  business  February  i,  1890,  being  a 
consolidation  of  the  Keystone  Construc- 
tion Co.  and  the  Marr  Construction  Co. 
These  companies  were  engaged  in  the  sale 
and  installation  of  electric  light  and  street 
railway  plants  throughout  the  United 
States  and  part  of  South  America.  The 
officers  were  James  S.  Humbird,  George 
H.  Baxter,  E.  H.  Wells,  R.  D.  McGon- 
igle,  Frank  S.  Marr,  H.  M.  Doubleday, 
Thomas  Spencer  and  E.  K.  Keller.  A 
number  of  these  men,  including  Mr. 
Doubleday,  were  at  one  time  associated 
with  Thomas  A.  Edison. 


G.    BROWN    HILL 

G.  Frank  Slocum  is  now  filling  the  position. 
The  building  occupied  by  the  Company, 
intersection  Liberty  and  Wood  streets, 
Pittsburgh,  contains  ten  floors  devoted  to 
electrical  material  of  every  description, 
manufacturing  and  repairing.  Its  ware- 
house and  offices,  located  in  715  I2th 
street,  Washington,  D.  C.,  contains  four 
floors  utilized  in  the  same  manner.  These 
stocks  are  composed  of  materials  abso- 
lutely essential  for  the  needs  of  industrial 
plants,  lighting  stations,  telephone  compa- 
nies, electric  railroads  and  contractors. 
The  Company  manufactures  armature  and 
field  coils,  commutators,  switchboards,  etc. 
A  service  station  is  maintained  in  5952-54 
Baum  Boulevard,  Pittsburgh. 


FRANK    L.  DRIVER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


203 


FRANK  L.  DRIVER 


Frank  L.  Driver,  who  in  addition  to  his 
interest  in  the  Driver-Harris  Company,  of 
Harrison,  New  Jersey,  of  which  he  is  pres- 
ident, is  active  in  the  civic  and  political 
affairs  of  Essex  County,  N.  J.,  was  born 
in  New  York  City  July  4,  1870.  His  edu- 
cation was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of 
Brooklyn,  and  after  graduation  in  1888 
he  was  associated  with  mercantile  concerns 
until  October,  1898,  when  he  became  the 
partner  of  his  brother  in  the  firm  of  Wil- 
bur B.  Driver  &  Company,  at  126  Liberty 
Street,  New  York  City.  They  acted  as  sell- 
ing agents  for  several  specialties  manufac- 
tured by  the  John  A.  Roebling's  Sons 
Company,  which  they  bought  and  sold  on 
their  own  account.  At  this  period  German 
silver  and  a  nickel-steel  alloy  were  the  only 
materials  on  the  market,  classed  as  "Re- 
sistors," and  neither  of  them  filled  the  re- 
quirements of  the  manufacturers  of  elec- 
trical apparatus.  The  demand  for  special 
alloys  for  particular  uses  was  growing 
rapidly  and  the  members  of  the  firm 
realized  there  were  great  commercial  ben- 
efits to  be  derived  in  meeting  that  demand. 
After  giving  the  subject  considerable 
thought,  the  Driver-Harris  Wire  Company 
was  organized  and  incorporated  in  1900. 
The  company  began  manufacturing  in  a 
small  building  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  the 
venture  was  so  successful  that  in  1902  the 
factory  was  removed  to  Harrison,  N.  J., 
and  from  that  small  beginning  the  present 
large  plant  has  developed.  Since  entering 


the  manufacturing  field,  the  Driver-Harris 
Company  has  developed  several  alloys  that 
are  used,  generally,  by  many  manufactur- 
ers, and  these  alloys  are  well-known  today 
among  makers  of  electrical  apparatus  and 
devices,  both  in  the  United  States  and 
many  foreign  countries.  "Nichrome,"  one 
of  the  company's  products,  is  used  exten- 
sively in  electrical  heating  work  and  in 
addition,  a  number  of  alloys  in  wire  and 
sheet  form  are  being  manufactured.  These 
are  designed  to  meet  many  demands.  Mr. 
Driver,  who  is  very  active  in  the  com- 
pany's affairs,  finds  time  to  devote  to  civic 
matters  and  occasionally  indulge  in  politics. 
He  is  ex-president  of  the  Newark  Shade 
Tree  Commission,  ex-member  of  the  Essex 
County  Board  of  Chosen  Freeholders, 
second  vice-president  of  the  Associated 
Automobile  Clubs  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  a 
director  of  the  New  Jersey  Life  Insurance 
Company  and  a  member  of  the  Jovian 
Order,  the  Cranford  Golf  Club  and  the 
Detroit  Athletic  Club.  Mr.  Driver's  busi- 
ness address  is  Harrison,  N.  J.,  and  he  re- 
sides at  3 1 1  Mt.  Prospect  Ave.,  Newark,  N. 
J.  While  the  success  of  the  Driver-Harris 
Wire  Company  is  in  a  measure  due  to  the 
excellence  of  its  products,  credit  must  be 
given  Mr.  Driver  for  his  unceasing  labor 
in  extending  the  company's  trade  and  for 
the  executive  ability  that  has  enabled  him 
to  direct  the  constantly  increasing  business 
along  economic  and  efficiency  lines. 


204 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 
DRIVER-HARRIS  COMPANY 


The  Driver-Harris  Company,  estab- 
lished in  Newark  in  1900,  under  the  style 
of  Driver-Harris  Wire  Company^  has  in  a 
short  time  made  possible  marked  improve- 
ments in  electric  apparatus,  and  has  ad- 
vanced the  state  of  the  electric  art  to  a 
very  marked  degree. 

From  the  beginning,  this  Company  has 


for  every  type  of  electric  heating  and  con- 
trol apparatus,  precision  measuring  instru- 
ments, electrodes  for  spark  plugs  and  ma- 
terials resistant  to  acids  and  alkalies. 

The  most  important  development  of  the 
Company  has  been  the  production  of  a  line 
of  cast  products,  able  to  withstand  pro- 
longed periods  of  high  temperature,  with- 


^ipir 

•Aiff 


been  successful  and  grown  consistently. 
Today,  the  plant  at  Harrison,  a  suburb  of 
Newark,  covers  an  area  of  about  3^2  acres 
and  employs  about  800  people. 

The  policy  of  the  Company  has  been  to 
develop  alloys  showing  characteristics  de- 
sired for  particular  type  of  apparatus.  As 
an  example,  the  well-known  series  of 
Nickel-Chrome  alloys,  ("Nichrome") 
commercially  developed  by  this  Company, 
has  made  possible  tremendous  advances  in 
electric  heating  devices.  Previous  to  the 
introduction  of  "Nichrome"  the  electric 
heater  was  short-lived,  but  as  a  result  of 
the  dependability  secured  by  the  use  of 
"Nichrome"  for  resistors  and  heaters,  a 
tremendous  demand  has  been  filled,  not 
only  for  domestic  heating  appliances,  but 
for  many  large  and  important  industrial 
applications,  such  as  electrically  heated  gun 
hardening  furnaces,  automobile  enameling 
and  drying  ovens  and  uses  requiring  heat- 
ing units  of  large  capacity. 

The  Company  now  produces  "Ni- 
chrome," Kromore,  Climax,  Advance, 
Therlo  and  No.  193  Alloy.  In  this  range  of 
materials  may  be  found  a  suitable  alloy 


out  warping,  scaling  or  losing  their  orig- 
inal form.  This  patented,  cast  product, 
marketed  under  the  name  of  "Nichrome," 
has  caused  marked  economy  in  the  indus- 
tries and  found  favor  for  carborizing  and 
annealing  boxes,  rotary  retorts,  lead  and 
cyanide  containers,  pyrometer  protection 
tubes,  special  furnace  parts  and  brass 
melting  crucibles. 

In  addition  to  the  materials  mentioned 
above,  the  Company  is  now  manufacturing 
pure  sheet  nickel,  nickel  wire  (rod  and 
strip) ,  wire  rope,  fine  brass  wire,  cords  for 
electric  heating  apparatus  and  cold  rolled 
strip  steel. 

During  the  past  year  a  business  of  about 
$4,000,000  has  been  done.  The  author- 
ized capital  of  the  Company  is  $1,300,000, 
of  which  $1,236,500  has  been  issued.  Its 
officers  are  as  follows :  F.  L.  Driver, 
President;  Arlington  Bensel,  First  Vice- 
President;  L.  O.  Hart,  Second  Vice-Presi- 
dent;  F.  L.  Driver,  Jr.,  Third  Vice-Presi- 
dent; P.  E.  Reeves,  Treasurer;  S.  M. 
Tracy,  Assistant  Treasurer;  M.  C.  Har- 
ris, Secretary. 


WILBUR     B.    DRIVER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


205 


WILBUR  B.  DRIVER 


Wilbur  B.  Driver,  vice-president  of  the 
Driver-Harris  Company,  of  Harrison, 
New  Jersey,  who  has  devoted  many 
years  to  the  development  of  material  used 
in  the  electrical  field  and  various  arts,  was 
born  in  New  York,  April  26,  1874,  and 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and 
High  School  of  Brooklyn.  His  first  occu- 
pation, as  a  boy,  was  with  a  New  York  dry 
goods  importing  house.  He  left  this  posi- 
tion on  account  of  ill  health  and  entered  a 
lawyer's  office,  where  among  other  work, 
he  wrote  down  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Weston  which  was  given  in  the 
litigation  over  the  Brush  double  carbon 
arc  lamp.  This  suit  doubtlessly  led  his 
thoughts  to  electrical  matters,  for  he  soon 
concluded  that  he  did  not  have  sufficient 
education  to  take  up  the  study  of  law  and 
his  next  position  was  with  the  Edison 
General  Electric  Company.  Here  his 
duties  were  merely  to  carry  the  mails  from 
the  Post  Office  to  the  company's  head- 
quarters at  44  Broad  Street  and  distribute 
the  matter  throughout  the  building.  He 
was  subsequently  employed  in  the  adver- 
tising and  stationery  departments  of  the 
company  and  upon  the  consolidation  of  the 
Edison  General  Electric  Company  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company,  he 
went  to  Schenectady,  to  which  city  the  offices 
were  removed,  and  for  a  period  worked  in 
the  collection  and  purchasing  departments. 
This  connection  did  not  give  Mr.  Driver 
the  practical  work  he  desired  so  he  re- 
signed in  1893,  and  returning  to  New 
York,  entered  the  employ  of  Patterson, 
Gottf rid  &  Hunter,  for  which  firm  he  acted 
as  buyer  for  three  years.  Previous  to  this 
time  he  had  done  some  reading  on  elec- 
trical subjects  and  when  it  became  neces- 
sary to  buy  some  resistance  wire  for  the 
General  Incandescent  Arc  Light  Company, 
he  was  the  only  man  in  the  employment  of 
the  firm  who  had  any  knowledge  of 
such  electrical  matters.  He  both 
bought  and  sold  nickel-steel  wire,  de- 
voting to  this  line  such  time  as  he 
was  able  to  take  from  his  other  duties. 


He  gave  especial  attention  to  the  re- 
sistance wire  business  and  tried  to  induce 
the  Patterson,  Gottfrid  &  Hunter  people 
to  relieve  him  of  other  work  in  order  that 
he  could  devote  all  his  time  to  this  line. 
The  firm  did  not  agree  to  the  proposition 
and  Mr.  Driver  made  arrangements  with 
the  John  A.  Roebling  Sons  Company  to 
manufacture  the  goods  for  him  individ- 
ually. This  agreement  continued  for  one 
year  when  the  Roeblings  decided  the  busi- 
ness was  too  small  for  them  and  Mr. 
Driver  believed  that  they  were  not 
handling  his  orders  in  a  proper  manner. 
They  agreed,  however,  to  continue  manu- 
facturing for  Mr.  Driver,  and,  as  he  had 
practically  no  capital,  the  offer  to  consign 
him  a  stock  of  wire  was  a  magnanimous 
one.  This  was  in  1898,  and  Mr.  Driver 
at  once  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
brother,  Frank  L.  Driver,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Wilbur  B.  Driver  &  Company, 
with  offices  at  126  Liberty  Street,  New 
York  City.  The  two  brothers  devoted 
themselves  to  the  sale  of  nickel-steel  wire, 
under  the  name  of  "Climax,"  but  finding  it 
necessary  to  furnish  other  grades  of  resist- 
ance material,  they  broadened  their  lines, 
and  on  January  i,  1900,  formed  a  corpor- 
ation under  the  name  of  the  Driver-Harris 
Wire  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Driver  be- 
came president,  continuing  as  such  until 
April  i,  1905,  when  he  disposed  of  his 
interest  and  devoted  his  time  to  experi- 
mental work  on  resistance  wires.  In  1914, 
he  again  acquired  an  interest  in  the  com- 
pany and  is  now  vice-president.  Mr. 
Driver's  only  hobby  is  his  business.  He 
likes  to  feel  that  some  achievements  have 
been  made  possible  because  of  work  which 
he  has  been  able  to  do,  even  though  these 
things  may  not  show  themselves  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  His  technical  knowledge  has 
been  acquired  by  self-instruction  and  in  the 
school  of  experience,  and  this  has  been 
freely  utilized  for  the  advancement  of 
electrical  science.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Foundry  Association  and  the 
American  Electrochemical  Society. 


206 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


D.   CLARENCE  DURLAND 


D.  C.  Durland,  president  of  the  Mitch- 
ell Motors  Company,  Inc.,  graduated  from 
Princeton  University  as  an  Electrical  En- 
gineer in  1894  and  immediately  afterward 
became  connected  with  the  Interior  Con- 
duit &  Insulation  Company,  of  which  M. 
E.  H.  Johnson  was  president,  and  was 
associated  with  him  and  Mr.  Robert  Lun- 
dell  in  the  development  of  the  Lundell  fan 
motors,  power  motors  and  various  indus- 


trial applications  of  same,  and  with  Mr. 
Edwin  T.  Greenfield  in  the  development  of 
the  interior  conduit  system  for  wiring 
buildings.  Later  the  Interior  Conduit 
System  was  consolidated  with  the  Sprague 
Elevator  Company,  under  the  name  of  the 
Sprague  Electric  Company,  of  which  Mr. 
Durland  became  assistant  general  mana- 
ger. This  company  carried  forward  the 
electrical  apparatus  and  conduit  business  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


207 


the  Interior  Conduit  Company  and  the  ele- 
vator business  of  the  Sprague  Elevator 
Company  and  successfully  developed  the 
Sprague  Multiple  System  Unit  of  Control. 
In  1902  the  General  Electric  Company 
purchased  the  Sprague  Electric  Company, 
since  operated  as  a  subsidiary  manufactur- 
ing and  selling  organization  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  of  which  Mr.  Durland 
was  placed  in  executive  charge  as  General 
Manager,  a  position  he  retained  until  be- 
coming president  of  the  Mitchell  Motors 


Company,  Inc.  Mr.  Durland  is  a  member 
of  the  Electrical  Manufacturers'  Club,  the 
Electric  Power  Club  and  the  Associated 
Manufacturers  of  Electric  Supplies,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  organizers.  He 
is  also  a  director  and  vice-president  of  the 
Entz  Motor  Patents  Corporation;  direc- 
tor, secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Owen 
Magnetic  Motor  Car  Corporation;  direc- 
tor and  vice-president  of  the  Baker  R.  &  L. 
Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  director 
of  the  Sibley  &  Pitman  Electric  Company. 


DR.  LOUIS  DUNCAN 


Dr.  Louis  Duncan,  most  worthy  of  a 
place  in  the  annals  of  Electricity  and  who 
died  February  13,  1916,  was  one  of  the 
leading  electrical  and  consulting  engineers 
of  his  time.  He  was  born  in  Washington, 
D.  C.,  March  25,  1861,  the  son  of  Rev. 
Thomas  and  Maria  L.  (Morris)  Duncan. 
The  father  was  of  Scottish  ancestry,  the 
American  branch  being  founded  by 
Thomas  Duncan,  who  came  from  Perth- 
shire in  1740  and  settled  in  the  Cum- 
berland Valley.  The  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Commodore  Charles  Morris, 
U.  S.  N.  Dr.  Duncan  was  educated  in  the 
country  schools  of  Maryland,  Virginia  and 
Tennessee,  after  which  he  was  a  student  at 
the  East  Tennessee  University  for  one 
year,  when  he  was  appointed  to  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy  and  gradu- 
ated in  1880,  twenty-third  in  his  class. 
After  a  two-year  cruise  on  the  Pacific  Sta- 
tion, he  passed  the  Ensign  examination 
first  in  his  class,  and  was  then  detailed  to 
Johns  Hopkins  University  to  assist  in  the 
work  of  determining  the  absolute  unit  of 
electrical  resistance,  for  the  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment. For  this  work  he  was  awarded  the 
Ph.D.  degree  by  the  university  in  1885. 
He  resigned  from  the  Navy  in  1886  and 
occupied  the  Chair  of  Electricity  at  Johns 
Hopkins  until  1899,  during  which  time  he 
was  engaged  in  the  construction  of  electri- 
cal roads  in  Baltimore  and  was  consult- 
ing engineer  for  practically  all  of  the  elec- 
tric roads  in  Washington.  He  was  also 
engineer  for  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road Company  and  installed  the  loo-ton 
electric  locomotives  which  haul  trains 
through  the  Baltimore  tunnel.  Resigning 


from  Johns  Hopkins  in  1899,  he  became 
chief  engineer  of  the  Third  Avenue  Rail- 
way, New  York,  and  was  in  charge  of  the 
electrical  construction  of  that  system.  In 
1902  he  received  a  call  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology  and  in- 
augurated the  Electrical  Engineering 
Course,  remaining  as  head  of  the  electri- 
cal engineering  department  until  his  resig- 
nation in  1904.  Organizing  the  firm 
of  Sprague,  Duncan  &  Hutchinson,  he 
became  consulting  engineer  for  the  New 
York  Rapid  Transit  Commission  on 
the  first  subway,  and  Chief  Engineer  for 
the  Keystone  Telephone  Company  of  Phil- 
adelphia and  of  the  independent  telephone 
systems  in  Baltimore  and  Pittsburgh. 

He  was  chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Judges  at  the  Philadelphia  Electrical  Ex- 
hibition in  1885,  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Judges  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition,  the 
World's  Fair  at  Chicago  and  Chairman 
of  the  Electric  Railroad  Section  of  the  St. 
Louis  Exposition.  He  contributed  articles 
on  Electric  Traction  to  the  loth  and  nth 
editions  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica 
and  was  the  author  of  many  scientific 
papers.  He  was  Lieut.  Commander  in  the 
Maryland  Naval  Reserve  and  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Spanish-American  War  was 
appointed  Major  of  the  First  Battalion  of 
the  First  Regiment  of  Volunteer  Engi- 
neers. He  was  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Commandery  of  the  Naval  Militia 
Order  of  the  Spanish-American  War;  the 
Officers'  Association  of  the  First  Regiment 
of  Volunteer  Engineers;  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  twice  its  President,  1895-7;  a  member 


208 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


DR.    LOUIS   DUNCAN    (Deceased) 


of  the  American  Electrochemical  Society; 
an  Honorary  Member  of  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute and  an  Associate  Editor  of  its 
Journal;  a  member  of  Societe  Mathema- 
tique  de  France;  a  member  of  the  Societe 
de  Physique,  and  of  many  other  learned 
and  technical  societies  in  America  and 
Europe. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society;  of  the  Maryland  Club,  the 
Baltimore  Club  (Baltimore),  the  Univer- 
sity Club  (New  York  and  Baltimore),  the 


Army  and  Navy  Club  (New  York  and 
Washington),  the  Engineers'  Club  (New 
York),  and  Waverly  Lodge  152  A.  F.  & 
A.  M. 

In  1889  he  married  Edith  Smith  Mc- 
Kee,  of  Philadelphia,  the  daughter  of 
James  H.  and  Mary  Thomas  McKee,  of 
Hockendauqua,  Pa.,  and  had  four  chil- 
dren: McKee  Duncan,  Mrs.  Dorothy 
Duncan  Wadsworth,  Mrs.  Harriet  Dun- 
can Gillett  and  Miss  Edith  Duncan. 


AUSTIN   C.  DUNHAM 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


209 


AUSTIN  C.  DUNHAM* 


The  development  of  electrical  activities 
and  industries  which  has  been  going  on  for 
the  past  three  or  four  decades  has  been  so 
wonderful  and  so  rapid  that  it  would  seem 
as  though  there  was  but  little  more  left  to 
know  about  it.  Yet  those  who  know  it  best 
are  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  electric- 
ity is  in  its  infancy  so  rar  as  the  scope  of 
its  uses  to  human  society  are  concerned. 
One  of  those  holding  this  opinion  is  Austin 
C.  Dunham,  than  whom  few  have  been 
longer  active  in  the  electrical  field,  and 
none  more  usefully.  He  has  lived  more 
than  fourscore  years,  having  been  born  on 
June  10,  1833,  in  South  Coventry,  Tolland 
County,  Connecticut.  But  he  is  of  an  old 
Connecticut  family,  many  members  of 
which  have  been  distinguished  by  remark- 
able longevity.  His  ancestry  dates  back 
to  the  first  Chief  Justice  of  Connecticut, 
who  was  also  a  Colonel  in  the  Revolution- 
ary Army  and  a  member  of  the  First  Con- 
tinental Convention.  There  were  also 
three  great-uncles  of  Mr.  Dunham  whose 
average  lives  were  100  years  and  who  all 
served  in  the  Revolutionary  Army.  Mr. 
Dunham  was  educated  in  private  schools 
and  at  Yale  University,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  A.B.  in  1854  and  pursued  spe- 
cially advanced  studies  in  higher  mathe- 
matics and  in  Greek.  He  was  initiated 
into  Psi  Upsilon  while  in  college.  His 
first  employment  after  graduation  was  as 
teacher  in  a  school  at  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  in 
1855,  and  afterwards  he  embarked  in 
business  as  a  manufacturer  of  wool  and 
cotton  goods,  which  he  prosecuted  with 
success  for  years.  At  that  time  electricity 
meant  practically  nothing  in  the  active  life 
of  the  people  outside  of  such  use  as  was 
made  of  it  in  connection  with  telegraphy. 
It  was  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in 
Philadelphia  that  public  interest  was  first 
aroused  to  any  important  degree  in  this 
country.  After  that  it  took  on  increasing 
importance.  One  of  the  enterprises  that 
started  up  was  the  Thomson-Houston 
Company,  which  began  in  a  small  plant  at 
New  Britain,  Conn.  In  that  company  Mr. 
Dunham  became  a  director.  His  acquaint- 
ance with  Professor  Elihu  Thomson  began 
at  that  time  and  with  it  an  immediate 
and  growing  interest  in  electrical  work.  In 
1882  his  connection  with  electrical  prob- 


lems became  strongly  fixed  by  his  being 
made  President  of  the  Hartford  Electric 
Company,  and  he  held  that  position  for 
thirty  years.  It  was  in  a  condition  of 
bankruptcy  when  Mr.  Dunham  took  hold 
of  it  in  1882,  and  he  built  it  up  to  a  market 
value  of  $9,000,000  in  1912.  His  admin- 
istration was  a  model  of  efficiency,  both  in 
equipment  and  management  and  in  keep- 
ing pace  with  the  advance  in  electrical  sci- 
ence. Mr.  Dunham  is  a  man  of  culture 
and  learning,  a  writer  of  vigor  and  con- 
viction and  has  all  his  life  been  a  student 
of  the  facts  and  well-founded  theories  of 
scientific  progress.  Professor  Tyndall's 
discovery  that  heat  was  a  form  of  motion 
led  him  to  think  of  electricity  as  well  as, 
perhaps,  light  as  being  of  the  same  char- 
acteristic and  peculiar  efficiency.  The  dis- 
covery that  electric  current  could  be  devel- 
oped on  one  dynamo  and  communicated 
through  a  wire  to  another  dynamo  at  a  dis- 
tance, being  changed  in  the  process  into 
power,  opened  the  way  for  the  conversion 
of  electricity  into  any  form  of  use  in  con- 
nection with  power.  So  that  the  process 
of  development  of  the  uses  of  the  current 
largely  depended  upon  the  cost  of  power, 
and  any  method  which  led  to  a  greater  use 
of  the  current  from  a  decline  in  its  cost, 
or  from  the  application  of  the  current  by 
being  able  to  get  greater  results  from  the 
same  power,  made  electric  current  one  of 
the  most  useful  means  of  utilizing  human 
labor.  Mr.  Dunham,  who  has  developed 
and  made  practical  as  many  electrical  nov- 
elties as  any  contemporary,  has  during  the 
past  thirty  years  seen  the  horse-power,  in 
cost  for  developing  light  and  power,  de- 
cline from  three  cents  to  four  mills  per 
hour,  with  a  parallel  decline  in  the  cost  of 
labor,  though  labor  cost  is  affected  by 
other  things,  such  as  new  inventions, 
greater  efficiency  in  its  application,  etc.,  so 
that  the  entire  decline  in  cost  of  labor  is 
not  chargeable  to  cost  of  power.  Mr. 
Dunham  holds  the  momentous  opinion 
that  we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  very  great  rev- 
olution in  the  use  of  fuel  and  in  the  devel- 
opment of  electric  current  in  relation  to  its 
uses  for  transmission  and  all  other  forms 
of  service  in  human  society. 

*Mr.  Dunham  died  at  St.  Petersburg,  Florida,  on  March  18th, 
1918. 


210 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON 


Thomas  Alva  Edison  was  born  at 
Milan,  O.,  February  n,  1847.  The  family 
was  originally  of  Dutch  descent  settled 
in  New  Jersey;  and  the  name  of  Thomas 
Edison  as  a  bank  official  on  Manhattan 
Island  was  signed  to  Continental  currency 
in  1778.  The  Loyalist  movement  carried 
his  descendants  to  Nova  Scotia,  where 
Edison's  father  was  born  in  1804.  This 
Samuel  Edison  settled  at  Vienna,  Ont., 
married  Miss  Nancy  Elliott,  a  Yankee 
schoolmarm,  in  1828,  and  Thomas  Alva 
was  one  of  the  three  children  from  this 
marriage.  Samuel  was  both  a  physical 
giant  and  an  ardent  politician.  Becom- 
ing a  captain  of  insurgent  forces  in  the 
Papineau-Mackenzie  rebellion,  he  was 
forced  to  flee  Canada  for  his  health,  seek- 
ing refuge  in  Ohio,  where  his  wife  joined 
him.  Young  Edison  had  very  little 
schooling,  but  owed  nearly  all  his 
early  education  to  his  mother,  an  at- 
tractive and  highly  cultured  woman. 
In  1854  the  family  moved  to  Port 
Huron,  Mich.,  where  Edison  devel- 
oped studious  habits,  became  a  great 
reader,  especially  in  natural  science,  and 
established  a  miniature  chemical  laboratory 
— his  first  in  a  long  series — in  the  domestic 
cellar.  Only  twelve  years  old,  with  an  eye 
to  the  unlimited  perusal  of  newspapers  and 
magazines,  Edison  secured  a  job  as  news- 
boy and  "candy  butcher"  on  the  Grand 
Trunk  Railway,  between  Port  Huron  and 
Detroit.  On  these  trains  he  set  up  a 
laboratory,  which  was  soon  ejected,  but 
was  probably  the  first  ever  installed  in  a 
moving  car.  In  1862  he  also  printed  and 
published  a  little  journal,  "The  Weekly 
Herald,"  on  the  train,  undoubtedly  the 
first  thus  issued.  The  same  year,  he  saved 
from  death  on  the  track  the  tiny  son  of  the 
station  agent  at  Mount  Clemens,  Mich., 
and  the  grateful  father  undertook  to  teach 
Edison  telegraphy.  The  same  year  also 
Edison  put  up  a  telegraph  line  from  the 
Port  Huron  depot  to  the  village  and 
worked  in  the  local  office;  and  in  1863  he 
secured  his  first  position  as  a  regular  tele- 
graph operator,  on  the  Grank  Trunk,  at 
Stratford  Junction,  Canada.  During  the 
five  following  years  he  roamed  the  Central 


West  and  South  as  an  operator,  reading 
and  experimenting;  and  in  1868  he  went 
to  Boston  and  entered  the  Western  Union 
telegraph  office.  In  1868  he  devoted  him- 
self largely  to  experiments  on  duplex  teleg- 
raphy, went  into  private  line  construction 
and  took  out  his  first  patent,  an  electrical 
vote  recorder,  which  an  unappreciative 
Congress  never  deigned  to  adopt,  although 
the  idea  has  since  been  quite  generally 
accepted. 

1869  found  Edison  in  New  York  City, 
playing  in  hard  luck,  until  he  happened 
casually  to  repair  apparatus  for  the  Gold 
&  Stock  Telegraph  Company,  winning 
thereby  the  position  of  superintendent  at 
$300  per  month.  He  proceeded  imme- 
diately to  improve  and  invent  stock  tickers 
which  met  with  prompt  adoption,  but  also 
formed  with  F.  L.  Pope  a  firm  of  "elec- 
trical engineers,"  which  inserted  in  a  tele- 
graphic journal  the  first  professional  "ad" 
for  that  branch  of  expert  work.  Receiv- 
ing no  less  than  $40,000  cash  for  some  of 
his  inventions  in  1870,  he  opened  an  elec- 
trical factory  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  where  he 
manufactured  tickers,  etc.,  and  where  he 
helped  Sholes,  the  inventor  of  the  type- 
writer, to  produce  a  working  machine.  Al- 
ready attracting  attention  by  his  ingenuity, 
versatility,  and  boundless  energy,  he  now 
became  famous  a  year  or  two  later  with 
his  useful  quadruplex  telegraph  system; 
and  this  was  followed  up  in  quick  succes- 
sion with  various  telegraphs — automatic, 
multiplex,  sextuplex,  duplex — the  moto- 
graph,  carbon  rheostat,  microtasimeter, 
etc.,  not  forgetting  the  paraffin  paper  now 
in  such  universal  use  for  wrapping  pur- 
poses. 

In  1876,  Edison  moved  his  shop  and 
laboratory  from  Newark  to  Menlo  Park, 
N.  J.,  and  signalized  the  event  shortly  after 
by  inventing  his  famous  carbon  telephone 
transmitter,  which  had  so  great  an  influ- 
ence in  the  development  of  the  art  of 
speech  transmission.  But  not  satisfied  with 
transmitting  speech,  Edison  immediately, 
in  1877,  invented  the  phonograph,  which 
for  the  first  time  in  human  history  re- 
corded vocal  speech  and  instrumental 
sounds  for  reproduction.  This  great 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


211 


achievement  literally  carried  Edison's 
name  around  the  world.  His  patent  for 
the  phonograph  was  granted  two  months 
after  application  without  a  single  antici- 
patory reference. 

During  1878,  Edison  began  seriously  to 
devote  thought  and  experience  to  the 
problem  of  obtaining  light  from  electricity, 
and  pursued  his  investigations  with  sleep- 
less, unremitting  effort.  Arc  lamps  of 
large  candlepower  illumination  were 
known,  but  what  he  proposed  was  to  over- 
come the  difficulties  regarded  as  insuper- 
able in  the  "subdivision  of  the  electric 
light,"  so  that  a  small  unit  like  the  gas 
jet,  the  tallow  candle,  or  the  oil  lamp 
would  be  available  on  even  terms  of  com- 
petition. As  usual,  Edison  was  not  to  be 
denied,  and  on  October  21,  1879,  his  in- 
vention of  the  incandescent  electric  lamp 
was  perfected.  That  day,  after  laborious 
efforts,  he  carbonized  a  piece  of  cotton 
sewing  thread  bent  into  a  horseshoe  loop, 
sealed  it  in  a  glass  bulb  from  which  air 
had  been  exhausted  up  to  one-millionth 
of  an  atmosphere,  put  it  in  circuit,  lit  it  up 
to  bright  incandescence,  and  kept  it  intact 
for  over  forty  hours.  This  carbon  fila- 
ment lamp  possessed  the  characteristics  of 
high  resistance  and  small  radiating  surface, 
permitting  economy  in  the  outlay  for  con- 
ductors of  the  current,  and  needing  only 
a  minute  amount  of  electrical  energy  for 
each  lamp  or  unit  of  light.  "This  slender, 
fragile,  tenuous  thread  of  brittle  carbon, 
glowing  steadily  and  continuously  with  a 
soft  light  agreeable  to  the  eyes,  was  the 
tiny  key  that  opened  the  door  to  a  world 
revolutionized  in  its  interior  illumination" 
— and  its  exterior  illumination  as  well. 

But  the  lamp  was  by  no  means  all. 
Many  other  practical  elements  were  re- 
quired for  a  complete  system  of  illumina- 
tion by  incandescent  lamps,  and  to  these 
Edison  turned  his  attention  without  de- 
lay, notably  dynamos  of  low  internal  re- 
sistance, systems  of  distribution  and  regu- 
lation, meters,  switches,  sockets,  safety 
fuses,  and  an  immense  variety  of  devices, 
all  still  persisting  in  the  art  in  improved 
or  perfected  form,  but  fundamentally  un- 
changed. On  December  31,  1879,  Edison 
gave  a  public  demonstration  of  his  sys- 
tem in  Menlo  Park,  to  which  special  trains 
over  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  carried 


3,000  persons  to  see  hundreds  of  the  little 
lamps  burning  serenely  in  the  buildings 
and  streets,  all  fed  with  current  from  un- 
derground circuits.  Thereupon  steps  were 
taken  to  exploit  the  system  commercially, 
offices  were  opened,  and  great  factories 
and  shops  were  established  for  the  pro- 
duction of  the  apparatus,  including  the 
first  large  incandescent  lamp  factory  at 
Harrison,  N.  J.  On  September  4,  1882, 
the  first  central  Edison  Station  in  New 
York  City  went  into  operation,  and  in 
1883  the  first  three-wire  station  was  in- 
stalled at  Sunbury,  Pa.  A  period  of 
strenuous  activity  ensued,  lasting  up  to 
1887,  and  closing  roughly  with  the  re- 
moval of  Edison's  laboratory  to  Orange, 
N.  J.  Through  the  whole  decade,  1878- 
88,  electric  lighting  improvements  were 
foremost  in  Edison's  thoughts;  but  mean- 
time other  lines  of  invention  were  touched 
by  the  life-giving  breath  of  his  genius. 

As  far  back  as  1880,  Edison  worked  out 
his  ideas  as  to  a  magnetic  ore  separator, 
but  for  nearly  ten  years  he  was  not  able  to 
secure  time  or  opportunity  for  its  use.  One 
reason  aside  from  his  work  on  the  phono- 
graph, electric  lighting,  etc.,  was  that  he 
grappled  with  the  serious  problems  in- 
volved in  the  application  of  the  electric 
motor  to  traction,  and  developed  many  in- 
ventions in  that  new  field.  In  1880-2  he 
invented  and  installed  a  complete  electric 
railway  for  freight  and  passengers  at 
Menlo  Park,  the  demonstrations  with 
which  did  much  to  foster  the  new  art  and  to 
enlist  capital  for  its  development.  His 
interest  in  the  subject  continued,  and  in 
1891  he  made  a  number  of  further  inven- 
tions aimed  at  supply  of  current  from  the 
roadbed,  so  as  to  dispense  with  the  over- 
head trolley  wires,  which  in  those  days 
of  immaturity  were  the  cause  of  many 
serious  accidents  from  frequent  breakage, 
and  were  subject  to  incessant  interruption 
of  service.  Once  again  Edison  returned  to 
this  field  after  the  introduction  of  his  al- 
kaline storage  battery,  which  was  applied 
to  street-car  operation.  Edison  is  still 
strong  in  the  belief  that  the  self-contained 
car  is  at  least  one  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  traction  problem,  while  he  has  lived 
to  see  and  help  make  the  electric  vehicle 
a  formidable  rival  of  the  gasoline  automo- 
bile. 


212 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Though  Edison's  endeavors  in  magnetic 
ore  concentration  have  not  been  attended 
with  the  brilliant  success  and  beneficent  re- 
sults that  mark  his  work  in  other  branches 
of  industry  and  mechanics,  they  are  none 
the  less  worthy  of  him  and  will  ever  con- 
stitute a  monument  to  his  inventive  skill 
and  inexhaustible  courage. 

From  1891  to  1901  he  gave  much  of  his 
time  and  more  money  than  he  could  spare 
to  his  great  iron  ore-crushing  and  separation 
plant  among  the  hills  of  western  New 
Jersey.  He  developed  any  number  of  novel 
methods  and  ingenious  devices  for  use  at 
every  stage  of  the  process,  from  the  giant 
rolls  for  smashing  up  huge  masses  of 
magnetic  ore  rock  and  the  three-high  rolls 
for  fine  crushing,  to  the  magnets  for  separ- 
ating the  particles  of  iron  from  the  worth- 
less gangue,  and  the  concentration  of  the 
iron  ore  dust  into  briquettes.  Some  idea 
of  the  grand  scale  on  which  Edison  did 
things  may  be  derived  from  the  fact  that 
he  acquired  no  less  than  16,000  acres  of 
magnetic  ore  deposits,  enough  to  take  care 
of  the  whole  United  States  iron  trade  for 
many  years;  and  that  around  his  mills,  at 
Edison,  N.  J.,  he  had  over  200,000,000 
tons  of  such  low-grade  ore  to  treat.  There 
was  a  ready  market  for  all  he  could  pro- 
duce, and  one  early  order  was  for  100,- 
ooo  tons.  But  just  at  this  junction  the 
great  desposits  of  rich  Bessemer  ore  in 
the  Mesaba  range  of  Minnesota  became 
available,  and  no  living  man  could  meet 
the  competition  of  this  wonderful  largesse 
of  Nature.  Edison  must  perforce  abandon 
the  adventure  into  which  he  had  poured 
millions  of  dollars,  with  the  conviction  that 
he  was  right  in  the  long  run.  He  merely 
said:  "It's  all  gone,  but  we  had  a  hell  of  a 
good  time  spending  it,"  and  forthwith  he 
turned  around,  applied  all  his  hard-won 
knowledge  to  the  cement  industry,  intro- 
duced a  number  of  leading  innovations 
and  became  one  of  the  largest  manufac- 
turers of  cement  in  the  world!  Very  few 
men  could  do  that.  A  further  derivation 
of  this  line  of  application  has  been  his 
system  for  fabricating  cement  houses  with 
a  set  of  iron  molds.  The  permutations  of 
the  molds  give  variety  of  structure  and 
architecture,  and  the  houses  can  be  poured 
cheaply,  swiftly  and  endlessly. 

Preceding  much  of  this  came  the  Ed- 


ison invention  of  the  picture  camera  in 
1891,  and  here  again  were  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  an  entirely  new  art.  With  this 
mechanism  and  the  ribbon  film  began  the 
era  of  the  motion  picture,  with  its  marvel- 
lous creation  of  innumerable  new  places 
of  amusement,  new  employment  for  brains 
and  capital,  and  not  least  a  profound  effect 
upon  the  theatre  and  the  drama,  of  which 
the  final  evolution  is  not  yet  in  sight.  More- 
over, as  early  as  1887  this  radical  de- 
parture carried  with  it  the  implication  of 
the  talking  motion  picture,  elaborated  in 
1912  in  the  "kinetophone."  With  this, 
extraordinary  results  have  been  obtained 
from  the  exact  synchronism  of  phonograph 
and  motion  picture  film,  only  believable 
when  seen  and  heard  as  they  have  already 
been  by  many  thousands  of  people. 

Throughout  the  first  decade  of  the 
twentieth  century  the  inventor  made 
many  other  advances.  It  is  one  of  the 
peculiarities  of  his  method  of  working  that 
while  he  always  has  several  irons  in  the 
fire,  he  will  now  and  then  cease  active 
work  on  a  special  subject,  and  when  he 
seems  to  have  forgotten  it,  go  back  with 
new  zest  and  an  accumulation  of  fresh 
ideas  about  it.  To  this  period  belong  a 
new  phonographic  dictating  machine  in 
1905,  a  new  electric  motor  for  operating 
phonographs  in  1907,  and  then  the  present 
Edison  disc  phonograph  with  diamond 
point  producer  and  indestructible  records 
of  special  composition.  About  this  time 
came  the  telescribe,  a  device  by  which  both 
"ends"  of  a  telephone  conversation  are 
recorded  on  a  phonograph;  and  of  kindred 
character  is  the  "transophone,"  a  transcri- 
ber's dictating  machine  which  is  operated 
electrically  from  the  keyboard  of  the 
typewriter.  Beyond  all  these,  lie  many 
other  inventions  such  as  those  relating  to 
wireless  telegraphy  and  telephony  with  a 
static  system,  tried  out  long  before  the 
days  of  Marconi,  and  used  successfully 
between  moving  trains  and  the  adjacent 
pole  line  wires.  The  Edison  primary  bat- 
tery is  in  large  use,  particularly  in  rail- 
road service.  Edison  has  long  pondered 
over  the  difficulties  of  the  direct  conver- 
sion of  heat  into  electricity,  and  has  many 
ingenious  thermomagnetic  motors  and  gen- 
erators to  his  credit.  Of  late  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  Great  War  and  his  ap- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


213 


pointment  as  head  of  the  Naval  Consulting 
Board,  Mr.  Edison  has  devoted  himself 
quite  largely  to  military  and  naval 
problems,  such,  for  example,  as  those  con- 
nected with  the  suppression  of  the  sub- 
marine boat.  Nothing  can  be  said  in  de- 
tail just  now  as  to  all  this  work,  but  it 
may  be  remarked  that  his  wonted  ingenuity 
and  inventive  resourcefulness  have  been 
as  ready  as  ever. 

Mr.  Edison  has  always  had  a  passionate 
love  of  chemistry,  and  all  his  life  has  fol- 
lowed its  development  so  closely  that  elec- 
tricity might  be  said  to  be  relegated  to  a 
second  place.  His  profound  chemical 
knowledge  stood  him  in  good  stead  in  1914 
when  the  supply  of  carbolic  acid  from 
Europe  was  cut  off  by  the  war.  He  pro- 
ceeded immediately  to  make  the  acid, 
synthetically  produced  it  in  18  days  and 
within  a  month  was  able  to  turn  out  a  ton 
a  day.  Dependent  on  benzol  for  this  syn- 
thetic process,  he  next  found  the  supply 
of  that  very  precarious;  and  thereupon 
proceeded  to  erect  and  operate  great  ben- 
zol plants  in  this  country  and  Canada, 
from  which  adequate  supplies  are  now 
secured  of  benzol,  toluol,  solvent  naphtha, 
naphthaline  and  xylol.  The  crying  needs 
of  the  rubber  and  textile  industries  for 
myrbane,  aniline  oil  and  aniline  salt  next 
came  to  his  notice,  and  a  plant  was  soon 


put  in  operation  to  meet  these  demands. 
In  sequence  to  this  arose  the  shortage  in 
the  fur  industries  of  paraphenylenediamine, 
hitherto  obtained  from  abroad;  and  once 
more  Edison  came  to  the  rescue.  And 
thus  it  has  gone  on,  so  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  say  just  what  is  the  latest  "drive" 
into  the  chemical  industries  that  Edison 
has  made  on  his  own  initiative  or  in  re- 
sponse to  urgent  appeals. 

Edison  has  received  innumerable  de- 
grees and  marks  of  recognition,  the  latter 
including  the  Albert  gold  medal  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Arts  of  England  and  the 
John  Fritz  gold  medal  of  the  four  national 
engineering  societies  of  America.  The 
Edison  gold  medal  was  founded  in  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
in  1904  and  has  since  been  awarded  to 
several  great  electrical  engineers  and  sci- 
entists. Various  organizations  bear  his 
name,  notably  the  Association  of  Edison 
Illuminating  Companies.  In  1918,  on  his 
birthday,  the  Edison  Pioneers,  whose  mem- 
bership is  composed  of  men  associated  with 
him  in  his  work  and  enterprises  up  to 
1885,  was  founded.  Mr.  Edison  is  a 
member — honorary  in  several  instances — 
of  a  great  number  of  societies,  and  though 
in  no  sense  a  club  man,  is  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York. 


214 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


EVAN   J.   EDWARDS 


Evan  J.  Edwards,  electrical  engineer 
and  educator,  born  in  Williamsburg,  Iowa, 
March  3,  1882,  was  graduated  from  the 
State  University  of  Iowa  with  the  degree 
of  B.S.  in  Electrical  Engineering  in  1907. 
In  recognition  of  original  investigations 
carried  on  at  the  University,  Mr.  Edwards 
was,  at  the  close  of  his  senior  year,  elected 
to  Sigma  Xi.  During  the  summer  of  1907 
he  worked  with  the  Missouri  River  Power 
Company  at  Butte,  Mont.,  and  in  the  fall 
accepted  an  appointment  as  Assistant  In- 
structor at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology.  Here  Mr.  Edwards  taught 
for  three  years,  the  last  year  as  instructor 
in  the  Electrical  Engineering  Department. 
A  portion  of  his  leisure  hours  he  devoted 
to  night  school  classes  in  Lowell  Institute 
and  Wells  Memorial  Institute. 

Mr.  Edwards  has  always  manifested  a 
keen  interest  in  research  work,  and  found 
time  while  an  instructor  to  conduct  several 
original  investigations.  Most  of  this  work 
involved  incandescent  electric  lamps,  and 
the  summers  of  1908  and  1909,  spent  in 
the  Engineering  Department  of  the  Na- 


tional Lamp  Works  of  General  Electric 
Company  at  Cleveland,  served  only  to  in- 
tensify his  interest  in  illumination  en- 
gineering. In  1910  he  accepted  a  position 
with  the  National  Lamp  Works,  where  his 
unusual  ability  as  an  investigator  and  his 
thorough  mastery  of  the  broad  subject  of 
electrical  engineering  have  made  them- 
selves effective  in  a  general  improvement 
of  lighting  conditions  and  in  the  invention 
of  several  unique  electrical  devices.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  (past  chairman  Cleve- 
land Section),  National  Electric  Light  As- 
sociation (Class  E),  Illuminating  Engin- 
eering Society,  Society  for  the  Promotion 
of  Engineering  Education,  Associate  Mem- 
ber American  Society  of  Agricultural  En- 
gineers, and  has  served  on  many  boards 
and  committees  of  societies. 

Conservative,  yet  never  hesitating  to 
assume  responsibility,  quick  to  detect  er- 
rors, yet  tolerant  of  the  mistakes  of  others, 
Mr.  Edwards  as  Electrical  Engineer  of  the 
National  Lamp  Works  has  won  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  all  associated  with  him. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


215 


WILLIAM   C.   L.    EGLIN 


William  C.  L.  Eglin  is  the  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  The  Philadelphia  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  has  been  identified  since  1889 
with  that  company  and  its  predecessors 
in  the  electric  lighting  field  in  Philadelphia. 
During  this  period  the  smaller  electric 
electric  lighting  companies  were  consolidat- 
ed into  one  large  company,  necessitating 
the  standardization  of  power  station  equip- 
ment and  of  distribution  methods  in  order 
that  a  unified  and  economic  system  could 
be  established  throughout  the  city;  this 
work,  together  with  the  erection  of  new 
i  lants  (notably  the  modern  steam  turbine 
station  on  the  Schuylkill  River  at  Christian 
Street;  and  a  similar  plant  on  the  Dela- 
ware River  at  Chester  now  nearing  com- 
pletion) as  needed  to  furnish  capacity  for 
the  rapidly  expanding  business  of  the 
company  being  designed  and  successfully 
accomplished  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  Mr.  Eglin.  He  is  a  Past  President 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion; a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  and  one  of  its  Past 
Vice-Presidents;  a  Vice-President  of  the 
Engineers'  Club  of  Philadelphia;  and  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the 

o 


Franklin  Institute  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. At  the  International  Engineering 
Congress  held  in  Paris  in  1900  Mr.  Eglin 
served  as  the  representative  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Frank- 
lin Institute ;  and  at  the  International  Elec- 
trical Congress  held  in  St.  Louis  in  1904 
he  presented,  by  invitation,  a  paper  on 
Rotary  Convertors  and  Motor-Generator 
Sets. 

He  has  contributed  to  the  technical  press 
and  to  various  associations  a  number  of 
engineering  papers,  practicularly  on  the 
steam  turbine.  He  is  also  serving  on  the 
National  Commission  of  physicians  and 
engineers,  originally  appointed  by  the 
American  Medical  Association,  to  form- 
ulate rules  for  resuscitation  from  electri- 
cal shock.  In  addition  to  his  membership 
in  the  above-mentioned  associations,  he  is 
a  member  of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York;  Illuminating  Engineering  Society; 
American  Electrochemical  Society  and 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers. He  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  and  other  prominent  clubs  of 
Philadelphia;  the  Navy  League  and  the 
National  Security  League. 


216 


HUGO   E.   EISENMENGER 


Hugo  E.  Eisenmenger,  electrical  en- 
gineer, was  born  in  Vienna,  Austria,  July 
7,  1874.  He  was  graduated  from  a  Vienna 
college  ("gymnasium,"  eight  years  classical 
course)  in  1892,  from  the  Technical  Uni- 
versity ("Technische  Hochschule")  of 
Vienna,  1897,  and  took  post-graduate 
work  at  Karlsruhe,  Germany.  After  serv- 
ing for  a  short  time  as  marine  engineer  in 
the  transoceanic  service  of  the  North  Ger- 
man Lloyd,  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
Siemens  &  Halske  A.  G.  (afterwards 
called  Siemens-Schuckert-Werke) ,  Vienna, 
remaining  with  that  company,  engaged  in 
design,  construction  and  operation  of  elec- 
trical railroads,  until  1907.  In  1906-1907 
he  constructed  and  later  operated  the  elec- 
tric lighting  plant  of  the  city  of  Khartoum, 
Soudan,  Africa.  In  1908-1909  he  was  the 
representative  in  Japan  of  the  Bergmann 
Elektrizitaets-Werke  of  Berlin,  with  resi- 
dence in  Yokohama  and  later  in  Tokyo. 
Since  November,  1909,  he  has  been  elec- 


trical engineer  with  the  National  Electric 
Lamp  Association  (now  the  National 
Lamp  Works  of  General  Electric  Co.), 
Cleveland,  Ohio,  for  which  he  has  traveled 
extensively  in  the  United  States  and  almost 
all  European  countries.  Mr.  Eisenmenger 
has  published  investigations  about  the  the- 
ory of  Central  Station  Rates,  designed  a 
system  of  Space  Representation  of  Central 
Station  Rates,  etc.,  has  been  working  for 
several  years  in  conjunction  with  the  Rate 
Research  Committee  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association,  and  has  conducted 
mathematical  investigations  about  the  de- 
termination of  cost  of  current,  influence  of 
diversity  factor,  characteristics  of  incan- 
descent lamps,  etc.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Elektrotechnischer  Verein,  Berlin;  associ- 
ate member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers;  member  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  and  Illuminat- 
ing Engineering  Society,  London. 


BYRON    E-  ELDRED 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


217 


BYRON  E.  ELDRED 


The  average  man  looks  upon  the  mar- 
velous growth  of  electricity  in  the  last 
twenty  years  as  a  matter  of  course.  He 
accepts  the  comforts  and  aid  its  develop- 
ment has  brought  and  gives  little  thought 
to  the  able  men  who  have  spent  long  years 
in  research  work  to  advance  the  science 
and  harness  its  power  for  the  world's  use. 
Among  those  who  must  be  given  credit  for 
notable  achievement  along  this  and  other 
scientific  lines  is  Byron  E.  Eldred,  who  was 
born  in  Jackson,  Mich.,  February  12,  1873, 
the  son  of  Z.  C.  and  Helen  (Carter) 
Eldred.  After  a  thorough  preparatory 
education,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College, 
from  which  he  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  B.S.,  and  was  afterwards  the  recipient 
of  the  D.Sc.  degree.  In  1895,  Dr.  Eldred 
opened  an  engineering  office  in  Toronto, 
Canada,  and  since  that  time  has  been  con- 
stantly engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession and  research  work  pertaining 
thereto.  He  devoted  much  time  to  the 
study  of  combustion  and  wits  awarded  the 
John  Scott  Legacy  and  medal  by  the  City 
of  Philadelphia  for  his  able  work  in  this 
line.  He  invented  a  process  for  control  of 
duration  of  combustion  or  temperature  and 
volume  of  flames,  familiarly  known  as  the 
"Eldred  Process."  Dr.  Eldred  is  an  in- 
ventor of  achievement  and  is  the  head  of 
the  Commercial  Research  Laboratory, 
specializing  particularly  in  metallurgical 
and  chemical  research.  He  makes  no  claim 


to  distinction  as  an  electrical  engineer,  but 
many  of  his  discoveries  have  contributed 
largely  to  electrical  advance,  and  one  of 
his  inventions,  in  particular,  entitles  him 
to  have  his  name  enrolled  with  the  notable 
men  who  have  been  pioneers  in  the  electri- 
cal field.  This  is  the  low  expansion  lead- 
ing-in  wire  for  incandescent  lamps,  displac- 
ing platinum.  This  was  invented  by  Dr. 
Eldred  after  leading  electricians  had  failed 
in  similar  attempts.  This  work  alone 
makes  him  a  notable  figure  in  the  science 
and  the  value  of  the  discovery  was  duly 
recognized  by  the  Franklin  Institute  of 
Philadelphia,  which  awarded  him  the  much 
coveted  Elliott  Cresson  medal,  an  honor 
greatly  appreciated  by  inventors  all  over 
the  world.  Dr.  Eldred  is  a  member  of  the 
Engineers'  Club  and  the  Chemists'  Club  of 
New  York  City,  the  New  York  Athletic 
Association,  the  Authors'  Club  and  the 
Royal  Societies  Club  of  London,  England; 
the  National  Club  of  Toronto,  Canada; 
the  Royal  Society  of  Arts,  and  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  North  British  Academy.  Dr.  Eldred 
is  president  and  director  of  the  Commercial 
Research  Company,  of  556  Jackson  Ave- 
nue, Long  Island  City;  the  Dutch  Liquid 
Company,  Eldred  &  Palmer  Company  and 
Johnson  Electric  Smelting,  Inc.  He  is  vice- 
president  of  the  Chemical  Development 
Company  and  the  Worcester  Evening  Post, 
of  Worcester,  Mass.  He  resides  in 
Malba,  Long  Island. 


218 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM    LE    ROY    EMMET 


In  the  thirty  years  of  his  connection 
with  the  electrical  profession,  during 
which  period  he  has  added  many  inven- 
tions and  developments  to  the  resources  of 
electrical  engineering,  Mr.  W.  L.  R.  Em- 
met has  been  identified  with  much  impor- 
tant electrical  work.  He  was  born  in  New 
Rochelle,  New  York,  July  10,  1859,  a  son 
of  William  J.  and  Julia  Colt  (Pierson) 
Emmet.  He  is  a  great-grandson  of 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  Irish  patriot  and 


brother  of  Robert  Emmet.  Members  of 
the  family  have  been  prominent  in  the  law, 
science,  medicine,  and  particularly  in  art. 

He  was  educated  in  the  United  States 
Naval  Academy,  being  graduated  with  the 
class  of  1 88 1,  and  served  in  the  Navy  as 
cadet  midshipman  from  graduation  until 
1883,  when  he  left  the  service.  After  va- 
rious temporary  employments  he  began 
electrical  work  with  the  Sprague  Electric 
Railway  and  Motor  Company  in  the  Fall 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


219 


of  1887.  As  a  boy  he  had  devoted  much 
time  to  mechanical  constructions  of  various 
kinds,  and  while  at  the  Naval  Academy  he 
became  interested  in  science,  and  particu- 
larly in  electricity.  After  serving  with  the 
Sprague  Electric  Company  for  a  consider- 
able time  in  construction  work,  he  was 
electrical  engineer  of  the  Buffalo  Railway 
Company,  and  afterward  district  engineer 
for  the  Chicago  District  of  the  Edison 
General  Electric  Company.  Since  1892  he 
has  been  continuously  engaged  in  impor- 
tant capacities  with  the  General  Electric 
Company,  except  for  a  time  in  1898,  when 
he  reentered  the  Navy,  serving  during  the 
Spanish-American  War. 

In  the  electrical  field  Mr.  Emmet  was  the 
first  to  use  certain  methods  of  insulation 
with  varnished  fabric,  which  have  since 
had  wide  application.  He  developed 
methods  of  distribution  by  alternating  cur- 
rents; actively  promoted  the  introduction 
of  large  uses  of  alternating  currents  and 
designed  many  of  the  first  large  installa- 
tions. He  designed  many  switching  and 
control  devices  for  early  large  uses  of 
alternating  currents,  including  the  first  in- 
vention and  application  of  oil  switches. 
He  directed  and  promoted  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Curtis  steam  turbine  by  the 
General  Electric  Company,  and  invented 
and  designed  many  of  its  features.  He 
planned  and  promoted  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity for  ship  propulsion,  invented  many 
features  and  designed  equipment  now 
being  applied  to  many  large  ships  of  the 
United  States  Navy.  He  has  directed  the 
development  of  the  Alquist  system  of 
high-speed  gearing  now  being  extensively 
used  in  ship  propulsion  and  for  other 
purposes. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers;  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Ma- 
rine Engineers,  Society  of  Naval  Engi- 
neers, American  Philosophical  Society  and 
of  the  University  and  Engineers'  clubs  of 
New  York;  Mohawk  Club  (Schenectady), 
and  Army  and  Navy  Club  (Washington). 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Naval  Con- 
sulting Board  since  1915. 

Mr.  Emmet  is  author  of  a  text-book  on 
"Alternating  Current  Wiring  and  Distri- 
bution," published  in  1894,  and  has  been 


a  constant  and  extensive  contributor  to  the 
technical  press  on  many  electrical  and  me- 
chanical subjects.  He  has  always  been 
very  deeply  interested  in  literature,  natu- 
ral science,  and  in  history  and  political  sci- 
ence, and  in  these  as  well  as  in  subjects 
connected  with  the  engineering  profession 
he  has  written  many  essays  and  papers. 

His  researches  and  inventions  in  connec- 
tion with  the  development  of  the  steam 
turbine  have  been  continuous  since  1900, 
and  have  borne  an  affirmative  share  in  the 
efficiency  and  progress  of  that  mode  of 
steam  power  development  and  of  propul- 
sion. 

JUSTUS    BULKLEY    ENTZ 

Justus  Bulkley  Entz,  as  electrical  engi- 
neer and  inventor,  holds  a  very  prominent 
place  in  the  electrical  profession,  with 
which  he  has  been  identified  for  the  past 
thirty  years.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  June  16,  1867.  His  parents 
were  both  born  in  New  York  and  his  pa- 
ternal grandfather  came  from  Switzerland 
to  New  York  as  a  young  man.  His 
mother's  father  was  a  New  Yorker,  but 
descended  from  an  old  New  England  fam- 
ily since  1635.  He  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  the  city,  and  in  the  College  of 
the  City  of  New  York  to  the  end  of  the 
sophomore  year.  He  was  always  inter- 
ested in  electrical  matters  and  attended  lec- 
tures on  the  subject  by  Prof.  Doremus,  of 
the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
by  Prof.  Chandler,  of  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons.  In  June,  1887,  he 
entered  the  Edison  Machine  Works  at 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.  (the  predecessor  of 
the  General  Electric  Company),  and  ad- 
vanced in  that  service  until  he  became  chief 
electrician  of  the  works.  He  afterwards 
held  the  same  position  with  the  Waddell- 
Entz  Company;  later  became  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  Electric  Storage  Battery  Com- 
pany; was  vice-president  in  charge  of  en- 
gineering of  the  Electric  Vehicle  Com- 
pany of  Hartford,  Conn. ;  electric  engineer 
of  the  White  Company,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  and  is  now  electric  engineer  of  the 
Entz-Motor  Patent  Corporation.  Mr. 
Entz  was  the  inventor  and  designer  of  the 
first  multipolar  direct-connected  dynamos 
installed  in  the  ships  of  the  White  Squad- 
ron of  the  United  States  Navy,  known  as 


220 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


JUSTUS   B.  ENTZ 


Edison  marine  dynamos.  He  was  the  in- 
ventor and  designer  (1889)  of  the  Wad- 
dell-Entz  dynamos  and  motors,  also  of  the 
copper-zinc  storage  battery  known  as  the 
Waddell-Entz  battery.  The  Second  Ave- 
nue Line,  in  New  York,  had  twelve  cars 
operated  by  this  battery  in  1892,  and  the 
first  electric  cars  in  Vienna,  Austria,  were 
run  with  these  batteries  in  1894.  While 
chief  engineer  of  the  Electric  Storage  Bat- 
tery Company,  he  invented  a  number  of 
methods  for  storage  battery  regulation,  in- 
cluding the  differential  booster,  the  con- 
stant current  booster  and  the  carbon  regu- 
lator. The  Encyclopedia  Britannica  thus 
characterizes  the  Entz  Booster:  "J.  B. 
Entz  has  introduced  an  auxiliary  device 
which  enables  him  to  use  a  much  more 
simple  booster.  The  Entz  Booster  has  no 
series  coils  and  only  one  shunt  coil,  the 
direction  and  value  of  excitation  being  due 
to  this  being  controlled  by  a  carbon  genera- 
tor having  two  arms,  the  resistance  of  each 


of  which  can  be  varied  by  pressure  due  to 
the  magnetizing  action  of  a  solenoid.  The 
main  current  from  the  generator  passes 
through  the  solenoid  and  causes  one  or 
other  of  the  two  carbon  arms  to  have  the 
less  resistance.  This  change  in  resistance 
determines  the  direction  of  the  exciter  field 
current,  and  therefore  the  direction  of  the 
boost."  He  invented  the  electric  transmis- 
sion now  in  use  in  Owen  magnetic  cars,  the 
first  patent  for  which  was  filed  in  March, 
1 898,  and  a  car  built  in  that  year.  He  also 
invented  the  electric  starter  used  by  the 
White  Company,  Franklin  Company  and 
Chalmers  Company.  He  is  also  inventor 
of  devices  in  several  other  fields,  having 
about  fifty  United  States  patents.  Mr. 
Entz  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Society  of 
Automotive  Engineers,  the  Engineers  Club 
of  New  York,  the  Wykagge  Club  of  New 
Rochelle  and  the  Huntington  Valley  Coun- 
try Club,  Noble,  Pa. 


DUDLEY     FARRAND 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


221 


DUDLEY   FARRAND 


In  a  connection  with  the  electric  light 
and  power  business  which  has  extended 
over  thirty-one  years  of  continuous  service, 
Dudley  Farrand  has  advanced  from  the 
position  of  a  novice  to  the  management  of 
one  of  the  country's  largest  electric  corpo- 
rations. His  career  during  those  three 
decades  has  been  one  of  constant  contact 
with  electrical  operations  and  problems 
and  of  intensive  study,  which  has  made 
him  a  thoroughly  equipped  electrical  and 
mechanical  engineer  and  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  experienced  executives  in  the  elec- 
trical field. 

He  was  born  on  February  21,  1869,  in 
Bloomfield,  Essex  County,  New  Jersey, 
the  son  of  Charles  and  Anna  (Farrand) 
Farrand.  In  both  paternal  and  maternal 
lines  he  is  a  scion  of  the  old  New  Jersey 
family  of  Farrand,  which  settled  in  that 
part  of  New  Netherland  which  later  be- 
came New  Jersey  in  1643.  The  Farrands 
were  French  Huguenots,  who  were  driven 
out  of  France  by  religious  persecution, 
going  first  into  England  and  thence  with 
the  English  colonists  to  this  country. 

Mr.  Farrand's  early  education  was  in 
the  public  schools  of  Bloomfield,  New 
Jersey,  whence,  after  graduation,  he  went 
to  Newark  Academy,  graduating  in  1887 
and  matriculating  in  the  Princeton  Uni- 
versity class  of  1891.  He  decided,  how- 
ever, not  to  take  the  college  course,  but  to 
accept  an  offered  clerkship  with  the  New- 
ark Electric  Light  and  Power  Company. 
From  the  beginning  of  his  connection  with 
the  electrical  business  he  evinced  a  deep 
interest  in  its  operative  and  technical 
problems,  and  devoted  to  them  continuous 
study,  which,  combined  with  practical  ex- 
perience, gave  him  mastery  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  practice  of  electrical  engi- 
neering. 

Efficiency  in  his  office  work  secured  him 
promotion  in  1889  to  the  position  of  Assis- 
tant Secretary  of  the  Newark  Electric 
Light  and  Power  Company,  and  in  1891 
he  was  promoted  Assistant  Manager,  and 
in  1892  he  was  put  in  charge  of  the  De- 
partment of  Design  and  Construction. 

In  1896  Mr.  Farrand  was  made  Assis- 
tant Manager  of  the  People's  Light  and 
Power  Company,  and  a  year  later  was  pro- 


moted to  General  Manager  of  that  com- 
pany. Subsequent  consolidation  brought 
him  larger  duties  and  increased  promi- 
nence as  a  manager  of  electrical  enter- 
prises. In  1899  he  was  made  General 
Manager  of  the  United  Electric  Company 
of  New  Jersey,  and  when  by  merger  of 
public  utility  corporations  the  Public  Serv- 
ice Corporation  of  New  Jersey  was 
formed  he  became,  in  1903,  the  General 
Manager  of  the  Electric  Department  of 
that  corporation.  In  1910  the  Public 
Service  Electric  Company  was  organized 
to  take  over  the  electric  properties  of  the 
Public  Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey 
and  operate  them,  and  Mr.  Farrand  was 
selected  as  General  Manager  of  the  com- 
pany. Early  in  1915  he  was  elected  Vice- 
President  and  General  Manager  and  re- 
mained in  that  capacity  until  April  ist, 
1917.  On  that  date  he  was  promoted  to 
Assistant  to  the  President  of  Public  Service 
Corporation  of  N.  J.  and  like  position  in 
each  subsidiary  operating  company,  such  as 
Public  Service  Electric  Co.,  Public  Service 
Gas  Co.,  Public  Service  Railway  Co., 
etc.  It  is  a  large  and  comprehensive  enter- 
prise, covering  more  than  two  hundred 
cities  and  towns  and  operating  upon  the 
largest  scale.  The  duties  of  Assistant  to 
the  President  of  the  holding  Company  and 
of  each  operating  Company  call  for  an  ex- 
ceptional combination  of  executive  ability, 
practical  knowledge  and  technical  skill,  all 
of  which  Mr.  Farrand  brings,  in  full 
measure,  to  the  performance  of  his  ardu- 
ous and  responsible  duties. 

Besides  conferring  upon  him  an  espe- 
cial fitness  for  the  official  position  he  holds 
with  his  own  company,  the  qualifications 
also  endow  him  with  the  qualities  most 
valued  as  a  consulting  engineer.  In  that 
capacity  he  has  given  valued  service  to 
many  large  electrical  interests  all  over  the 
country.  His  exceptional  abilities  as  a 
consulting  engineer  received  national  rec- 
ognition when  President  Roosevelt,  on  ap- 
pointing the  National  Conservation  Com- 
mission, chose  him  to  represent  the  elec- 
trical questions  involved  as  an  adviser  of 
the  Board  of  Engineers  organized  to  com- 
pile data  for  the  Conservation  Commis- 
sion. He  also,  upon  the  invitation  of 


222 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


President  Roosevelt,  represented  the  elec- 
trical interests  in  the  first  Conference  of 
Governors,  which  convened  in  the  White 
House  in  May,  1908. 

In  connection  with  electrical  interests 
Mr.  Farrand  is  recognized  as  a  national 
leader,  and  he  has  taken  much  inter- 
est in  the  work  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  of  which  he  was 
formerly  president.  It  was  during  his 
term  as  President  of  N.  E.  L.  A.  that 
amendments  to  the  constitution,  making 
possible  its  present  size  and  importance, 
were  made  effective.  He  is  a  fellow  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers and  a  member  of  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers.  He  has 


always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  rapid 
developments  in  electrical  service  and  the 
corresponding  advance  in  the  electrical 
engineering  profession,  which  has  been  in 
continuous  progress  during  the  thirty-one 
years  which  cover  his  own  connection  with 
electrical  interests. 

Mr.  Farrand  is  a  member  of  the  Essex 
Club  of  Newark,  New  Jersey;  the  Essex 
County  Country  Club  of  Orange,  New 
Jersey,  and  the  Rumson  Country  Club  of 
Rumson,  New  Jersey,  and  the  Engineers' 
Club  of  New  York.  He  was  formerly 
a  member  of  the  Essex  Troop,  First 
Troop  of  the  National  Guard  of  New 
Jersey,  a  famous  cavalry  organization. 


DR.   COLIN  G.   FINK 


Dr.  Colin  G.  Fink,  for  the  past  ten 
years  Research  Engineer  for  the  General 
Electric  Company,  and  who  was  the  first 
scientist  to  produce  ductile  tungsten,  is  now 
head  of  the  new  Chile  Exploration  Com- 
pany's laboratories,  where  the  work  is 
largely  research  along  metallurgical  and 
electrochemical  lines.  Dr.  Fink  was  born 
in  New  Jersey,  December  31,  1881,  the 
son  of  F.  W.  Fink,  of  the  firm  of  Lehn  & 
Fink,  and  graduated  from  Columbia  Uni- 
versity with  senior  honors  in  1903.  He 
took  special  courses  in  physics,  physical 
chemistry,  higher  mathematics  and  miner- 
alogy, and  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Leipzig,  Saxony  in  1907  with  the  de- 
grees of  M.A.  and  Ph.D.  (summa  cum 
laude).  He  was  assistant  in  Electro- 
chemistry at  the  Ostwald  Laboratory 
in  1906-7,  and  upon  returning  to  this 
country  he  entered  the  Research  Labor- 
atory of  the  General  Electric  Company, 
at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Willis  R.  Whitney,  and  started 
on  a  research  in  ductile  tungsten  and 
molybdenum.  The  application  of  electri- 
city to  chemistry  had  fascinated  him  when 
a  boy  and  he  determined  to  concentrate  on 
electrochemistry,  for  this  purpose  spend- 
ing four  years  in  the  laboratory  of  Wil- 
helm  Ostwald,  who  was  conceded  to  be  the 
foremost  electrochemist  of  the  world.  Dr. 
Whitney  was  a  student  of  Ostwald,  and 


this  led  to  Dr.  Fink's  Schenectady  connec- 
tion. In  1907  Dr.  Fink  started  to  solve 
the  problem  of  ductile  tungsten,  which  the 
engineers  at  Schenectady  had  already  tried 
vainly  to  do  for  four  years.  Similarly,  the 
laboratories  at  Berlin  of  Siemens  and 
Halske,  of  Pintsch,  of  the  Allgemeine 
Elektrizitaets  Gesellschaft  and  of  the  Auer 
Company  had  already  spent  large  sums  in 
trying  to  find  the  secret  of  ductile  tungsten. 
In  Schenectady  all  but  Dr.  Wrhitney  were 
about  to  give  up  hope  and  took  comfort  in 
developing  methods  for  pasting  the  black 
tungsten  powder  particles  into  fine  threads. 
Siemens  and  Halske  put  much  faith  in 
their  tantalum  lamp  and  felt  certain  that 
the  nickel-tungsten  alloy  process  would  be- 
come standard  throughout  the  world.  The 
Pintsch  people  negotiated  with  Dr.  Kuzel 
and  believed  that  the  colloidal  process 
would  be  the  ultimate  one,  but  all  these 
processes  produced  merely  a  very  fra- 
gile thread  and  no  strong  tungsten 
wire.  When  Dr.  Fink  took  up  the 
problem  at  Schenectady  his  associates 
thought  it  a  joke  and  took  pleasure 
in  playing  pranks  upon  him.  On  one 
occasion  he  had  carefully  put  away  in 
his  desk  a  half-dozen  pieces  of  tungsten 
rods  which  he  was  going  to  "ductilize"  or 
attempt  to  do  so  the  following  day.  Upon 
examining  the  pieces  in  the  morning  he 
found  they  were  all  soft  and  ductile.  This 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


223 


DR.  COLIN  G.  FINK 


was  due  to  the  fact  that  one  of  the  men 
had  carefully  substituted  the  same  size  in 
nickel  rods.  As  Dr.  Fink  studied  through 
the  work  that  had  been  carried  out  at 
Schenectady  and  Berlin,  he  noticed  a  very 
striking  trait  in  all  tests,  whether  Ameri- 
can or  German.  The  method  for  testing 
for  ductility  consisted  merely  in  bending 
the  sample.  If  it  broke  it  was  brittle,  but 
no  mention  was  made  as  to  the  degree  of 
brittleness,  or  whether  one  sample  was 


more  or  less  brittle  than  another.  He 
then  began  a  search  for  a  tool  or  instru- 
ment that  would  record  relative  ductility 
or  brittleness.  In  this  search  he  corre- 
sponded with  the  leading  instrument  manu- 
facturers, Bureaus  of  Standards  and 
others,  but  none  could  advise.  Accord- 
ingly, he  set  out  to  build  an  instrument  of 
his  own,  which  delayed  his  work  for  about 
a  month.  This  consisted  of  a  small  plati- 
num tube  connected  at  either  end  to  a  cur- 


224 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


rent  supply  which  could  be  regulated  at 
will.  In  series  with  it  was  a  wattmeter. 
Small  samples  of  tungsten  rods,  about  15 
to  20  thousandths  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
were  bent  over  this  tube  of  platinum,  while 
it  was  electrically  heated  to  a  bright  red. 
The  current  was  then  gradually  lowered 
and  bend  tests  made  until  a  temperature 
was  reached  at  which  the  rod  broke.  The 
watts  (or  temp.)  at  this  stage  were  re- 
corded. Then  samples  of  tungsten  pre- 
pared by  a  different  metallurgical  process 
were  tried  out,  and  very  soon  Dr.  Fink 
obtained  indications  as  to  the  direction  in 
which  he  had  to  work.  This  ductility  in- 
strument was  the  key  to  the  whole 
problem,  and  three  months  later  Dr.  Fink 
had  made  his  first  piece  of  strong,  ductile 
tungsten  wire.  About  one  month  before 
obtaining  the  first  ductile  wire  Dr.  Whit- 
ney came  into  Dr.  Fink's  laboratory  and 
said:  "Mr.  Rice  is  telephoning  and  asking 
me  how  soon  you  will  have  ductile  tung- 
sten. What  shall  I  tell  him?"  Dr.  Fink 
answered :  "Tell  Mr.  Rice  that  I  shall  have 
the  first  lot  of  real  ductile  tungsten  inside 
of  three  months!"  Dr.  Whitney  laughed 
heartily,  and  Mr.  Rice  could  almost  be 
heard  laughing  at  the  other  end  of  the 
'phone.  Several  engineers  from  the  lamp 
factories  came  to  see  Dr.  Fink  a  few 
months  later,  and  one  of  them  remarked: 
"It  is  all  very  nice,  but  it  will  never  com- 
pete with  the  paste  process."  After  his 
success  with  ductile  tungsten  Dr.  Fink 
turned  his  attention  to  platinum  substitutes, 
and  at  that  time  there  were  between  15 
or  20  so-called  platinum  substitutes  on  the 
market.  One  promoter  gave  the  assurance 
that  he  had  made  up  5  lamps,  3  of  which 
held  vacuum.  Dr.  Fink's  predecessors  had 
laid  all  emphasis  on  coefficient  of  expan- 


sion and  cheapness  of  materials  but  ig- 
nored the  very  important  factor,  the  wet- 
ting property  or  cementing  force  between 
the  glass  and  the  metal.  Dr.  Fink  found 
that  of  all  the  common  metals  copper 
makes  the  best  union  with  lamp  glass  at 
lamp-making  temperatures.  Second  to 
copper  was  cobalt.  Accordingly,  he  set 
out  to  modify  the  coefficient  of  expansion 
of  copper  or  cobalt,  and  this  he  did  by 
using  a  copper  tube  with  a  nickel  iron  core, 
the  coefficient  of  which  compensated  that 
of  the  tube  to  bring  it  down  to  that  of  the 
glass.  The  wire  is  now  used  in  all  coun- 
tries. 

Dr.  Fink  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence, a  Member,  Assistant  Editor  and  Past 
Councillor  of  the  American  Chemical  Soci- 
ety, President  of  the  American  Electro- 
chemical Society,  1917-18;  American  cor- 
respondent for  the  Bunsen  Society,  and 
president  of  the  American-British  Club  at 
Leipzig,  1905-07.  His  publications  are: 

"Kinetics  of  Contact  Sulphuric  Acid," 
Z.  Physikal  Chem.,  1907;  "Ductile  Tung- 
sten and  Molybdenum,"  Trans.  Am.  Elec- 
trochem.  Soc.,  17,  229;  "Electric  Vacuum 
Furnace  Metallurgy,  ibid.,  21,  189;  "Ap- 
plications of  Ductile  Tungsten,"  Eighth 
Intern.  Congress  Appl.  Chem.,  26,  503; 
"Electrical  Conductivity  vs.  Chem.  Com- 
position," J.  Physical  Chem.,  1917,  32; 
"Electrolytic  Behavior  of  Tungsten" 
(with  Mr.  Koerner),  Met.  Chem.  Eng., 
XVI,  No.  i ;  "Tungsten"  Mineral  Indus- 
try, 1913,  1914,  1915*  1916;  "Scientific 
Meetings  in  War-Times,"  Science,  45, 
66 1,  etc.,  etc. 

His  address  is  2O2d  Street  and  loth 
Avenue,  New  York  City. 


FREDERICK     P.    FISH 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


225 


FREDERICK  PERRY  FISH 


The  men  who  have  been  the  creators 
and  promoters  of  the  wonderful  advance 
of  electrical  industries  which  has  aston- 
ished the  world  are  of  many  talents.  The 
pure  scientists  who  have  wrested  from 
Nature's  breast  the  secrets  of  electrical 
power,  the  engineers  who  have  put  them 
into  tangible  form  and  applied  them  to  use- 
ful ends,  the  organizers,  lawyers  and  capi- 
talists who  have  brought  to  the  develop- 
ment of  electrical  industries  through  great 
corporate  organizations  the  sobering  and 
coordinating  elements  that  have  made  pres- 
ent progress  possible — all  these  have  been 
necessary  factors  in  the  creation  of  the 
Electric  Age  in  which  we  live. 

One  whose  participation  in  this  progress 
has  been  especially  active  and  influential  is 
Frederick  Perry  Fish,  a  member  of  the 
Boston  Bar,  who  has  been  professionally 
and  personally  prominent  in  many  of  the 
larger  and  more  important  electrical  indus- 
tries, but  especially  in  the  building  up  of 
the  great  Bell  Telephone  system  and  its 
dependent  and  associated  enterprises  and 
corporations,  of  which  he  was  long  the  ex- 
ecutive head. 

Mr.  Fish  was  born  in  Taunton,  Mass., 
January  13,  1855,  the  son  of  Frederick  L. 
and  Mary  Jarvis  (Perry)  Fish.  He  was 
graduated  from  Harvard  A.B.  1875,  and 
attended  the  Harvard  Law  School,  1875- 
1876;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  law  in  New  York 
and  Boston  until  July  i,  1901. 

He  had  early  become  associated,  pro- 
fessionally and  personally,  with  various 
electrical  interests,  and  particularly  with 
the  development  and  application  of  the 
telephone  to  the  needs  of  the  life  and  indus- 
try of  the  country.  He  became  interested 
in  the  Bell  Telephone  in  the  early  stages 
of  its  commercial  development,  when 
many  of  its  basic  interests  were  involved  in 
difficulties  and  litigation,  and  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  foresee  and  plan  the  methods 
to  meet  the  possibilities  of  telephone  ex- 
pansion, and  to  organize  the  companies 
and  enterprises  necessary  for  extension  of 
telephone  service  to  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. Local  and  long-distance  companies 
for  service  and  a  larger  general  organiza- 


tion for  coordinated  control  and  improve- 
ment of  the  telephone  business  were  organ- 
ized, largely  by  his  initiative  and  direction, 
creating  for  this  country  the  best  and  most 
comprehensive  telephone  system  in  the 
world  and  making  the  telephone  a  far 
more  intimate  factor  in  life  and  industry 
here  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
He  discontinued  the  practice  of  law  in 
1901  in  order  to  devote  his  attention  en- 
tirely to  the  large  telephone  interests  of 
which  he  became  the  organizing  and  execu- 
tive head.  He  was  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Bell  Telephone  Company,  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company, 
Western  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany; also  director  of  the  New  England 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  the 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  Telephone 
Company,  New  York  Telephone  Company, 
Pennsylvania  Telephone  Company,  South- 
ern Bell  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
Company,  General  Electric  Company  and 
Western  Electric  Company.  Under  his 
direction  there  was  a  great  expansion  of 
the  business  and  a  thorough  organization 
of  its  operations  effected,  and  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company, 
under  which  the  various  subsidiary  and 
associate  companies  were  harmonized  in 
coordinated  policies  and  practices,  was 
built  up  to  a  position  of  unquestioned  lead- 
ership among  the  world's  foremost  tele- 
phone organizations.  Having  accom- 
plished this,  he  resigned  the  executive  office 
and  duties  into  other  hands  and  returned 
to  the  practice  of  law  in  Boston  on  May  i, 
1907,  in  which  he  still  continues. 

Mr.  Fish  has  always  taken  a  deep  inter- 
est in  educational  affairs,  is  a  loyal  son  of 
Harvard  and  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Overseers  of  Harvard  University,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Corporation  and  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  associate  and  member  of 
the  Council  of  Radcliffe  College,  and  is 
Chairman  of  the  State  Board  of  Education 
of  Massachusetts.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
New  England  Trust  Company  and  of  the 
Old  Colony  Trust  Company.  He  remains 
deeply  interested  in  electrical  affairs,  in 
which  he  was  long  an  important  and  con- 


226 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


structive  factor.  He  is  an  associate  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers;  and  he  has  a  familiar 
knowledge  of  the  legal  questions  and  ad- 
ministrative problems  connected  not  only 
with  telephony  but  also  with  other 
branches  of  the  electrical  industry. 

Mr.  Fish  is  a  member  of  the  Union,  St. 
Botolph,  University  and  Exchange  Clubs, 
of  Boston,  and  the  Union,  University, 
Grolier,  National  Arts,  Railroad,  and 
Harvard  Clubs,  of  New  York. 

HENRY  WRIGHT  FISHER 

Henry  W.  Fisher,  chief  engineer  and 
manager  of  the  Lead  Cable  and  Rubber 
Works  of  the  Standard  Underground 
Cable  Company,  of  Perth  Amboy,  N. 
J.,  was  born  in  Youghal,  Ireland,  Janu- 
ary 31,  1861,  the  son  of  Abram  and  Sarah 
(Wright)  Fisher.  He  came  to  America 
in  1874  and  fourteen  years  later  received 
the  M.E.  degree  from  Cornell  University. 
After  graduation  he  was  connected  with 
Bergman  &  Co.,  and  the  C.  &  C.  Motor 
Company  and  then  entered  the  service  of 
the  Standard  Underground  Cable  Com- 
pany, becoming  its  chief  engineer  in  No- 
vember, 1889.  He  devoted  part  of  his 
time  to  developing  the  testing  department 
of  the  Central  District  &  Printing  Tele- 
graph Company,  Pittsburgh  from  1891 
until  1893,  and  was  later  superintendent 
of  the  Pittsburgh  factory  of  the  Standard 
Underground  Cable  Co.  Mr.  Fisher  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  the  Engineers'  Society 
of  Western  Pennsylvania,  of  which  he  was 
president  in  1901-2,  the  American  Electro- 
chemical Society,  American  Society  for 
Testing  Material,  Sigma  Xi  Fraternity, 
University  Club  of  Pittsburgh,  the  Chem- 
ist Club  and  the  Cornell  University  Club 
of  New  York  and  is  ex-president  of  the 
Esperanto  Association  of  North  America. 
Mr.  Fisher  has  devoted  much  time  to  re- 
search and  investigation  and  has  origin- 
ated methods  of  locating  faults  in  cables, 
etc.  He  has  prepared  many  papers  as  the 
result  of  this  work  which  he  has  read  be- 
fore electrical  bodies  and  contributed  to 
the  technical  press. 


ALAN    E.    FLOWERS 

Professor  Alan  E.  Flowers  has  com- 
bined in  his  career  important  contribu- 
tions to  electrical  science,  valuable  work  in 
professional  practice,  and  distinction  as 
professor  of  electrical  engineering.  Born 
in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  October  4,  1876, 
he  was  graduated  from  Cornell  as  M.  E., 
1902,  M.  M.  E.,  1914,  and  Ph.  D.  1915, 
and  received  election  to  Sigma  Xi,  as  well 
as  to  the  University  scholarship  on  gradua- 
tion. He  was  identified  with  the  important 
college  sports,  making  the  Class  Track 
Team,  and  the  'Varsity  Four-Oared  Crew 
as  stroke. 

He  began  his  professional  work  as  an 
engineer's  helper  with  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  which  he  was  an  apprentice,  in  1901 
in  their  construction  district  in  and  near 
Philadelphia.  His  first  piece  of  work  was 
grinding-in  the  carbon  brushes  of  a  small 
direct  current  generator.  He  advanced 
steadily  in  the  profession,  has  been  en- 
gaged as  engineer  with  the  Bullock  Elec- 
tric Manufacturing  Company,  the  Tellu- 
ride  Power  Company,  the  Bear  River 
Power  Company,  and  as  investigator  with 
the  General  Electric  Company,  in  its  Con- 
sulting Engineering  Department  in  the 
Protective  Apparatus  Laboratory.  He  is 
now  appraisal  engineer  for  the  Columbus 
Railway,  Power  and  Light  Company,  of 
Columbus,  Ohio. 

He  began  his  collegiate  instruction  work 
with  the  University  of  Missouri,  in  which 
he  was  successively  instructor,  assistant 
professor  and  associate  professor,  and  then 
accepted  the  position  of  professor  of  elec- 
trical engineering  in  the  University  of 
Ohio,  which  chair  he  now  holds. 

His  chief  interests  outside  of  his  pro- 
fession center  in  the  study  of  economics, 
psychology  and  sociology,  and  in  music. 

He  is  a  member  of  Sigma  Xi,  Tau  Beta 
Pi,  Lambda  Phi,  Phi  Mu  Alpha,  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, American  Society  for  Testing  Mate- 
rials, American  Physical  Society,  American 
Electrochemical  Society,  and  others  both 
of  professional  and  social  character. 


W.WINANS     FREEMAN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


227 


W.  WINANS  FREEMAN 


The  rise  of  W.  Winans  Freeman  from 
the  position  of  stenographer  to  that  of 
executive  head  of  public  utility  corpora- 
tions, is  a  story  most  worthy  of  incorpora- 
tion in  a  history  of  the  development  of  the 
electrical  industry.  Mr.  Freeman  was 
born  in  Exeter,  Ontario,  Canada,  June  8, 
1872,  the  son  of  Asakel  Davis  and  Louisa 
Ann  (Winans)  Freeman.  The  father  was 
descended  from  the  Black  family,  who 
were  pioneer  settlers  in  Nova  Scotia,  and 
the  mother  was  of  English  descent,  one  of 
her  ancestors  being  an  officer  in  the  army 
of  Lord  Cornwallis,  while  another,  Wil- 
liam Carson,  was  the  builder  of  the  first 
frame  house  in  Prince  Edward  County, 
Canada.  Mr.  Freeman's  education  was 
obtained  in  grammar  and  high  schools  of 
Listowel,  Ontario,  and  after  graduation  he 
entered  the  employ  of  Hess  Brothers,  a 
local  furniture  manufacturing  concern.  He 
severed  his  connection  with  this  firm  in 
order  to  come  to  the  United  States,  and  in 
1889  he  became  a  stenographer  in  the 
office  of  the  general  manager  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brook- 
lyn. His  aptitude  and  energy  in  this  posi- 
tion were  of  such  a  character  that  he  was 
soon  made  private  secretary  to  the  general 
manager.  From  that  time  his  advance- 
ment was  steady,  successively  becoming  as- 
sistant secretary,  secretary,  treasurer,  and 
finally,  vice-president  and  general  manager 
of  the  company.  The  latter  position  made 
him  the  active  head  of  the  concern,  as  the 
office  of  president  was  an  honorary  one, 
without  active  duties,  and  it  also  involved 
similar  official  titles  and  duties  in  the  or- 
ganization's allied  companies.  While  in 
this  position  Mr.  Freeman  became  inter- 
ested in  a  number  of  outside  enterprises, 
but  on  January  i,  1913,  severed  all  his 
Brooklyn  affiliations  to  accept  the  position 
of  American  representative  of  Sperling  & 
Co.,  London,  England.  The  house  of 
Sperling  &  Co.  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
in  the  English  capital,  and  has  large  invest- 
ments in  public  utilities  in  the  United 


States,  Canada  and  Mexico.  Among  the 
firm's  holdings  are  the  Alabama  Traction, 
Light  &  Power  Co.,  Alabama  Interstate 
Power  Co.,  and  the  Alabama  Power  Co., 
of  which  organizations  Mr.  Freeman 
was  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager. In  1914  he  became  associated 
with  the  Columbia  Gas  &  Electric 
Co.,  with  headquarters  at  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio.  With  this  position  he 
assumed  executive  direction  of  the  com- 
pany's various  utility  properties.  He  is 
now  president  of  the  Union  Gas  &  Electric 
Co.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio;  Union  Light,  Heat 
&  Power  Co.,  Covington,  Ky.,  Cincinnati, 
Newport  &  Covington  Railway  Co.,  Cov- 
ington, Ky. ;  South  Covington  &  Cincinnati 
Street  Railway  Co.,  Covington,  Ky.,  and 
numerous  smaller  subsidiary  companies. 
Mr.  Freeman  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Illu- 
minating Engineering  Society,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  Manufacturers'  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York,  the  Brooklyn  League 
and  the  Canadian  Society  of  New  York. 
He  is  a  director  of  the  Electrical  Show, 
Inc.,  and  is  past  president  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Edison  Illuminating  Companies 
and  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, also  serving  as  chairman  of  the  Public 
Policy  Committee  of  the  last  named  or- 
ganization for  the  past  three  years.  His 
clubs  include  the  Lawyers,  Engineers'  and 
Lotos,  of  New  York  City,  the  Beauvoir 
and  County  Clubs  of  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama, and  the  Queen  City,  Country,  Busi- 
ness Men's  and  Cincinnati  Golf  Clubs,  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Freeman  was  married  in  1895  to 
Ellen  Burrows,  daughter  of  the  late 
Chester  D.  Burrows,  and  a  leader  in  the 
social  and  club  life  of  Brooklyn.  Of  this 
union  there  are  three  children — a  daughter 
and  two  sons.  Mr.  Freeman's  offices  are 
at  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Plum  streets, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  he  resides  at  the  Cin- 
cinnati Country  Club. 


228 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


FRANCIS   A.   J.   FITZ   GERALD 


As  a  man  of  science  and  a  chemist  and 
electrical  engineer  of  notable  ability  and 
valuable  achievement,  Mr.  Francis  A.  J. 
Fitz  Gerald  is  well  and  widely  known  in  the 
electrical  world.  He  has  been  associated 
with  some  of  the  most  important  develop- 
ments of  electro-chemistry  and  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  electric  furnace  as  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  such  develop- 
ments. 

He  was  born  June  i,  1870,  in  Dublin, 
Ireland,  in  which  city  he  was  educated  and 
grew  to  manhood.  He  entered  Trinity 
College,  Dublin  University,  and  was  grad- 
uated from  that  famous  institution  in 
the  Class  of  1891,  being  honorman,  silver 
medallist  and  junior  moderator  in  experi- 
mental physics  and  chemistry.  He  came  to 
the  United  States  in  1893  and  entered  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
whence  he  was  graduated  in  1895,  having 
taken  the  complete  courses  in  electrical  en- 


gineering in  that  institute.  He  was  always 
an  eager  investigator  in  the  realm  of  tech- 
nology, and  after  his  graduation  at  Bos- 
ton he  secured  from  his  old  friend,  the  late 
William  M.  Laffan,  of  the  New  York  Sun, 
an  introduction  to  Nikola  Tesla,  who 
strongly  advised  him  to  try  and  secure  em- 
ployment with  Dr.  Edward  G.  Acheson  in 
his  interesting  electric  furnace  work.  Fol- 
lowing this  advice  he  went  to  Niagara 
Falls  and  was  engaged  by  Dr.  Acheson  as 
assistant  in  the  Carborundum  Company's 
works  there,  and  in  that  connection  was 
active  as  aid  to  the  experimental  work  of 
Dr.  Acheson  in  developing  his  electric  fur- 
nace process  for  production  of  graphite 
and  graphitized  electrodes  evolved  in  the 
Niagara  Works.  He  became  chemist  of 
the  Carborundum  Company  in  charge  of 
furnaces,  etc.,  and  afterward  was  with  the 
Acheson  Graphite  Company  as  chemist.  In 
these  connections  he  became  an  expert  of 


129 


great  skill  in  electric  furnace  operation  and 
the  application  of  the  electric  furnace  to 
chemical  and  metallurgical  uses. 

He  thereupon  concluded  to  embark  for 
himself  as  a  consulting  engineer,  in  which 
capacity  he  is  now  president  of  the  Fitz 
Gerald  Laboratories,  Inc.,  of  Niagara 
Falls,  New  York,  and  has  at  various  times 
acted  as  consulting  engineer  for  the 
General  Electric  Company,  the  National 
Carbon  Company,  Norton  Company,  the 
Titanium  Alloy  Manufacturing  Company, 
as  well  as  others,  and  renders  efficient 
service  in  many  chemical  and  electrical 
capacities,  and  especially  in  connection  with 
electric  furnace  problems,  to  which,  in  ad- 
dition to  his  study  and  practical  experience 
in  the  Acheson  enterprises,  he  has  devoted 
much  patient  and  successful  experiment. 
He  is  thus  fully  equipped  for  the  highest 
types  of  expert  work  in  connection  with 
designing,  installing  and  directing  the  oper- 
ations of  electric  furnaces. 

Mr.  Fitz  Gerald  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, of  the  American  Electro-chemical 
Society  (of  which  he  is  past  president) ,  the 
Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Faraday  Society,  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the 
Niagara  Club,  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York,  and  the  Technology  Club  of  New 
York.  He  has  completely  equipped  la- 
boratories for  working  out  problems  and 
tests  along  certain  electro-chemical  lines, 
and  especially  the  carrying  out  of  experi- 
ments involving  the  use  of  electric  furnaces. 

While  largely  absorbed  in  original  re- 
search in  electricity  and  chemistry,  Mr. 
Fitz  Gerald  finds  time  for  gardening, 
which  is  his  outdoor  recreation,  and  for 
music. 

JOSEPH  C.  FORSYTH 

Joseph  C.  Forsyth,  who  has  been  chief 
inspector  of  the  New  York  Board  of 
Underwriters  for  twenty-seven  years, 
brought  to  that  position  when  appointed  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  electrical  matters 
gained,  technically,  by  a  college  course  and 
practically  with  some  of  the  leading  electri- 
cal organizations  in  the  city.  He  was  born 
in  Logan  County,  Ohio,  November  4, 
1 86 1,  and  was  educated  at  the  Ohio  Nor- 
mal University  and  the  Johns  Hopkins 


University,  Baltimore,  Maryland.  He 
began  his  business  career  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  in  1888,  and  one  year  later  came 
to  New  York  City  and  became  associated 
with  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Com- 
pany of  New  York.  He  was  also  con- 
nected with  the  United  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company  of  New  York.  He  was 


JOSEPH    C.    FORSYTH 

employed  in  the  construction  departments 
of  these  live  organizations,  and  his  equip- 
ment was  thorough  to  assume  the  duties  of 
chief  inspector  of  the  New  York  Board  of 
Fire  Underwriters,  when  he  was  appointed 
to  that  position  April  i,  1891.  This  is 
proven  by  his  retention  of  the  office  for 
twenty-seven  years,  during  which  time  he 
has  collected  and  preserved  many  original 
electrical  papers  and  a  vast  amount  of  data 
relative  to  the  work  of  the  Board.  Mr. 
Forsyth  is  a  member  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society.  His  offices 
are  located  at  123  William  Street,  and  he 
resides  at  406  Jefferson  Avenue,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. 


230 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


NELSON  W.  GAGE 


Nelson  W.  Gage  was  born  on  a  farm  in 
Albany  County,  New  York,  September  10, 
1865.  At  the  age  of  16,  after  a  common 
school  education,  he  secured  an  appoint- 
ment as  teacher  in  a  public  school  at  Knox, 
N.  Y.,  in  his  home  county.  With  an  am- 
bition to  go  through  Union  College,  he 
later  took  up  a  preparatory  course  at  Clas- 
sical Institute,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  Lack 
of  sufficient  funds,  however,  forced  him  to 
abandon  this  idea  and  take  a  position  in  a 
factory  in  Troy,  N.  Y.  After  four  years 
there,  the  obvious  limitations  of  his  posi- 
tion caused  him  to  buy  a  boat  ticket  for 
New  York  City  and  brought  about  an  asso- 
ciation with  J.  Fred  Wagner,  then  pub- 
lisher of  Western  Stationer  and  Western 
Paper  Trade.  One  year  and  a  half  later 
a  new  publishing  connection  was  made, 
that  of  advertising  representative  on  the 
Electrical  World.  At  that  time  W.  J. 
Johnson  was  owner  of  the  Electrical 
World,  with  C.  E.  Stump,  manager;  W.  T. 
.Hunt,  advertising  manager,  and  Dr.  Louis 
Bell,  editor.  In  a  way  that  is  character- 
istic of  his  analysis  of  all  matters,  Mr. 
Gage,  upon  becoming  acquainted  with  all 
branches  of  the  electrical  trade,  was 
soon  convinced  that  the  service  rendered 
to  readers  and  advertisers  through  the 
existing  engineering  journals  was  most  in- 
complete, and  their  real  value  only  roughly 
known  by  the  publishers.  The  elimination 
of  waste  circulation  and  how  to  develop  a 
service  to  buyers  carrying  with  it  a  com- 
plete advertising  service  to  manufacturers 
that  could  be  closely  estimated,  became  and 
has  ever  since  been  his  hobby.  Finally, 
with  a  definite  plan  formulated,  Mr.  Gage 
organized  the  Buyers'  Reference  Company, 
in  the  fall  of  1892,  and  established  an 
office  at  114  Nassau  Street,  New  York 
City.  He  planned  through  this  organiza- 
tion to  create  companion  publications  for 
buyers  made  up  in  such  a  way  that  each 
would  give  in  convenient  reference  form  all 
the  information  necessary  to  intelligently 
locate  and  buy  electrical  apparatus  in  any 
particular  field.  Through  this  plan  an  ad- 
vertising service  was  therefore  offered 
manufacturers  and  distributors  who  de- 
sired to  reach  one  or  more  branches  of  the 


electrical  industry  on  a  basis  that  elimi- 
nated waste  circulation  of  other  existing 
mediums.  The  Buyers'  Reference  was 
therefore  published  in  three  editions,  one 
devoted  to  the  electric  light  and  power 
field,  another  to  the  street  railways,  a  third 
to  electrical  contractors  and  dealers.  Each 
was  published  quarterly  and  contained  a 
classified  list  of  electrical  goods,  with  the 
names  of  the  makers.  Associated  with  ad- 
vertising in  these  publications  was  an 
auxiliary  service  in  the  form  of  separate 
and  distinct  lists  of  buyers  in  the  fields  cov- 
ered by  each  publication.  This  publishing 
idea  furnished  a  new  advertising  service 
which,  as  it  was  worked  out,  not  only  elimi- 
nated waste  circulation,  but  made  it  pos- 
sible for  an  advertiser  to  go  direct  to  the 
buyers  in  any  particular  field. 

The  scheme,  although  successful  at 
once,  developed  limitations  from  a  publish- 
ing standpoint  on  account  of  the  expense  of 
distribution  by  third  class  mail  postage, 
which  became  more  and  more  evident  as 
the  various  branches  of  the  electrical  indus- 
try expanded  by  leaps  and  bounds  and  the 
various  sections  of  it  began  to  overlap  to 
a  marked  degree.  A  solution  was  worked 
out  in  1907,  however,  through  the  com- 
bination of  the  overlapping  editions  of  the 
Buyers'  Reference  into  a  business  and  non- 
technical publication.  The  combination 
was  developed  along  the  lines  of  the 
stronger  edition  of  the  Buyers'  Reference 
under  the  name  Electrical  Record,  and  the 
corporate  name  of  the  publisher  changed 
to  The  Gage  Publishing  Company,  Inc. 
To  this  publication,  which  possessed  all 
the  features  of  the  classified  list  of  manu- 
facturers of  the  Buyers'  Reference,  was 
added  an  editorial  section,  a  new  feature 
of  the  plan  which  has  since  made  it  pos- 
sible to  complete  a  service  to  electrical 
buyers  of  the  broadest  character  along 
practical  and  useful  lines. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  at  the  time 
of  the  organization  by  Mr.  Gage  of  the 
Buyers'  Reference  Company  there  were  six 
publications  devoted  to  the  electrical  indus- 
try, three  of  which  have  survived  and 
absorbed  two  of  the  others.  The  six  pub- 
lications referred  to  are  the  Electrical 


NELSON   W.    GAGE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


231 


World,  Electrical  Engineer,  Electric 
Power,  Western  Electrician,  Electrical 
Review,  and  the  Street  Railway  Journal 
(now  the  Electric  Railway  Journal).  As 
an  indication  of  the  state  of  the  industry 
twenty-five  years  ago,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  mention  that  the  Street  Railway  Journal 
carried  advertising  of  horse  and  mule 
shoes,  harnesses,  hames  and  collars,  while 
advertising  solicitors  on  the  Electrical 
World  called  on  manufacturers  of  street 
cars  and  securing  as  much  or  more  business 
from  steam  engine  and  boiler  makers  as 
from  manufacturers  of  electrical  equip- 
ment. At  that  time  there  were  prehaps 
300  manufacturers  of  electrical  apparatus. 
The  leading  jobbers  of  electrical  supplies 
included,  E.  S.  Greeley  &  Co.,  J.  H.  Bun- 
nell  &  Co.,  W.  R.  Ostrander  &  Co.,  and 
Alexander,  Barney  &  Chapin,  New  York 
City;  Partrick  and  Carter  Co.  (later  known 
as  Partrick,  Carter  and  Wilkins),  and 
Novelty  Electric  Co.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.; 
Boston  Electric  Company  and  Pettingell- 
Andrews  Co.,  Boston,  Mass. ;  the  Ansonia 
Electric  Company,  Chicago,  111.,  which 
handled  the  output  of  the  Ansonia  Electric 
Company  of  Ansonia,  Conn.,  Western 
Electric  Company  and  the  Great  Western 
Electric  Supply  Company,  also  in  Chicago. 
Today  there  are  approximately  5,000  elec- 
trical manufacturers  and  270  jobbers,  23 
of  these  being  in  New  York  City  alone. 

On  account  of  a  love  for  outdoor  life, 
Mr.  Gage  in  1908  purchased  a  country 
home  in  Schenectady  County,  New  York, 
near  his  birthplace,  where  he  devotes  a 
part  of  his  time  to  the  raising  of  registered 
Holstein  cattle  and  the  exercising  of 
thoroughbred  Kentucky  saddle  horses.  In 
the  very  neighborhood  of  his  present  coun- 
try home,  his  grandparents  of  English  de- 
scent settled,  and  nearby  also  his  father 
and  mother  were  born.  A  bit  of  family 
history  is  that  the  acquaintance  of  his  par- 
ents' families  was  brought  about  by  the 
echo  of  axes  while  chopping  wood  in  ad- 
joining forests  one  cold  winter  morning. 

Mr.  Gage  is  a  member  of  the  New  York 
Athletic  Club  and  a  pioneer  member  of  the 
Aeronautic  Society.  He  joined  the  Seventh 
Regiment  during  the  Spanish-American 
War  and  re-enlisted  in  May,  1917,  being 
now  a  member  of  the  Seventh  Regiment  of 
Infantry,  New  York  Guard. 


GUION  M.  GEST 

Underground  conduit  construction  and 
the  name  of  G.  M.  Gest  have  been  linked 
together  for  the  past  quarter  century.  The 
first  work  of  this  nature  started  by  Mr. 
Gest  was  in  Cincinnati,  and  since  then  he 
has  been  identified  with  underground  in- 
stallations in  all  of  the  large  cities  of  this 
country  and  Canada. 

A  great  many  improvements  in  con- 
struction methods  owe  their  origination  to 
him  and  it  has  been  the  use  of  these  meth- 
ods coupled  with  the  speed  of  installation 
that  has  helped  to  make  the  success  of  his 
business.  His  main  offices  are  in  the 
Woolworth  Building,  in  New  York  City 
and  in  the  Power  Building  in  Montreal, 
with  branch  offices  in  Cincinnati,  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Vancouver. 

In  order  to  encourage  interest  in  under- 
ground work,  Mr.  Gest  has  always  been  a 
large  exhibitor  at  the  expositions,  the  last 
one  being  the  Pan-American  where  he  was 
awarded  the  gold  medal.  His  exhibit  in 
the  Palace  of  Machinery  showing  all  types 
of  underground  conduit  and  cable  installa- 
tion attracted  a  widespread  interest.  At 
the  St.  Louis  Exposition  he  was  given  the 
highest  award. 

He  has  also  been  represented  at  all  the 
conventions  of  the  National  Electric 
Light,  and  Street  Railway  Associations, 
and  many  will  recall  the  manholes  in  Cin- 
cinnati and  Montreal  which  he  had  fitted 
up  for  the  entertainment  and  reception  of 
the  delegates. 

Over  two  hundred  cities  have  been  bene- 
fited by  the  installation  of  underground 
systems  by  this  organization,  and  they 
have  installed  1,000,000  duct  feet  or  over 
in  each  of  the  following  cities :  Chicago, 
Brooklyn,  Montreal,  New  Orleans,  Win- 
nipeg, Reading,  Toronto,  Hartford,  Day- 
ton, Cincinnati,  Nashville  and  the  City  of 
Mexico. 

In  addition  to  other  installations  in 
which  they  are  engaged,  that  which  stands 
out  preeminently  at  the  present  time  is  the 
ornamental  lighting  system  of  the  entire 
city  of  New  Orleans.  This  is  the  largest 
single  contract  of  its  kind  ever  awarded. 
Many  companies  have  called  upon  them  to 
execute  a  second  and  often  more  contracts, 
while  in  some  cases  they  do  all  the  under- 
ground work. 


232 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ELWOOD  GRISSINGER 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  on 
a  farm  near  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  in  the 
beautiful  Cumberland  Valley,  on  March 
3rd,  1869,  the  eldest  son  of  Theodore  and 
Sybilla  Grissinger.  Theodore  Grissinger 
was  a  student  of  affairs,  a  deep  thinker,  a 
man  of  natural  engineering  ability,  and 
was  possessed  of  inventive  talents  above 
the  average.  About  1879  the  family  re- 
moved to  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  where  El- 
wood  Grissinger  entered  the  public 
schools.  He  graduated  from  the  High 
School  in  1885  with  a  rating  of  100.  Dur- 
ing his  vacations,  he  was  always  engaged 
in  shops  or  factories,  wherever  there  was 
something  of  interest  and  something  to 
learn. 

Of  his  ancestry,  it  is  recorded  in  the 
"History  of  York  County,  Pa.,"  that  his 
paternal  ancestor,  John  Grissinger,  came 
to  this  country  prior  to  the  Revolutionary 
War  and  settled  at  Lewisberry,  York 
County,  Pa.  John  Grissinger  was  born  in 
Germany.  The  history  of  the  family  re- 
cords that  he  served  in  the  Revolutionary 
War  without  pay,  followed  farming,  died 
at  the  age  of  ninety-eight  years,  leaving  a 
farm  to  each  of  his  thirteen  children.  He 
is  buried  in  St.  John's  Cemetery,  near 
Lewisberry,  Pa.,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  had  382  direct  descendants. 

Within  a  few  months  after  Elwood 
Grissinger  graduated  from  the  High 
School,  the  father  wished  the  son  to  enter 
West  Point  or  Annapolis,  and,  if  neither 
was  possible,  then  to  pursue  studies  in 
medicine,  with  special  reference  to  surgery, 
in  some  university.  None  of  these  sugges- 
tions availing,  the  son  was  invited  to  choose 
his  own  college,  university  or  profession, 
but,  above  all,  to  begin  something.  He  de- 
clined to  make  a  beginning  along  the  lines 
of  a  professional  education,  for  the  sole 
reason  that  he  did  not  know  what  course 
of  study  he  wished  to  pursue.  Accord- 
ingly, the  father  told  him  that  he  could  not 
remain  around  home  doing  nothing;  and, 


by  mutual  consent,  the  son  entered  the 
ticket  office  of  the  Cumberland  Valley 
Railroad  Company  at  Mechanicsburg, 
Pa.,  where  for  some  months,  without  com- 
pensation of  any  sort,  he  applied  himself 
toward  learning  something  of  the  details 
of  the  railroad  business  and  of  telegraphy 
in  particular.  His  great  interest  in  elec- 
trical matters  undoubtedly  began  with  the 
study  of  telegraphy,  although  he  well  re- 
members the  year  of  the  Philadelphia  Cen- 
tennial and  seeing  the  earliest  pictures  of 
the  first  electric  lighting  from  the  Edison 
system  in  New  York  as  pictured  and  por- 
trayed in  the  Scientific  American  at  the 
time.  The  pictures  and  descriptions  of  in- 
ventions and  technical  matters  always 
evoked  a  lively  interest  in  him. 

At  the  age  of  17  he  struck  out  to  sup- 
port himself,  and  accordingly  he  is  found 
on  the  day  trick  as  a  railroad  operator  at 
what  was  then  known  as  Liberty,  Va.,  half 
way  between  Lynchburg  and  Roanoke  on 
the  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad.  He  re- 
mained with  that  company  for  about  one 
year  at  a  salary  of  $35  per  month,  and 
while  there  began  the  study  of  stenogra- 
phy. In  1887  he  spent  three  or  four 
months  at  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  in  a  business 
school,  teaching  penmanship  and  complet- 
ing a  course  in  stenography  and  typewrit- 
ing. From  this  school  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  New  York,  Ontario  &  Western 
Railroad  Company,  in  the  General  Passen- 
ger Department,  on  Exchange  Place,  in 
New  York  City.  From  the  office  of  this 
company  he  accepted  a  position  with  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company,  at  Har- 
risburg,  Pa. 

Under  the  advice  of  his  superior  at 
Harrisburg,  Mr.  William  J.  Rose,  Divi- 
sion Freight  Agent,  and  while  there  was 
yet  time,  he  left  the  employ  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  and  after  six  months' 
preparation  was  admitted  to  the  Lehigh 
University,  at  South  Bethlehem,  Pa.,  in 
September,  1890,  from  which  university 


ELWOOD    GRISSINGER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


233 


he  was  graduated  with  honors  in  June, 
1894,  receiving  the  degree  of  Electrical 
Engineer. 

While  a  student  of  the  University,  he 
was  active  in  class  and  college  affairs,  hav- 
ing been  on  the  editorial  staff  of  class  and 
college  publications.  Among  his  other  ac- 
tivities, he  was  one  of  the  founders  and  a 
president  of  the  college  supply  bureau, 
president  of  the  Electrical  Engineering  So- 
ciety, each  year  a  class  officer,  a  member 
of  the  committee  seeking  to  improve  the 
course  of  Electrical  Engineering  at  the 
University,  a  member  of  the  Junior  Re- 
ception Committee  to  the  graduating  class 
of  1893,  a  member  of  the  class  day  com- 
mittee for  the  graduation  of  his  class,  a 
member  of  the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity 
and  a  commencement  orator. 

Shortly  after  graduation  he  deter- 
mined that  the  most  promising  field  of 
endeavor  lay  in  the  long-distance  trans- 
mission of  power,  and  through  the 
good  offices  of  the  officials  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company  at 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  August,  1894.  In 
March,  1896,  he  was  designated  District 
Engineer  and  Salesman  of  the  Westing- 
house  Company  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  selling 
one  of  the  first  large  equipments  in  the 
State  of  New  York  for  hydro-electric 
power,  that  of  the  Dolgeville  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company  at  Dolgeville,  N. 
Y.  In  1898  he  was  transferred  in  the  same 
capacity  to  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  and  in  May, 
1899,  the  late  W.  B.  Rankine  induced  him 
to  accept  a  position  as  Commercial  Engi- 
neer of  the  Cataract  Power  &  Conduit 
Company  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.  In  that  capac- 
ity he  served  the  interests  of  the  Niagara 
Falls  Power  Company  until  March,  1906, 
when  he  became  General  Agent  of  the  Ni- 
agara Falls  Power  Company  and  the 
Canadian  Niagara  Power  Company.  With 
the  exception  of  the  electro-chemical  in- 
dustries at  Niagara  Falls,  the  trolley  sys- 
tems and  general  lighting,  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  business  of  the  Niagara 
Falls  Power  Company  between  1899  and 
1906  was  entirely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Mr. 
Grissinger,  who  had  sold  for  installations 
of  relatively  small  size  an  aggregate  of 
about  50,000  H.P.,  the  requirements  of 


each  of  the  original  customers  having 
since  that  time  been  considerably  increased. 
Mr.  Grissinger  possesses  the  uncommon 
qualifications  of  engineering  ability  and 
commercial  training  of  a  high  order.  For 
some  years  he  was  a  regular  contributor 
to  the  Journal  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Engineers  and  the  Loco- 
motive Firemen  and  Enginemen's  Maga- 
zine on  practical  electrical  subjects  as  re- 
lated to  electrical  railroading  in  particu- 
lar. Since  April,  1907,  he  has  followed  his 
profession  as  a  Consulting  Engineer. 

In  October,  1897,  Mr.  Grissinger  mar- 
ried Lucy  M.,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
late  Isaac  Ash  of  Oil  City,  Pennsylvania, 
for  fifty  years  one  of  the  most  prominent 
attorneys-at-law  in  Venango  County,  Penn- 
sylvania. Mrs.  Grissinger  is  a  direct  de- 
scendant of  John  Philip  Bahl,  an  officer 
in  the  Continental  Army  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  and  of  Dr.  Detwiller,  who  in- 
troduced Homeopathy  into  this  country. 
They  have  one  son. 

In  the  spring  of  1899  he  was  attracted 
by  editorial  and  other  comment  in  the  col- 
umns of  the  Electrical  World  to  articles 
bearing  upon  the  value  of  a  commercial 
telephone  repeater  or  relay,  analogous  to 
the  telegraph  repeater.  Having  endeav- 
ored to  follow  telephonic  development 
more  or  less  closely  (his  graduation  thesis 
from  the  university  had  to  do  with  tele- 
phone transmitters),  he  resolved  to  begin 
anew  his  experiments  in  the  telephonic 
field.  From  that  time,  in  connection  with 
any  and  all  other  work,  he  never  aban- 
doned for  a  moment  what  he  then  began, 
but  worked  long  into  the  night,  night  after 
night,  as  only  inventors  know,  developing 
the  first  commercial  talking  telephone  re- 
peater or  relay  employing  a  vibratory 
element  and  the  first  and  only  practical, 
reciprocally  talking  telephonic  circuit  into 
which  a  telephone  repeater  is  to  be  con- 
nected so  that  a  standard  two-wire  circuit 
can  be  reciprocally  operative  without  the 
intervention  of  manually  or  otherwise  con- 
trolled switches  or  equivalent  apparatus. 

Since  the  invention  of  the  telephone  it- 
self, it  is  unquestioned  that  Mr.  Grissing- 
er's  inventions  constitute  one  of  the  great- 
est and  most  important  steps  forward  as 
affecting  telephonic  transmission  over  dis- 
tances. 


234 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


The  first  demonstration  of  his  repeaters 
and  circuits  was  given  at  an  independent 
telephone  convention  held  in  the  Sherman 
House,  Chicago,  111.,  in  February,  1912. 
The  first  demonstration  of  his  invention  on 
commercial  lines  was  given  in  Chicago,  111., 
in  January,  1913,  and  a  description  of  his 
work  in  this  connection  is  noted  in  an  issue 
of  Telephony,  dated  February  I5th,  1913, 
while  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  were  furnished  with  in- 
struments for  observation  and  test  in  July 
and  August,  1913.  The  first  transconti- 
nental talk  was  advertised  in  January, 


While  he  began  to  develop  the  tele- 
phone repeater  primarily,  his  researches 
carried  him  over  the  entire  field  of  sound 
waves,  sound  wave  transformation  and 
sound  wave  propagation,  with  the  result 
that  today  he  is  regarded  as  a  leading  au- 
thority on  these  subjects.  He  was  forced 
to  study  the  telephone  transmitter,  the 
telephone  line  and  intermediate  apparatus. 
In  doing  so  he  has  been  able  to  satisfy  him- 
self that  long-distance  transmission  of  tele- 
phonic voice  currents  as  we  have  come  to 
look  upon  it  is  dependent  only  upon  suc- 
cessful telephone  repeaters  or  relays  as  ap- 


paratus in  the  line.  While  it  is  his  opinion 
that  loading  coils  will  always  have  a  field 
of  application  and  represent  a  meritorious 
and  brilliant  invention  and  development, 
yet,  with  properly  designed  telephone  re- 
peaters suitably  installed  loading  coils  are 
no  longer  essential  for  long-distance  trans- 
mission. He  satisfied  himself  and  others 
on  this  point  as  long  ago  as  1912,  when, 
with  five  repeaters  of  his  own  design,  he 
was  able  to  converse  easily,  without  im- 
pairment of  quality,  over  practically  non- 
inductive  artificial  telephone  cable  equiva- 
lent to  4,500  miles  of  standard  telephone 
line  as  represented  by  the  character  of  line 
at  present  used  across  the  continent.  It  is 
his  opinion  that  long-distance  telephone 
transmission  is  only  limited  by  the  com- 
mercial requirements  of  the  case. 

In  June,  1916,  Mr.  Grissinger  received 
the  earned  degree  of  Master  of  Science 
from  Lehigh  University  in  recognition  of 
his  researches  and  development  work  in 
the  science  and  art  of  Telephony,  and  in 
the  same  month  of  the  same  year  the 
American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Com- 
pany purchased  the  rights  to  his  inventions 
of  the  telephone  repeater  and  circuits  for 
the  United  States  of  America. 


PHILIP    G.GOSSLER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


235 


PHILIP  G.   GOSSLER 


Philip  G.  Gossler,  whose  work  as  an  en- 
gineer has  made  him  well  known  through- 
out the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  who 
now  acts  in  an  advisory  capacity  in  engi- 
neering matters  and  is  a  member  of  the 
banking  house  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Co.,  was 
born  in  Columbia,  Pa.,  August  6,  1870, 
the  son  of  Philip  and  Emily  (Washa- 
baugh)  Gossler.  After  a  preparatory 
education  in  the  schools  of  Columbia,  he  en- 
tered the  Pennsylvania  State  College,  grad- 
uating in  1890  with  the  B.S.  degree.  He 
afterwards  took  an  engineering  course  and 
was  awarded  the  degree  of  electrical  engi- 
neer in  1892.  His  first  positions,  after 
completing  his  education,  were  -in  the  engi- 
neering department  of  the  Chester  Foun- 
dry and  Machine  Co.,  Chester,  Pa.,  and 
the  Edison  General  Electric  Co.  of  New 
York,  afterwards  becoming  assistant  engi- 
neer of  the  United  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company  of  New  York,  remain- 
ing with  this  corporation  until  1895,  and 
during  the  interim  engaging  in  post-gradu- 
ate work  at  the  School  of  Mines,  Columbia 
University. 

From  1895  until  1904,  he  was  located 
in  Montreal,  Canada,  as  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  Royal  Electric  Company, 
and  later  after  the  consolidation  of  the 
local  companies  was  made  general  superin- 
tendent and  engineer  of  the  Montreal 
Light,  Heat  and  Power  Company,  remain- 
ing in  that  capacity  until  1904.  During 
this  period  the  service  was  greatly  ex- 
panded and  extended,  favorably  compar- 
able to  any  system  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Gossler  returned  to  New  York  in 
1904  as  vice-president  of  J.  G.  White  & 
Co.,  with  which  he  is  still  affiliated  as  a 
director,  and  in  1909  he  formed  his  present 
connection,  as  vice-president  and  director, 
with  the  firm  of  A.  B.  Leach  &  Co.,  Inc., 
which,  in  addition  to  being  one  of  the  lead- 
ing banking  houses  in  the  country,  is 
largely  interested  in  public  utilities 
throughout  the  United  States. 

Besides  his  connection  with  A.  B.  Leach 
&  Co.,  Inc.,  Mr.  Gossler  is  identified  with 
many  public  utility  companies.  He  is  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Co- 


lumbia Gas  and  Electric  Co.  and  the  Union 
Gas  and  Electric  Co.  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 
He  fills  the  position  of  president  and  di- 
rector of  the  Helena  Light,  Heat  &  Power 
Co.,  Eastern  Pennsylvania  Railway  Co., 
Dominion  Power  Co.  of  Virginia,  Domin- 
ion Power  Co.  of  West  Virginia,  Long 
Acre  Electric  Light  &  Power  Co.,  New 
River  Power  Co.,  South  Carolina  Light, 
Power  and  Railways,  Virginia  Power  Co., 
of  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  and  the  West  Vir- 
ginia Power  Co. 

The  companies  of  which  he  is  vice-presi- 
dent are  Cumberland  County  Power  & 
Light  Co.  of  Portland,  Me.,  the  Central 
Georgia  Light  &  Power  Co.,  Central  Geor- 
gia Transportation  Co.,  Macon  Gas  Co., 
Macon  &  Atlanta  Construction  Co.,  the 
United  Fuel  Gas  Co. 

He  is  a  director  of  J.  G.  White  &  Co., 
New  York  City,  Central  Sugar  Corpora- 
tion, Newport  &  Covington  Railway  Co., 
Portland  Electric  Co.,  South  Covington  & 
Cincinnati  JRailway  Co.,  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania Railways  Co.  and  the  Union  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Co. 

"Mr.  Gossler  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  Engi- 
neering Institute  of  Canada,  Canadian 
Electrical  Association  (past  president), 
New  York  Electrical  Society  (past  vice- 
president),  Pennsylvania  Society  of  New 
York,  Pilgrims'  Society  of  America,  Met- 
ropolitan Club,  Lawyers'  Club,  Engineers' 
Club,  Bankers'  Club  of  America,  Ex- 
plorers' Club,  New  Canaan  Country  Club, 
Greenwich  Country  Club,  New  Canaan 
Association,  Stamford  Riding  &  Driving 
Club,  Woodway  Country  Club,  Ox  Ridge 
Hunt  Club  of  Connecticut,  St.  James  Club, 
Montreal,  and  the  Franklin  Institute  of 
Philadelphia.  He  was  married  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  November  26,  1895,  to  Mary 
Claflin,  and  they  have  three  children, 
Mary,  Katherine  and  Philip.  His  office 
address  is  62  Cedar  street,  New  York  City, 
and  he  resides  at  152  East  63rd  street, 
New  York  City;  country  house,  High 
Field,  New  Canaan,  Connecticut. 


236 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM  PRATT  GRAHAM 


With  the  greater  developments  of  elec- 
tricity as  a  factor  in  life  and  industry,  the 
need  for  specially  trained  engineers  has 
been  impressed  upon  our  Institutions  of 
higher  learning,  whose  facilities  have 
therefore  been  exercised  in  increasing 
volume  and  efficiency  toward  supplying 
technical  education.  Among  those  who 


WILLIAM  PRATT  GRAHAM 

have  been  active  in  this  development  is 
Dean  William  Pratt  Graham,  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Applied  Science  in  Syracuse  Uni- 
versity. He  was  born  in  Oswego,  New 
York,  November  24,  1871,  his  father  being 
a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War,  and  his  ances- 
tors of  the  War  of  1812  and  of  the  Revo- 
lution. He  was  graduated  from  Syracuse 
University,  B.S.,  in  1893.  Having  a 
natural  inclination  toward  the  study  of 
pure  and  applied  physics,  and  noting  the 
growing  demand  for  men  trained  as  elec- 
trical engineers  he  determined  to  special- 
ize in  physics,  mathematics  and  electrical 


engineering  at  the  University  of  Berlin, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  Ph.D.  in 
1897,  and  took  special  courses  in  the  Tech- 
nische  Hochschule  at  Darmstadt.  He 
joined  the  Beta  Theta  Pi  fraternity  at  Syra- 
cuse and  has  been  elected  to  the  honor 
societies  of  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  Sigma  Xi  and 
Tau  Beta  Pi.  He  joined  the  Faculty  of 
Syracuse  University  in  1898  as  associate 
professor  of  Electrical  Engineering  and 
did  construction  work  in  creating  effective 
courses  in  that  study.  In  1901  he  was  pro- 
moted professor  of  electrical  engineering 
and  entrusted  with  the  organization  of  the 
separate  department  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neering, which  he  has  developed  to  a  prom- 
inent place  among  American  technical  col- 
leges, offering  complete  courses  of  study 
and  laboratory  work  leading  to  the  degree 
of  electrical  engineering.  His  work  in  the 
development  of  this  Department,  evincing 
not  only  sound  scholarship  and  pedagogi- 
cal ability  but  also  executive  faculties  of 
high  quality,  led  to  his  selection  in  1911 
for  the  office  of  Dean  of  the  College  of 
Applied  Science  in  Syracuse  University, 
which  he  has  ever  since  administered,  with 
a  steady  advance  in  membership  and  pres- 
tige of  that  college.  During  the  years 
from  1899  to  1907,  Professor  Graham 
was  connected  with  the  Straight  Line  En- 
gine Company,  an  important  manufacturing 
enterprise  of  Syracuse,  as  director.  Out- 
side of  his  regular  professional  work,  Pro- 
fessor Graham  takes  much  interest  in 
physical  astronomy,  and  with  E.  D.  Roe, 
Jr.,  he  worked  out  a  new  theory  of  comets. 
In  1896  and  1897  he  made  a  special  study 
of  the  phenomena  accompanying  the  pas- 
sage of  a  steady  current  through  a  vacuum 
tube  and  in  particular  he  measured  the 
potential  gradient  throughout  the  length 
of  the  tube,  demonstrating,  for  the  first 
time,  the  presence  of  free  electric  charges 
in  the  path  of  a  circuit  carrying  a  steady 
current.  Partial  accounts  of  this  work  may 
be  found  in  J.  J.  Thomson's  "Conduction 
of  Electricity  through  Gases ;"  in  Winkel- 
mann's  "Handbuch  der  Physik;"  in  Muller- 
Pouillet's  "Lehrbuch  der  Physik;"  and,  in 
fact,  in  almost  any  recent  standard  work 
which  deals  with  this  department  of 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


237 


physics.  Professor  Graham's  work  along 
this  line  has  been  generally  regarded  as 
pioneer  work  on  the  electric  discharge 
through  gases,  and  a  valuable  contribution 
to  electrical  knowledge,  basic  to  subsequent 
research. 

Professor  Graham  is  a  member  of  the 
Technology  Club  of  Syracuse,  Fellow  of 


the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  member  of  the  Astro- 
nomical and  Astrophysical  Society  of 
America,  the  Societe  Francaise  de  Phy- 
sique, the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  and  the  Deutscher  Mathemati- 
ken  Vereinigung. 


DR.  NORVIN  GREEN 
(Deceased) 


(Extract  from  "The  Telegraph  in  Amer- 
ica," by  James  D.  Reid,  Second  Edition.) 

Norvin  Green,  President  of  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Co.,  from  1878  to  1893, 
was  born  in  New  Albany,  Indiana,  April 
17,  1818.  While  yet  a  mere  child  his  fam- 
ily removed  to  and  settled  permanently  in 
Kentucky,  so  that  his  early  life  was  identi- 
fied with  and  fashioned  by  residence  in  that 
State.  In  his  youth  he  was  distinguished 
by  the  quiet  sagacity  and  humor  which  he 


still  retains,  by  facility  in  study,  and  by  a 
coolness  of  judgment  which  gave  him  in- 
fluence among  his  associates.  Dr.  Green's 
education  was  thorough  rather  than  broad. 
His  studies  were  such  as  suited  the  profes- 
sional life  he  had  proposed  to  enter.  His 
preferences  were  in  the  direction  of  solid 
knowledge  rather  than  of  classic  culture. 
With  such  tendencies,  and  after  a  thorough 
course  of  study  under  the  able  faculty  of 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  University 


238 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


of  Louisville,  he  graduated  in  1840  with 
honor.  Thus  qualifying  himself  for  his  pro- 
fession he  entered  upon  a  successful  prac- 
tice. Not  long  afterward  he  became  physi- 
cian of  the  Western  Military  Academy  at 
Drennon  Springs,  Ky.,  of  which  James  G. 
Elaine  was  at  that  time  one  of  the  junior 
instructors. 

Before  commencing  his  medical  studies, 
and  while  in  his  sixteenth  year —  a  period 
in  a  Kentucky  boy's  life  when  adventure  is 
full  of  charm — 'he  procured  a  flat-boat 
and  determined  to  try  his  luck  running  a 
floating  grocery  down  the  Mississippi.  A 
load  of  goods  was  bought  —  cottons,  cali- 
coes, tinware,  boots,  groceries,  everything 
needed  in  such  a  trade.  The  craft  was 
launched,  full  of  hope.  A  lad  some  years 
older,  skilled  in  barter,  went  with  him.  His 
chief  customers  were  lumbermen,  who,  at 
certain  seasons,  entered  the  low  river  lands 
to  make  rafts  ready  for  floating  out  on  high 
water.  Trade  was  good,  and  a  violin  made 
the  woods  laugh  nights  when  a  merry  tune 
from  the  deck  of  the  floating  grocery  broke 
their  sombre  silence.  It  was  a  plucky  thing 
for  a  sixteen-year-old  boy.  The  trip  was  a 
success  and  a  good  many  orders  had  to  be 
sent  by  returning  steamers  for  fresh  goods. 
His  credit  must  have  been  good.  All  orders 
were  honored.  The  demand  for  "iron 
boots,"  as  the  huge  stogas  of  the  lumber- 
men were  called,  was  brisk  and  profitable. 
It  was  a  good  experience,  and  developed 
self-reliance. 

Of  one  unusual  faculty  young  Green 
could  boast.  He  was  a  great  jumper.  He 
could  jump  backward  or  forward  equally 
well.  His  muscles  were  so  under  his  con- 
trol that  he  could  make  a  ten-foot  standing 
jump  forward,  and  then  without  turning, 
jump  back  to  the  score-mark.  Whether 
this  indicated  equal  hindsight  and  foresight 
is  a  question.  Most  people  have  the  former 
prominent  enough.  The  gift  of  jumping 
back,  when  it  can  be  done  gracefully,  is 
sometimes  valuable  and  convenient. 

Like  almost  all  young  men  of  spirit  in 
Kentucky,  Dr.  Green  early  connected  him- 
self with  the  politics  of  the  State.  With 


much  native  talent  as  a  ready  speaker,  he 
soon  became  prominent.  His  humor,  al- 
ways ready,  made  him  attractive  and  popu- 
lar. He  could,  on  occasion,  take  his  Cre- 
mona, and,  seated  on  a  stump  or  upturned 
box,  make  a  Kentucky  barbecue  lively. 
Politics  in  Kentucky  had  peculiar  methods. 
Young  men  did  not  meet  in  rented  halls  and 
yell  over  candidates  for  office.  They  se- 
lected some  sweet-scented  pastureground 
near  a  running  stream,  where  the  trees 
were  large  and  umbrageous. 

Dr.  Green  was  elected  for  several  terms 
to  membership  of  the  Kentucky  Legisla- 
ture, and  in  1853  was  appointed  Commis- 
sioner of  the  United  States  in  charge  of 
construction  of  the  National  Buildings  in 
Louisville.  While  engaged  in  the  duties  of 
this  appointment  he  became  one  of  the  les- 
sees of  the  United  Morse  and  People's 
Telegraph  lines  between  Louisville  and 
New  Orleans,  and  becoming  president  of 
these  interests  united,  under  the  name  of 
South  Western  Telegraph  Company,  he  be- 
came henceforth  identified  with  the  history 
of  the  Telegraph.  In  1866,  when  the 
American,  United  States,  and  Western 
Union  lines  were  consolidated,  Dr.  Green 
was  chosen  Vice-President,  and  with  the 
exception  of  about  three  years,  during 
which  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  the 
Louisville,  Cincinnati  and  Lexington  Rail- 
road Co.,  retained  that  office  until  January, 
1873,  when  he  returned  to  duty  as  Vice- 
President  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Co.  It  was  during  this  interim  of  three 
years,  during  which  he  again  entered  the 
political  discussions  of  Kentucky,  that  he 
was  waited  upon  by  a  large  delegation 
from  the  Kentucky  Legislature  and  urged 
to  accept  a  nomination  for  United  States 
Senator  against  two  other  candidates,  and 
to  which  he  would  have  been  elected  but  for 
a  clerical  error  in  the  count  at  the  nominat- 
ing convention.  The  telegraph  gained 
what  the  State  lost. 

Dr.  Norvin  Green  became  President  of 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company 
April  22,  1878,  and  held  that  office  until 
his  death  on  February  13,  1893. 


EDWARD     B.    HATCH 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


239 


EDWARD  B.  HATCH 


Edward  Buckingham   Hatch  was  born 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  December  20,   1861, 
the  son  of  George  Edwin  and  Laura  Stan- 
ley   (Styles)     Hatch.      His    paternal    an- 
cestors came  to  this  country  from  England 
in    1635    and  settled  in  Falmouth,   Mass. 
They   took  a   leading  part   in   the  young 
country's  struggles  and  governmental  af- 
fairs.    George  E.  Hatch  was  a  Hartford 
merchant  and  much  interested  in  civic  mat- 
ters.    His  son,  Edward  B.,  obtained  his 
early  education   at  the   public  schools   of 
Hartford,  his  preparatory  work  for  col- 
lege   being   done    at   the    Hartford    high 
school.      From   there   he   entered  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  in  1882,  and  was  grad- 
uated Bachelor  of  Arts   in    1886.      That 
year  there  was  organized  in  Hartford  a 
new  manufacturing  concern  known  as  the 
Johns-Pratt   Co.,    the   officers  being   Mr. 
Johns,  president;  Charles  H.  Patrick,  vice- 
president;  Rufus  N.  Pratt,  secretary  and 
treasurer,    and  young  Hatch   as   a   clerk. 
The  capitalization  was  $100,000  and  the 
product   of   manufacture   was    "Vulcabes- 
ton"    packings    and    electrical    insulation. 
In  1892  the  capital  was  increased  to  $150,- 
ooo    for    the    purpose    of    enlarging    the 
factory   and   providing   facilities    for   the 
manufacture     of     overhead     trolley     line 
material.      In    1898    the    company   began 
the   manufacture   of   "Noark"    fuses    and 
electric    protective    devices.      Starting    at 
the     bottom,     Mr.     Hatch     familiarized 
himself  with  every  department  of  the  busi- 
ness,  and   developing  marked   ability,   he 
was  advanced  step  by  step  till  in  1901  he 
was  made  president  and  treasurer  of  the 
company,  a  position  he  still  holds.     Under 
his    management   the    company   has   been 
compelled  from  time  to  time  to  increase 
the  size  of  its  plant,  until  today  it  ranks 
as  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  New 
England.     In  1906  by  a  stock  dividend  of 
100  per  cent,  the  capital  was  increased  to 
$300,000,  and  in  1914  it  was  still  further 
increased  to  $450,000.     While  it  may  not 
be  known  as  a  one-man  concern,  the  growth 
and  success   of  the  company  is  due  in  a 


large  degree  to  the  executive  ability  and 
business  judgment  of   its  president,    Mr. 
Hatch.      The    factory   consists    of   eleven 
buildings,    employing   about   five   hundred 
hands.     The  company  holds  patents  of  a 
very  wide  range,  covering  electric  protec- 
tive  devices  and  their  accessories.      The 
H.  W.  Johns-Manville  Co.  of  New  York 
are  the  sole  selling  agents,   and  through 
their  many  branches  the  products  are  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  world  under  the 
trade-marks  "Vulcabeston,"  "Noark"  and 
"J.  P.  Co."     Mr.  Hatch  is  a  director  of 
the   Hartford  National   Bank,   the   Dime 
Savings  Bank  of  Hartford,  the  Hartford 
Steam    Boiler    Inspection    and    Insurance 
Co.,  the  Standard  Fire  Insurance  Co.,  the 
Hartford  County  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Co.,  the  Holyoke  Water  Power  Co.,  the 
Franklin  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Co., 
the  Johns-Pratt  Co.,  the  Jewell  Belting  Co. 
and  the  Hart  and  Hegeman  Manufactur- 
ing Co.     He  is  also  a  trustee  of  Trinity 
College  and  of  the  Colt  Estate  Corpora- 
tion, which  is  in  charge  of  the  estates  left 
by  Colonel  Samuel  Colt  and  his  widow.  He 
is  also  active  in  social,  fraternal  and  church 
life.     High  up  in  Masonry,  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  St.  John's  Lodge  of  Wolcott  Coun- 
cil, of  Pythagoras  Chapter  of  Washington 
Commandery,    Knights   Templar,    and   of 
Sphinx  Temple  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.     He 
is  a  member  of  the  Hartford,  Farmington 
Country,  Hartford  Golf,  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury,   Republican,    University,    Electrical 
Manufacturers'   clubs   and   of  the   Alpha 
Delta  Phi  fraternity.     He  is  a  vestryman 
and  treasurer  of  Trinity  Episcopal  Church 
of  Hartford  and  a  member  of  the  Church 
Club  of  Connecticut.     He  has  also  been 
identified     with     the     military     organiza- 
tions,  having  served   several   years   as   a 
member    of    Company    K,     ist    Regiment 
Connecticut  National  Guards.    Mr.  Hatch 
was  married  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  Septem- 
ber 12,  1889,  to  Georgia,  daughter  of  the 
late  George  W.  Watson,  by  whom  he  has 
three  children,  Helen,  James  Watson  and 
Edward  Watson  Hatch. 


240 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


WARD  HARRISON 


At  the  head  of  the  largest  staff  of  Illu- 
minating Engineers,  Mr.  Harrison  has 
contributed  materially  to  the  progress  and 
literature  of  the  art  in  this  country.  He 
was  born  in  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  May  16, 
1888,  graduated  from  Stevens  Institute  of 
Technology  in  1909,  standing  highest  in 
his  class^  and  the  same  year  entered  the 
Engineering  Department  of  the  National 
Lamp  Works  at  Cleveland.  He  advanced 
steadily  and  since  1914  has  held  the  posi- 
tion of  Illuminating  Engineer.  Two  prob- 
lems which  have  occupied  much  of  Mr. 
Harrison's  thought  are  street  and  indus- 
trial lighting.  In  the  Cleveland  street 
lighting  lantern  he  has  demonstrated  how, 
by  the  use  of  crystal  diffusing  glassware,  a 
scientific  control  of  light  can  be  retained  in 
fixtures  of  ornamental  design.  The  Reflec- 
to-Cap  Diffuser,  for  minimizing  glare  in 
factory  installations,  is  another  of  his  orig- 
inal developments.  His  work  invariably 


shows  an  appreciation  of  the  importance 
and  possibilities  of  aesthetic  values  in  il- 
lumination design  combined  with  a  charac- 
teristic insistence  upon  the  application  of 
thorough  engineering  methods  in  securing 
these  desired  effects  most  efficiently.  In 
consequence  he  has  been  called  upon  to  act 
in  an  advisory  capacity  to  the  architects 
and  owners  of  practically  every  public  and 
semi-public  structure  projected  in  Cleve- 
land in  recent  years.  Mr.  Harrison  is  past 
vice-president  of  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society;  member  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers 
(where  he  has  been  in  considerable  meas- 
ure responsible  for  present  lighting  prac- 
tice in  steel  mills)  ;  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  National  Commercial 
Gas  Association,  Electrical  League  of 
Cleveland,  Jovian  Order  and  the  Tau  Beta 
Pi  Fraternity. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


241 


FRED  S.  HARTMAN 

Fred  S.  Hartman,  district  manager  of 
the  Power  and  Mining  Department  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  New  York 
City,  is  an  electric  engineer  of  long  ex- 
perience with  various  companies.  He  was 
born  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  in  1873,  and 
was  educated  at  Purdue  University,  grad- 


FRED  S.  HARTMAN 

uating  in  1896  with  the  degree  of  B.  M.E. 
Previous  to  graduation  he  worked  in  the 
testing  departments  of  the  Fort  Wayne 
Electric  Company  during  his  summer  va- 
cations. In  sequence  he  filled  the  posi- 
tion of  designing  engineer  with  the  Fort 
Wayne  Electric  Corporation;  assistant  to 
the  chief  engineer  of  the  Siemens  & 
Halske  Electric  Company  of  America, 
Chicago,  111. ;  commercial  engineer  and 
manager  of  apparatus  department  of  the 
Fort  Wayne  Electric  Works;  General 
Manager  of  the  Mechanical  Appliance 
Company,  Milwaukee,  Wis. ;  sales  mana- 
ger Northern  Electrical  Manufacturing 
Company,  Madison,  Wis. ;  after  which  he 
was  appointed  to  his  present  position.  Mr. 
Hartman  is  a  member  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  New 


York  Electrical  Society,  Jovian  League, 
Engineers  Club,  Machinery  Club,  Country 
Club  of  Glen  Ridge,  N.  J.,  Purdue  Club  of 
New  York,  the  Tau  Beta  Pi  Alumni  Asso- 
ciation and  the  Phi  Delta  Theta  fraternity. 

JOHN  C.  HATZEL 

John  C.  Hatzel,  electrical  engineer  and 
contractor,  was  born  in  New  York  City 
June  21,  1860,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  at  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York.  He  also  attended  the 
New  York  Nautical  School  and  was  an 
officer  of  the  merchant  marine  for  several 
years.  In  1881  he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company  in  the 
construction  department,  and  continued  in 
that  position  with  the  Edison  Company  for 
Isolated  Lighting,  until  1884,  when  he 
was  appointed  superintendent  of  con- 
struction of  the  Southern  Department 
of  the  company  with  headquarters  at 


JOHN   C.  HATZEL 


in 


Baltimore.  In  1885  he  engaged 
the  electrical  engineering  and  contract- 
ing business  for  himself,  installing  cen- 
tral stations  and  isolated  plants  through- 
out the  country.  In  1888  he  was 
made  president  of  the  Western  Edison 


242 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Company,  representing  the  Edison  Com- 
pany's interests  in  Colorado,  Utah  and 
New  Mexico.  Returning  East  in  1889, 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  Joseph 
Buehler,  under  the  firm  name  of  Hatzel  & 
Buehler.  This  connection  continued  until 
February  i,  1911,  when  Mr.  Buehler  re- 
tired and  Mr.  Hatzel  continued  the  busi- 
ness alone.  During  the  intervening  period 
he  has  been  engaged  in  much  important 
work,  and  has  made  installations  in  all 
parts  of  the  country.  In  April  1917,  in- 
corporated, associating  with  him  Messrs. 
Allan  Coggeshall,  Chas.  Metzger  and 
Harry  J.  Kurrus,  as  Hatzel  &  Buehler,  Inc. 
He  is  well  known  in  electrical  circles  and 
is  always  interested  in  any  movement 
that  will  benefit  his  profession.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Institute 


of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society,  American  Electrochemical 
Society,  National  Electrical  Contractors' 
Association,  Electrical  Contractors'  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  State,  Electrical  Con- 
tractors' Association  of  New  York  City, 
Building  Trades  Employers'  Association, 
Board  of  Governors,  New  York  State 
Nautical  School,  Alumni  Association  New 
York  Nautical  School,  Engineers'  Club, 
Newport  Yacht  Club,  Jovian  Order, 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  State  of  New  York,  Red 
Cross  and  the  Navy  League.  Mr.  Hat- 
zel's  offices  are  at  373  Fourth  Avenue. 
He  resides  at  89  West  H9th  Street,  and 
passes  the  summer  months  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island. 


DR.  CARL  HERING 


Dr.  Carl  Hering,  of  Philadelphia,  dis- 
tinguished as  electrical  and  electro-chemi- 
cal engineer,  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
March  29,  1860,  the  son  of  Dr.  Constan- 
tine  and  Theresa  (Buchheim)  Hering. 
His  father,  who  was  a  well-known  physi- 
cian in  Philadelphia  (1833-1880),  was  af- 
fectionately known  as  the  Father  of  Home- 
opathy in  America,  and  his  grandfather, 
whose  ancestors  came  from  Moravia,  was 
a  composer  of  some  of  the  folk-songs  of 
Germany.  Dr.  Carl  Hering's  educational 
training  was  received  in  private  schools  in 
Philadelphia  and  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, from  which  he  was  graduated 
B.S.  in  1880  and  received  the  post-gradu- 
ate degree  of  M.E.  in  1887.  He  took  a 
special  course  in  electricity  at  Darmstadt, 
Germany,  in  1883-1884,  and  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  from 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1912. 
He  began  his  professional  career  as  chief 
engineer  of  Henry  Moehring  &  Co.,  manu- 
facturers of  electrical  machinery,  in  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  Germany,  1884-1885, 
after  which  he  started  practice  in  Phila- 
delphia as  consulting  electrical  engineer,  in 
which  profession  he  has  ever  since  con- 
tinued. He  has  held  temporary  engage- 
ments with  various  companies  in  the  United 


States,  chiefly  as  a  consultant,  and  in  many 
cases  of  patent  litigation,  some  for  and 
some  against  the  large  companies.  His 
has  been  a  constructive  career,  largely  de- 
voted to  numerous  efforts  to  bridge  the  gap 
between  pure  and  applied  science  (engi- 
neering) ,  physics  and  physical  chemistry. 
His  early  work  was  very  largely  experi- 
mental in  days  when  research  was  pursued 
with  little  of  the  data  which  are  now  avail- 
able to  all  students.  Dr.  Hering  was  a 
delegate  of  the  United  State  Government, 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  and  of  the  Franklin  Institute 
to  a  number  of  international  congresses, 
meetings  and  expositions  abroad,  and  made 
the  official  reports  to  the  Government  on 
the  subject  of  electricity  at  the  Paris  ex- 
positions of  1889  and  1900.  He  has  been 
a  member  of  the  Jury  of  Awards  or  Scien- 
tific Commissions  at  twelve  expositions  and 
was  one  of  the  ten  distinguished  engineers 
who  were  requested  to  found  an  American 
Academy  of  Engineers  in  1917.  He  was 
the  author  of  "Dynamo  Electrical  Ma- 
chines," published  in  1888,  the  first  book 
on  dynamos  published  in  this  country;  also 
of  "Conversion  Tables"  and  several  other 
books  and  of  many  papers  read  before 
technical  societies,  also  many  articles  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


243 


DR.  CARL  HERING 


technical  journals.  He  originated  and  con- 
ducted the  "Digest  of  Electrical  Litera- 
ture" in  the  Electrical  World,  1891  to 
1901,  and  was  the  technical  editor  of  that 
journal  in  1891.  Dr.  Hering  is  past  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  the  American  Electro- 
Chemical  Society  and  the  Engineers  Club 
of  Philadelphia.  He  was  one  of  the  three 
original  founders  of  the  American  Electro- 
Chemical  Society;  was  United  States  dele- 
gate to  the  International  Society  of  Elec- 
tricians at  Paris  for  twenty-five  years;  is  an 
honorary  member  of  the  New  York  Elec- 
trical Society,  and  a  member  of  many  other 
technical  or  professional  societies.  Dr. 


Hering  has  been  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the 
development  of  electrical  science  and  in- 
dustry. He  started  the  first  comparative 
life  tests  of  incandescent  lamps  in  1884; 
discovered  the  "Pinch  effect"  in  electric 
furnaces,  a  new  thermal  law,  the  error  in 
the  usual  statement  of  Maxwell's  law  of 
induction,  and  pointed  out  other  errors, 
looseness  and  inconsistencies  in  physical 
laws,  units,  expressions,  nomenclature,  etc., 
and  has  helped  most  effectively  to  make 
order  in  the  physical  sciences.  He  was 
decorated  twice  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment, in  1889  with  the  "Golden  Palms" 
(purple  button)  and  in  1901  with  the  Le- 
gion of  Honor  ( red  ribbon) . 


244 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HALBERT  P.  HILL 

The  experiences  of  Halbert  P.  Hill  as 
an  electrical  engineer  began  unusually 
early  in  life  and  show  throughout  an  excep- 
tional degree  of  diversity.  His  inherited 
instincts  were  positive  guides  in  his  prefer- 
ence for  mechanics  and  electrical  science. 
So  it  was  that  he  broke  away  from  theo- 


HALBERT  P.  HILL 

logical  studies  which  he  had  been  sent  to 
pursue  at  St.  Minard's  College  of  the 
Benedictine  Monastery  in  Spencer  Court, 
Ind.  He  was  born  at  Memphis,  Tenn., 
November  3,  1873.  One  of  his  ancestors 
was  C.  A.  Spencer,  a  grandfather  on  his 
mother's  side,  who  was  the  inventor  of  the 
Spencer  rifle,  which  made  a  record  in  the 
Civil  War.  Regardless  of  his  youth, 
young  Hill  upon  leaving  college  entered 
the  electrical  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count. By  1891  he  was  an  electrical 
contractor  in  Evansville,  Ind.  Before 
he  reached  his  majority  he  had  built 
three  electric  light  and  power  plants. 
His  remuneration  for  the  last  one  had  to 
be  collected  by  his  guardian  when  it  be- 
came known  that  he  was  a  minor.  Mr. 


Hill's  inventive  effort  is  manifested  in  un- 
tiring research  along  the  lines  of  electrical 
and  electro-therapeutical  experiment,  and 
also  in  experimentation  upon  chemical 
apparatus  and  alternating  current  phe- 
nomena. The  patents  he  holds,  besides  re- 
lating to  the  foregoing  subjects,  include 
steam  turbines,  gas  producers  and  syn- 
chronous motors,  etc.  Simultaneously  with 
the  establishment  in  New  York  City  of  an 
independent  practice  as  a  consulting  engi- 
neer upon  power  plant  designing  and  con- 
struction of  special  electrical  apparatus, 
Mr.  Hill  was  manufacturing  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  the  "Hill  Apparatus."  This 
designation  comprehended  the  production 
of  several  important  pieces  of  electrical 
machinery,  including  the  building  of  one  of 
the  first  lines  of  small  multipolar  motors. 
Small  synchronous  motors  were  developed 
for  the  operation  of  X-ray  machines;  a 
system  of  wireless  transmission  was  de- 
vised, transmitting  power  successfully  over 
short  distances;  and  out  of  the  same 
laboratory  and  manufactory  came  an  im- 
proved equipment  for  high  voltages  for 
transformers,  switches  and  rectifiers  for 
electrical  precipitation  (Cottrell  System) 
and  for  similar  purposes.  Mr.  Hill  is  re- 
sponsible for  a  gas  producer,  making  clean 
gas  from  coal,  lignite,  or  peat,  which  is 
used  in  gas  engines ;  and  he  is  also  the  de- 
signer of  the  principal  plants  where  the 
process  is  employed.  He  has  developed  an 
improved  method  of  ice-making,  and  in- 
vented new  electro-chemical  apparatus  for 
manufacturing  "chlorine.  His  improve- 
ment of  the  start  and  pull-in  characteris- 
tics of  synchronous  motors  made  that  form 
of  equipment  more  adaptable  for  connec- 
tions to  ammonia  and  air  compressors.  He 
has  given  valuable  aid  to  the  improvement 
of  central  stations  by  correcting  power 
factors  and  compiling  new  rates,  proving 
that  rates  at  low  power  factor  should  be 
higher  than  at  unity  power  factor.  Mr. 
Hill  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Elec- 
trical Society,  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  the  Sons  of  Jove  and 
the  Franklin  Institute.  He  is  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  firm  of  Ophuls,  Hill 
&  McCreery,  Inc.,  consulting  engineers  at 
112  West  42nd  Street. 


NICHOLAS     S.  HILL    JR. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


245 


NICHOLAS   S.   HILL,   JR. 


The  services  of  Nicholas  S.  Hill,  Jr., 
have,  on  many  occasions,  been  sought  by 
municipalities    and   corporations   to   solve 
intricate    engineering    problems    requiring 
expert  knowledge.     Unusual  initiative  and 
his  accomplishment  along  these  lines  have 
brought    him    a    nation-wide    reputation. 
Mr.   Hill   was  born   in   Baltimore,    Md., 
June,  1 8,  1869,  where  he  attended  private 
schools   and  afterwards   entered  the   Ste- 
vens Institute  of  Technology,  graduating 
in  1892,  valedictorian  of  his  class.     Previ- 
ous to  his  collegiate  course  he  gained  a 
practical  knowledge  of  engine  construction 
and  machinery  by  serving  time  in  the  shops 
and   drafting   room   of  the   Baltimore   & 
Ohio  Railroad  at  Mt.  Clare  and  Newark, 
Ohio.    His  first  appointment  after  gradua- 
tion was  in  charge  of  the  construction  and 
inspection  of  the  motive  power  and  car 
equipment    of    the    South    Side    Elevated 
Railroad  in  Chicago.     After  the  comple- 
tion of  this  equipment  he  was  appointed 
mechanical  engineer  in  charge  of  motive 
power,    shops,    rolling   stock   and    power 
stations.     He  remained  with  this  company 
for  a  year  and  a  half,  when  he  came  east 
and  assumed  the  position  of  engineer  and 
secretary  of  the  Sewerage  Commission  of 
Baltimore,  Maryland,  which  had  in  hand 
the  preparation  of  a  report  and  prelimi- 
nary plans  for  a  general  sewerage  system 
and   the  disposal   of   the    sewage    of   the 
entire  city  of  Baltimore.     In  1894  he  was 
appointed  engineer  of  the  Electric  Com- 
mission of  Baltimore,  having  in  charge  the 
designing   and   construction   of   an  under- 
ground conduit  system  for  the  police  and 
fire   alarm   telegraph   wires   of   that  city. 
After   completing   this    work,    he    recom- 
mended to  the  city  the  construction  of  a 
municipally     owned     conduit     system     to 
accommodate    all    of   the    then   overhead 
wires   in   Baltimore.       This   recommenda- 
tion was  adopted  and  plans  for  the  gen- 
eral system  were  prepared,  the  necessary 
legislation  and  appropriation  secured  and 


the  work  of  construction  started.     This  is 
the  only  municipal  conduit  system  in  ope- 
ration,   except    perhaps    Chicago,    in    the 
United  States,   and  it  has   conserved  the 
subsurface    space   of   the   streets   of   Bal- 
timore   for    future   useful   purposes,    and 
while    the    charges    for    this    service    are 
reasonable,  they  have  netted  the  city  a  rev- 
enue that  has  been  sufficient  to  make  the 
plant  self-supporting.     In  1896  Mr.  Hill 
was  appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  water 
department  of  Baltimore,  with  a  special 
view  to  reorganizing  this  department  and 
putting  it  on  a  proper  working  basis,  and 
in  this  position  he  was  in  charge  of  im- 
provements for  which  about  two  million 
dollars  had  been  appropriated.    The  work 
was  successfully  carried  through  in  1896-7 
and  in  1898,  owing  to  political  changes,  he 
was  forced  to  resign.     He  then  took  up 
practice  as  a  consulting  engineer  in  Balti- 
more and  during  this  period  was  retained 
by  financial  interests  to  make  a  number  of 
reports  on  properties  in  the  south,  includ- 
ing   street    railways,    electric    light    and 
hydraulic    power    stations,     and    at    the 
request  of  these  interests  he  accepted  the 
position  of  chief  engineer  of  the  Charles- 
ton  (South  Carolina)   Consolidated  Rail- 
road, Gas  and  Electric  Company,  for  the 
purpose  of  rehabilitating  these  properties, 
which  work  was  consummated  during  the 
years  1898-9.     In  1900  he  came  to  New 
York  City  and  opened  an  office  as  consult- 
ing engineer,    100  William  Street,  where 
he   is   still   practicing.      In    1902   he   was 
appointed  chief  engineer  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Water  Supply,  Gas  and  Electric- 
ity, in  charge  of  the  water  supply  of  the 
City  of  New  York.    He  filled  this  position 
for  two  years   and  then   gave  his   entire 
attention    to    private    practice,    which    he 
had  not  relinquished  while  with  the  city. 
At  the  present  time  Mr.  Hill's  principal 
work  is  hydraulic  and  sanitary  engineer- 
ing,  with  water  supply,  hydraulic  power 
developments  and  sewage  disposal.     Mr. 


246 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Hill  has  been  retained  as  consulting  engi- 
neer by  a  number  of  cities  and  towns  in 
the  United  States,  including  Birmingham, 
Ala.;  Binghamton,  N.  Y. ;  Easton,  Pa.; 
East  Orange,  N.  J. ;  Geneva,  N.  Y. ;  Jer- 
sey City,  N.  J. ;  Kingston,  N.  Y. ;  New 
York  City,  N.  Y. ;  Norfolk,  Va. ;  Nor- 
wich, Conn. ;  Rahway,  N.  J. ;  Rochester, 
N.  Y. ;  South  Orange,  N.  J. ;  Troy,  N.  Y., 
etc.,  etc.  He  has  also  been  retained  by  a 
large  number  of  water  companies,  and 
these  include  the  Citizens'  Water  Supply 
Company,  Elmhurst,  L.  I. ;  Consolidated 
Water  Company  of  Suburban  New  York, 
Tarrytown,  N.  Y. ;  Defiance  Water  Com- 
pany, Defiance,  Ohio;  Elizabethtown 
Water  Company,  Elizabeth,  N.  J. ;  Great 
South  Bay  Water  Company,  Bay  Shore, 
L.  I. ;  Hackensack  Water  Company,  Wee- 
hawken,  N.  J. ;  Jamaica  Water  Supply 
Company,  Jamaica,  L.  I. ;  Lake  Charles 
Railway,  Light  and  Water  Works  Com- 
pany, Lake  Charles,  La. ;  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  Water  Company,  Bayonne, 
N.  J. ;  Rochester  and  Lake  Ontario  Water 
Company,  Rochester,  N.  Y. ;  Queens 
County  Water  Company,  Far  Rockaway, 
N.  Y. ;  Woodhaven  Water  Supply  Com- 
pany, Woodhaven,  L.  L,  etc.,  etc.  Among 
the  trust  companies  and  bankers  who  have 
sought  Mr.  Hill's  assistance  in  investiga- 
tions and  reports  are:  The  Baltimore 
Trust  and  Guarantee  Company;  the 
Guaranty  Trust  Company,  New  York 
City;  Kean,  Taylor  &  Co.,  New  York 
City;  Kissell,  Kinnicutt  &  Co.,  New  York 
City;  Mercantile  Trust  and  Deposit  Co., 
Baltimore,  Md. ;  the  West  End  Trust  Co., 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  etc.,  etc. 

Mr.  Hill  is  a  resident  of  East  Orange, 
N.  J.,  and  is  deeply  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  his  home  city.  He  is  chairman 
of  the  Water  Board  operating  the  Water 
Department  of  that  city  and  is  a  vestry- 
man of  Christ  Church.  He  is  very  domes- 
tic in  his  tastes,  is  fond  of  all  outdoor 


amusements  and  is  interested  in  many 
social  service  and  charitable  organiza- 
tions. He  is  the  author  of  many  technical 
papers  and  has  been  a  frequent  contribu- 
tor to  publications  devoted  to  his  line  of 
work.  He  was  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  American  Street  Rail- 
way Association  1896-9  and  at  present 
holds  membership  in  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Consulting  Engineers,  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers;  member 
committee  on  memberships:  American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  American 
Society  for  Testing  Materials,  American 
Water  Works  Association;  member  execu- 
tive committee  and  president  1915-16: 
New  England  Water  Works  Association, 
American  Public  Health  Association, 
American  Society  of  Municipal  Improve- 
ments, Municipal  Engineers  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  American  Academy  of  Politi- 
cal and  Social  Science,  National  Economic 
League,  American  Geographic  Society, 
Railroad  Club  of  New  York  and  associate 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers.  Mr.  Hill  was  also  a 
member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Stevens  Institute  Alumni  Association  and 
at  the  present  writing  is  its  president. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Rho 
Chapter  of  the  Delta  Tau  Delta  Fra- 
ternity. Mr.  Hill  operates  in  conjunc- 
tion with  S.  F.  Ferguson,  another  engineer 
of  note,  and  employs  a  staff  of  competent 
engineering  assistants,  chemists  and  bac- 
teriologists. The  laboratories  at  100 
William  Street  are  thoroughly  equipped 
for  analyzing  water,  sewage  and  alloys 
and  the  testing  of  coal,  sand  and  cement. 
Special  attention  is  paid  to  public  utility 
valuations  and  the  design,  construction 
and  operation  of  water  supplies,  water 
power  developments,  filtration  plants, 
pumping  stations  and  sewage  disposal 
works. 


ALFRED    J.    H  I  XO  N 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


247 


ALFRED  J.  HIXON 


Alfred  J.  Hixon,  president  of  the  Hixon 
Electric  Company  of  Boston,  Mass.,  has 
attained  an  important  place  in  the  electri- 
cal field  although  comparatively  a  young 
man.  The  Hixon  Electrical  Company 
has  successfully  carried  out  some  of  the 
largest  contracts  in  New  England;  a  no- 
table instance  was  the  installation  of  all 
electrical  material  in  the  tremendous  mili- 
tary cantonment  at  Ayer,  Mass.,  known 
as  Camp  Devens.  Many  records  were 
broken  by  the  contractors  for  the  war 
camps  throughout  the  country  and  the 
Hixon  Company  did  its  part,  despite  all 
handicaps,  to  have  the  quarters  ready  and 
waiting  when  needed.  Alfred  J.  Hixon  has 
been  honored  by  his  associates  in  the  Elec- 
trical Contractors  Association  of  Massa- 
chusetts with  the  election  to  the  presidency 
of  that  organization  which  has  for  its  ob- 
ject the  improvement  of  conditions  under 
which  electrical  contracting  may  be  con- 
ducted; to  oppose  unfair  legislation;  to  ac- 
quaint its  members  with  improvements  in 
the  science  and  to  generally  effect  a  closer 
relationship  between  its  members  for  their 
mutual  good.  Mr.  Hixon's  virile  personal- 
ity worked  strongly  for  the  Association's 
benefit  during  his  occupancy  of  the  chief 
office.  Mr.  Hixon  began  his  practical 


electrical  career  early  in  life,  which  fact 
possibly  accounts  for  his  present  promi- 
nent place  at  so  early  an  age.  Born  in 
San  Jose  on  September  ist,  1876  he  was 
graduated  from  the  public  schools  of  that 
beautiful  California  city  in  18-91.  Natu- 
rally of  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind  his  de- 
sire was  to  seek  the  most  promising  place 
where  that  bent  might  be  utilized  and  also 
in  a  district  more  pronounced  in  its  ag- 
gressiveness than  the  sleepy  atmosphere  of 
his  native  Pacific,  and  we  therefore  find 
him  at  the  age  of  sixteen  working  on  the 
line  of  the  Northwestern  Telephone  Com- 
pany, and  thus,  as  Mr.  Hixon  naively  ex- 
presses it,  his  electrical  education  was 
gained  by  "climbing  poles"  for  this  com- 
pany, a  school  from  which  many  of  our 
best  and  most  successful  men  hold  degrees. 
Successively,  from  the  pole  climbing  job, 
Mr.  Hixon  was  connected  with  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company,  at  Chicago,  the 
Franklin  Engineering  Company,  also  of 
that  city,  and  with  Edwin  C.  Lewis,  Inc., 
the  Boston  electrical  contractors,  from 
which  work  he  withdrew  to  organize  his 
own  company  and  to  become  known 
throughout  New  England  as  one  of  the 
most  responsible  in  his  chosen  field. 


248 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HERBERT  THACKER  HERR 


Herbert  Thacker  Herr,  who  is  now 
vice-president  of  the  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric and  Manufacturing  Company,  has 
worked  his  way  forward  to  that  position 
by  successive  demonstrations  of  executive 
ability  and  engineering  skill. 

He  was  born  in  Denver,  Colorado, 
March  19,  1876.  His  paternal  ancestry 
is  traced  back  to  the  year  1009,  to  the 
Schwabian  Knight  Hugo,  Lord  of  Bilried, 
and  his  first  American  ancestor  was  Rev. 


Hans  Herr,  who  settled  in  Lancaster 
County,  Pennsylvania,  in  1709,  arranging 
terms  to  colonize  with  William  Penn.  Mr. 
Herr's  parents,  Theodore  W.  and  Emma 
(Musser)  Herr,  were  natives  of  Lancas- 
ter, Pa. 

He  was  educated  in  the  Denver  public 
schools,  and  later  became  a  student  in  the 
Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1899 
with  the  degree  of  Ph.B.,  and  election  to 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Sigma  Xi,  having  taken  the  prize  in 
mathematics.  He  became  a  member  of 
Delta  Phi  fraternity  while  at  Yale.  Before 
entering  college  he  had  served  as  machin- 
ist's apprentice  with  the  Chicago  and 
Northwestern  Railroad. 

After  graduation  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Railway 
Company,  for  two  years  as  machinist  and 
draftsman,  and  was  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee to  revise  the  operating  rules  of  that 
company.  In  1902  he  went  with  the  Chi- 
cago Great  Western  Railroad  Company 
as  master  mechanic  at  Des  Moines  for  a 
year  and  at  St.  Paul  for  six  months;  then 
with  the  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Chicago 
Railway  as  master  mechanic  of  the  Chi- 
cago Division  at  Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  for 
a  year;  then  for  eighteen  months  master 
mechanic  of  the  Eastern  Grand  Division 
of  the  Norfolk  and  Western  Railroad 
Company  at  Roanoke,  Virginia.  He  was 
then  appointed  assistant  to  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande  Rail- 
road, beroming  general  superintendent  of 
that  road  in  1906.  He  retired  from  rail- 
way service  to  become  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Duquesne  Min- 


ing and  Reduction  Company  of  Duquesne, 
Arizona. 

From  there  he  went  to  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
becoming  closely  associated  with  the  late 
George  Westinghouse  during  the  last 
seven  years  of  that  inventor's  life.  In 
1908  he  became  general  manager  and 
soon  after  Second  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Westinghouse 
Machine  Company,  and  Vice-President  of 
that  company  in  1913,  and  he  is  now  Vice- 
President  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
and  Manufacturing  Company,  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  director  of  the  Westinghouse 
Gear  and  Dynamometer  Company,  direc- 
tor of  the  Rodman  Chemical  Company 
and  the  Westinghouse  Export  Company, 
and  various  other  companies. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Rail- 
way Guild,  the  American  Institute  of  Min- 
ing Engineers,  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  American  Society  of 
Automobile  Engineers,  American  Society 
of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engi- 
neers, the  Yale  Engineering  Club,  Du- 
quesne Club  of  Pittsburgh,  the  New  York 
Yale  Club,  Bankers'  Club  and  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  New  York. 


HARRY  ARCHER  HORNOR 


Harry  Archer  Hornor  is  lineally  de- 
scended from  a  prominent  English  family 
of  that  name.  His  first  American  ancestor 
was  a  Quaker,  who  settled  in  1683  on  an 
estate  at  Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  the 
family  afterwards  removing  to  Phila- 
delphia. His  father  and  grandfather  were 
both  prominent  lawyers.  He  was  born  in 
New  Orleans,  December  5,  1874,  attended 
private  schools  there  until  he  was  fifteen 
years  old,  then  was  with  the  New  Orleans 
architectural  firm  of  Sully  &  Co.,  until 
1894,  when  he  left  to  prepare  for  college. 
He  entered  Trinity  College,  Hartford, 
Conn.,  in  1896;  was  graduated  in  June, 
1900,  with  honors  in  physics  and  chemistry; 
was  salutatorian  of  his  class,  editor  Class 
Annual,  College  Marshal,  manager  Dra- 
matics Association  and  elected  to  Phi  Beta 
Kappa.  He  entered  the  Electrical  Depart- 
ment of  the  New  York  Shipbuilding  Com- 
pany (now  Corporation),  at  Camden, 
N.  J.,  on  July  2,  1900;  was  given  charge 


of  the  marine  electrical  drafting  in  1901, 
and  since  1905  has  been  at  the  head  of  the 
electrical  department  of  that  corporation, 
both  plant  and  construction.  He  resigned 
from  the  New  York  Shipbuilding  Corpora- 
tion the  first  of  February,  1918.  Since  that 
time  he  has  been  devoting  his  technical  ex- 
perience to  the  investigation  of  the  applica- 
bility of  electric  welding  to  shipbuilding 
for  the  United  States  Shipping  Board, 
Emergency  Fleet  Corporation.  Among  his 
achievements  was  the  installation  in  the 
plant  of  alternating  current-motors;  the 
first  extensive  application  of  alternating 
current  for  industrial  use  in  this  coun- 
try. The  energy  was  derived  from 
double  current  generators,  taking  both 
alternating  current  and  direct  current 
from  the  same  armature  and  field. 
These  are  the  only  generators  of  this  type 
in  this  country.  The  installation  of  the 
first  direct-current,  direct-connected  turbo- 
generating  set  installed  for  the  United 


250 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HARRY  ARCHER  HORNOR 


States  Navy  was  done  at  his  suggestion 
and  under  his  direction  on  the  battle- 
ship "New  Hampshire."  There  were 
two  sets,  of  200-kw.  capacity.  The 
first  installation  of  lead-covered  steel 
armored  conductors,  instead  of  wires 
drawn  through  conduit,  was  made  at  his 
suggestion  and  under  his  direction  for  the 
U.  S.  battleship  "Oklahoma."  This  fol- 
lowed a  similar  installation  on  the  Argen- 
tine battleship  "Moreno,"  also  done  under 
his  direction.  The  first  application  of  elec- 


tric propulsion  for  merchant  vessels  in 
America  is  now  being  undertaken  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Shipbuilding  Company  under 
his  professional  advice.  Mr.  Hornor  is  a 
fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  vice-president  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  Frank- 
lin Institute,  Physics  Club  of  Philadelphia, 
Philadelphia  Association  of  Alpha  Delta 
Phi,  and  treasurer  of  the  Browning  Society 
of  Philadelphia. 


CHARLES   W.HOLTZER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


251 


CHARLES  W.  HOLTZER 


A  career  of  progress  that  has  run  par- 
allel with  the  development  of  the  electrical 
industry  is  that  of  Charles  W.  Holtzer, 
now  president  of  The  Holtzer-Cabot  Elec- 
tric Company  of  Boston.  His  training 
from  boyhood  has  been  in  connection  with 
industries  of  scientific  bearing.  Soon  after 
the  Civil  War  he  was  engaged  with  his 
father  in  the  carrying  on  of  experiments  in- 
tended to  improve  ammunition  for  artillery 
use.  After  that  work  had  been  discontin- 
ued he  engaged  with  the  firm  of  George  M. 
Stevens  &  Company,  who  were  manufac- 
turers of  tower  clocks.  From  that  connec- 
tion he  went  with  the  firm  of  E.  S.  Ritchie 
&  Sons,  at  Brookline,  Massachusetts,  en- 
gaging in  the  manufacture  of  philosophical 
instruments.  A  connection  of  several  years 
with  that  enterprise,  the  products  of  which 
were  instruments  of  precision,  was  a  good 
preparation  for  the  line  of  industry  which 
was  to  become  his  life  work.  He  became 
interested  in  matters  electrical,  and  sever- 
ing his  connection  with  E.  S.  Ritchie  & 
Sons  he  embarked  in  business  in  a  small 
way  on  his  own  account  in  the  manufacture 
of  electrical  apparatus,  including  such  de- 
vices as  electric  annunciators,  bells,  bat- 
teries, electro-mechanical  gongs  for  fire 
alarms,  etc.  He  soon  added  new  products 
to  his  list,  taking  out  several  patents  on 
electric  time  recorders,  fire  alarm  bells  and 
electric  gas-lighting  appliances. 

The  year  1875,  when  Mr.  Holtzer 
started  this  business,  was  in  the  period 
when  some  of  the  greatest  minds  were  en- 
gaged upon  the  solution  of  electrical  prob- 
lems, and  the  world  was  soon  to  be 
astounded  by  epochal  discoveries  and  de- 
velopments which  would  apply  electricity 
to  transmitted  speech,  to  great  purposes 
in  the  generation  and  distribution  of  light 
and  power,  and  would  add  year  by  year 
to  the  invention  and  improvement  of  me- 
chanisms which  should  harness  electricity 
to  various  uses. 

Soon  the  invention  of  the  telephone  had 
so  advanced  as  to  open  up  for  Mr. 
Holtzer  a  considerable  addition  to  his  busi- 
ness in  the  manufacture  of  telephone  sup- 
plies. He  opened  the  first  branch  exchange 
under  the  Bell  license  in  Brookline,  begin- 
ning with  fourteen  subscribers  and  one 
trunk  line  to  the  Boston  Exchange.  Mr. 


Holtzer  conducted  the  Brookline  exchange, 
with  steady  increase  in  subscribers,  until 
1880,  when  he  sold  his  telephone  contract 
to  the  Suburban  Telephone  Company.  The 
growth  of  its  business  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  on  January  i,  1918,  the  Brook- 
line  exchange  had  12,368  subscribers. 

Soon  after  the  telephone  was  introduced 
electric  lighting  began  and  the  manufac- 
ture of  incandescent  lamps  was  started. 
Mr.  Holtzer  fitted  up  the  factory  of  the 
Brush-Swan  Incandescent  Lamp  Company 
with  appliances  for  their  manufacture,  and 
soon  after  similarly  equipped  the  plant  of 
the  Schaefer  Incandescent  Lamp  Company. 
He  took  out  some  patents  on  incandescent 
light  fixtures  and  switches  and  enlarged 
the  scope  of  his  own  business  by  adding 
full  lines  of  apparatus  and  supplies  for 
electric  lighting. 

Electricity  for  transmitted  power  was 
the  next  of  the  major  developments  in  the 
electrical  industry,  and  was  one  in  which 
Mr.  Holtzer  was  one  of  the  pioneer  par- 
ticipants. The  first  dynamo  he  built  was 
from  the  design  of  William  Stanley,  who 
at  that  time  was  connected  with  the  Brush- 
Swan  Incandescent  Lamp  Company  and 
later  was  engineer  for  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  Company,  as  well  as  for  the  Stan- 
ley Electric  Manufacturing  Company. 
From  this  was  developed  a  diversified  line 
of  motors  and  dynamos,  keeping  place 
with  the  progressive  development  of  va- 
ried types  of  dynamo-electric  machinery; 
and  the  department  of  electric  power  has 
been  developed  into  a  leading  feature  of 
the  industry. 

From  the  first  workshop  in  a  room  ten 
by  twelve  feet,  in  which  the  business  began 
in  1875,  it  has  expanded  to  a  plant  com- 
prising a  monolithic  structure  400  feet  by 
60  feet  in  size  and  six  stories  high,  a  power 
house,  a  factory  and  a  storehouse,  all  lo- 
cated on  a  four-acre  lot  in  the  Roxbury 
district  of  Boston. 

In  1889  Mr.  Holtzer  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  George  E.  Cabot  under  the  name 
of  Holtzer  &  Cabot,  which  was  later  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  Massachu- 
setts with  its  present  title  of  The  Holtzer' 
Cabot  Electric  Company.  Three  years 
later  Mr.  Cabot  sold  his  interest  to  Mr. 
Holtzer,  who  now  controls  the  business. 


252 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM  JOSEPH  HAMMER 


William  J.  Hammer,  whose  wide  experi- 
ence as  a  consulting  engineer,  in  this  coun- 
try, has  been  supplemented  by  practice,  lec- 
tures and  study  abroad,  was  born  at 
Cressona,  Schuylkill  County,  Pennsylvania, 
February  26,  1858,  the  son  of  William 
Alexander  and  Martha  A.  (Beck)  Ham- 
mer. He  became  assistant  to  Edward 
Weston  of  the  Weston  Malleable  Nickel 
Co.,  Newark,  N.  J.,  in  1878,  and  in  De- 
cember of  the  following  year  entered  the 
employ  of  Thomas  A.  Edison  in  his  labor- 
atory at  Menlo  Park,  N.  J.  In  common 
with  Mr.  Edison's  other  associates  he 
assisted  in  the  experiments  on  the  tele- 
phone, phonograph,  electric  lighting,  elec- 
tric railway,  ore  separating  and  other  in- 
ventions being  developed  at  the  laboratory, 
devoting  his  attention,  however,  particu- 
larly to  the  incandescent  electric  lamp. 

Under  the  direction  and  supervision  of 
Mr.  Edison  and  his  mathematician  and 
partner  in  the  incandescent  lamp,  Mr. 
Francis  R.  Upton,  he  prepared  the  original 
plan  and  assisted  in  making  the  determina- 
tions of  the  underground  conductor  system 
of  the  Pearl  Street  Station  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Co.  He  had  charge  of  the 
experimental  tests  ^and  records  of  the 
Edison  lamps  at  the  laboratory  and  sub- 
sequently became  chief  electrician  of  the 
first  incandescent  electric  lamp  factory  at 
Menlo  Park,  N.  J.  In  1 88 1  he  was  sent 
abroad  by  Mr.  Edison  and  became  chief 
engineer  of  the  English  Edison  Electric 
Light  Co.,  and  associated  with  Mr.  E.  H. 
Johnson,  general  manager,  he  constructed 
the  Holborn  Viaduct  central  electric  light 
station  in  London.  This  plant  contained 
three  3O-ton  "Jumbo"  steam  dynamos,  and 
operated  3,000  incandescent  lamps,  and  on 
January  12,  1882,  Mr.  Hammer  person- 
ally closed  the  switch  which  started  the 
operation  of  this  the  first  central  station 
ever  constructed  for  incandescent  electric 
lighting,  the  New  York  Edison  station  in 
Pearl  Street  not  being  started  until  Sep- 
tember 4  of  that  year.  While  in  London 


(1882)  he  also  installed  a  large  isolated 
lighting  plant  of  twelve  Edison  dynamos  at 
the  Crystal  Palace  Electrical  Exposition. 
At  this  time  he  designed  and  built  the 
first  electric  sign  ever  made;  it  was 
erected  over  the  organ  in  the  Crystal 
Palace  concert  hall,  and  spelt  the  name 
"Edison"  in  electric  lights,  being  oper- 
ated by  a  hand-controlled  commutator. 

His  work  in  England  brought  him 
offers  of  the  posts  of  chief  engineer  from 
both  the  French  and  German  Edison  com- 
panies, and  he  accepted  that  of  the  latter 
company,  the  Deutsche  Edison  Gesell- 
schaft,  now  known  as  the  Allegemeine 
Elektricitaets  Gesellschaft.  He  had  entire 
charge  of  all  the  installations  of  the  com- 
pany until  the  fall  of  1884,  when  he  re- 
turned to  America. 

While  in  Berlin,  he  invented  and  built 
the  first  automatic  motor-driven  flashing 
electric  sign  in  the  world.  This  sign,  which 
flashed  the  name  "Edison"  letter  by  letter 
and  as  a  whole,  was  placed  on  the  Edison 
pavilion  at  the  Health  Exhibition  in  Berlin 
in  1883,  and  upon  its  principle  all  flashing 
signs  of  to-day  are  based.  Returning  to 
the  United  States,  he  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  Edison  exhibits,  some  eight  in  number, 
including  Mr.  Edison's  personal  exhibit,  at 
the  International  Electrical  Exposition 
held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Franklin 
Institute  in  Philadelphia  in  1884.  Mr. 
Hammer  became  confidential  assistant  to 
Mr.  Edward  H.  Johnson,  president  of  the 
parent  Edison  Electric  Light  Co.  in  1884, 
and  later,  together  with  Mr.  Johnson  and 
Mr.  Frank  J.  Sprague,  became  an  incor- 
porator  of  the  Sprague  Electric  Rail- 
way &  Motor  Co.,  Mr.  Hammer  being 
elected  a  trustee  and  the  Company's  first 
secretary. 

Shortly  thereafter  he  was  appointed 
chief  inspector  of  central  stations  of  the 
parent  Edison  Co.,  making  electrical,  me- 
chanical and  financial  reports  upon  the 
various  stations  throughout  the  United 
States  for  over  two  years  (1884-1886), 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


253 


MAJOR  WILLIAM  J.  HAMMER 


and  was  next  sent  to  Boston  as  general 
manager  and  chief  engineer  of  the  Boston 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Co.  In  one 
year's  time  he  changed  this  plant  from  a 
losing  investment  to  one  paying  twelve  per 
cent,  on  its  capitalization.  Acting  as  a  con- 
tractor for  the  company,  he  installed  in 
Boston  the  company's  elaborate  under- 
ground system  of  conductors,  and  by  the 
installation  of  ninety-two  Sprague  electric 
motors,  assisted  by  the  Sprague  Com- 
pany's agents,  made  this  the  first  plant  for 
the  electric  transmission  of  power  worthy 
of  the  name  ever  established.  Later  he 


took  up  special  expert  work  for  the  parent 
Edison  Electric  Light  Co.  in  New  York, 
and  in  1888  he  was  placed  in  charge  of 
the  completion  and  starting  of  the  8,000- 
light  plant  of  the  Ponce  de  Leon  Hotel  at 
St.  Augustine,  Fla.,  which  at  that  time  was 
the  largest  isolated  incandescent  lighting 
plant.  Associated  with  Mr.  William  Ken- 
nish  he  erected  for  Mr.  Henry  M.  Flagler 
the  first  electric  light  plant  ever  run  directly 
by  power  from  an  artesian  well  driving  a 
turbine  and  dynamo.  In  1888  he  was  ap- 
pointed consulting  electrical  engineer  to  the 
Cincinnati  Centennial  Exposition,  and  as  a 


254 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


contractor  devised  and  constructed  the 
elaborate  electrical  effects  as  an  attraction 
to  the  exposition. 

He  was  next  appointed  Mr.  Edison's 
personal  representative  at  the  Paris  Ex- 
position of  1889,  at  which  time  he  had  up- 
ward of  $100,000  placed  at  his  disposal 
and  a  corps  of  forty-five  assistants.  The 
Edison  exhibit  embraced  seventeen  depart- 
ments and  covered  over  nine  thousand 
square  feet  of  floor  space.  During  the  ex- 
position he  accompanied  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Edison  to  the  German  Science  Congress  at 
Heidelberg,  and  later  to  Berlin,  where  they 
visited  Prof.  Yon  Helmholtz  and  Dr. 
Werner  Siemens,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
Paris  Exposition  Mr.  Hammer  made  a 
notable  balloon  flight  across  France  with 
Dr.  A.  Lawrence  Rotch,  Director  of  Blue 
Hill  Observatory,  and  Dr.  R.  G.  Wells  of 
St.  Louis.  During  this  trip  extensive 
meteorological,  magnetic,  electric  and  sig- 
nalling experiments  were  carried  out.  Re- 
turning to  the  United  States  in  1890,  he 
opened  an  office  in  New  York  City  as  a  con- 
sulting electrical  engineer,  which  office  he 
has  ever  since  maintained.  Much  of  Mr. 
Hammer's  professional  work  has  been  in 
connection  with  tests,  investigations  and 
reports  upon  electrical  properties  and  in- 
ventions, and  acting  as  an  expert  in  electric 
lighting,  telephone,  storage  battery,  aero- 
nautical and  other  patent  cases,  accident 
cases,  rate  cases,  etc.  He  has  done  con- 
siderable original  work  in  his  laboratory 
in  connection  with  selenium,  radium,  X- 
rays,  wireless,  cold  light,  phosphorescence, 
fluorescence,  etc.  He  has  compiled  what 
is  without  doubt  the  most  important  bibli- 
ography upon  selenium  in  the  world,  and 
is  the  possessor  of  a  unique  collection  of 
autographed  portraits  of  eminent  scientists 
and  engineers,  and  has  had  a  dozen  or 
more  patents  issued  to  him  here  and 
abroad  upon  his  inventions. 

He  has  visited  Europe  frequently  to 
make  professional  reports  on  patents  and 
processes,  to  attend  electrical  and  aero- 
nautical congresses  and  meetings,  and  to 
study  and  report  on  developments  in 
science  and  engineering,  such  as  gas  en- 
gines, steam  turbines,  high  furnace  gas 
applications,  sulphur  dioxide  gas  engines, 
arc  lighting  and  incandescent  lighting, 
radium,  automatic  telephony,  wireless,  the 
Poulson  telegraphone,  and  various  high- 


tension  electric  railway  plants  in  France, 
England,  Switzerland,  Austria-Hungary, 
Italy  and  Germany.  Mr.  Hammer  is  a  fel- 
low and  a  life  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  a 
member  of  the  New  York  Electrical  Society 
(having  been  vice-president  of  both),  fel- 
low of  the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  and  charter  mem- 
ber of  the  Edison  Medal  Association  and 
the  Edison  Pioneers. 

He  was  for  two  terms  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  standard  rules  for  electrical 
construction  and  operation  of  the  N.  E. 
L.  A.,  and  president  of  the  National  Con- 
ference on  Standard  Electrical  Rules  which 
organization  prepared  and  promulgated 
the  "National  Electric  Code"  now  in  use 
throughout  the  United  States;  was  for 
two  years  president  of  the  Franklin  Ex- 
perimental Club;  member  of  the  Franklin 
Institute,  the  Agassiz  Natural  History  So- 
ciety (one  of  the  chapters  of  which  was 
named  in  his  honor),  the  Aeronautical 
Society  of  America,  of  which  he  was  an 
incorporator  and  vice-president,  and  has 
been  a  director  since  its  inception,  the  In- 
stitute of  Radio  Engineers,  and  in  addition 
to  the  above  is  or  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Arts,  the  American  Physical 
Society,  the  International  Society  of  Elec- 
tricians, the  American  Electrochemical  So- 
ciety, the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminat- 
ing Companies,  of  which  he  was  at  one 
time  a  director;  the  Mineralogical  Society, 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  the 
Aero  Club  of  America  and  the  Engineers' 
Club.  He  was  a  member  of  the  "Curie" 
Radium  Award  Committee  of  the  Frank- 
lin Institute,  and  represented  the  A.  I.  E.  E. 
at  the  "Hall  of  Fame"  ceremonies.  He 
was  awarded  both  the  John  Scott  legacy 
medal  and  premium  in  1902  and  the  El- 
liott Cresson  gold  medal  in  1906  by  the 
Franklin  Institute,  the  former  for  his  tele- 
phone relay  and  long-distance  sound  ex- 
periments, and  the  latter  for  his  historical 
collection  of  incandescent  electric  lamps. 
This  very  complete  collection,  upon  which 
Mr.  Hammer  has  worked  over  thirty-four 
years,  is  practically  a  "History  of  an  Art." 
Its  supreme  worth,  historical  importance 
and  value  were  attested  by  the  award  of  a 
special  silver  medal  at  the  International 
Electrical  Exposition  at  the  Crystal 


RUDOLPH     MELVILLE     HUNTER? 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


255 


Palace,  London,  England,  in  1882,  the 
"Grand  Prize"  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition 
of  1904,  as  well  as  the  Elliott  Cresson 
gold  medal  of  1906.  The  collection  is 
now  at  the  Engineering  Societies'  Building, 
New  York  City. 

Mr.  Hammer  was  chairman  of  the  jury 
upon  telegraphy,  telephony  and  wireless  at 
the  St.  Louis  Exposition  of  1904,  and  also 
a  member  of  the  "Departmental"  jury, 
and  was  on  the  committee  appointed  to 
organize  the  International  Electrical  Con- 
gress at  St.  Louis  in  1904.  His  book, 
"Radium  and  Other  Radioactive  Sub- 
stances" (1903),  was  the  first  ever  pub- 
lished upon  that  subject,  and  has  gone 
through  many  editions  here  and  abroad. 
He  is  the  author  of  articles  on  radium  and 
radio-activity  in  the  Encyclopedia  Ameri- 
cana, has  delivered  eighty  lectures  on  the 
subject.  In  1902  Mr.  Hammer  invented 
the  radium  luminous  compounds  now  so  ex- 
tensively used  on  watch,  clock,  and  instru- 
ment dials,  etc.  He  was  one  of  the  editors 
of  "Navigating  the  Air,"  the  official  book 
of  the  Aero  Club  of  America  in  1907,  and 
was  chairman  of  the  general  committee  of 
the  Jamestown  Exposition  international 
aeronautical  congress  in  the  same  year. 
In  collaboration  with  Mr.  Hudson  Maxim, 
he  prepared  the  "Chronology  of  Aviation" 
for  the  World's  Almanac  of  1911,  sub- 
sequently reprinted  in  booklet  form  and 
widely  distributed  here  and  abroad, 
and  acted  as  secretary  and  expert  of  the 
aeronautics  committee  of  the  Hudson- 
Fulton  celebration  of  1909,  and  has  made 
a  number  of  airplane  flights.  He  has  testi- 
fied for  the  Wright  Bros,  in  all  their  aero- 
plane suits  in  this  country.  Mr.  Hammer 
was  married  January  3,  1894,  to  Alice 
Maude,  daughter  of  Thomas  H.  White 
of  Cleveland,  O.,  and  has  one  child,  Mabel 
White  Hammer. 

On  June  4,  1918,  Mr.  Hammer  re- 
ceived a  commission  as  Major  in  the  U.  S. 
Army,  and  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
Inventions  Section,  War  Plans  Division, 
General  Staff  at  the  Army  War  College, 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  on  Dec.  i3th, 
1918,  by  direction  of  the  President,  he  was 
detailed  as  a  Member  of  the  General  Staff 
Corps  under  the  provision  of  an  Act  of 
Congress  approved  May  18,  1917. 


RUDOLPH  MELVILLE  HUNTER 

As  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer, 
inventor  and  scientist  of  deep  original  re- 
search, Rudolph  Melville  Hunter,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, is  internationally  prominent.    He 
was  born  in  New  York  City,  June  20,  1856, 
and  is  of  Scotch  ancestry  dating  back  to  the 
Hunters  of  Hunterston  in  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander II  of  Scotland.   ^He  was  educated  at 
Edmonton,  England;  Ecole  des  Profession- 
ales,   Monteville,  France;  Upper  Canada 
College,  Toronto,  Canada;  and  Polytech- 
nic College  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
graduating  in  1878  with  the  highest  honors 
in  mechanical   and   electrical   engineering. 
Being  in  business  seven  years  before  obtain- 
ing his  college  degree,  he  continued  business 
while  attending  college.     Throughout  his 
forty-seven  years   of   engineering  he   has 
combined  with  it  a  patent  practice.     As  in- 
ventor  and  patentee,   he   stands   third   or 
fourth  in  the  whole  world.     His  patents 
are  fundamental,  covering  the  electric  rail- 
way art  (trolley,  conduit  and  accumulator 
.systems)  ;  also  the  transformer  system  of 
electrical  transmission   (both  method  and 
means  for  transmission  with  reduction  of 
potential  as  well  as  the  combined  "step  up" 
and   "step   down"    system)  ;    also   electric 
point  welding  system.     He  invented  and 
constructed  the  first  modern  moving  picture 
machine  (1894)  and  had  the  first  moving 
picture  exhibition  hall  in  the  country.     In 
and  following   1874,  he  was   engaged  in 
building  iron  and  steel  plants  in  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky and  West  Virginia  and  was  engineer 
to  Olive  Foundry  and  Machine  Works  of 
Ironton,  Ohio;  Consulting  Engineer  in  Chi- 
cago in  1876;  organized  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  Electric  Mfg.  Co.,  1879  (secretary 
and  director)  ;  Globe  Mfg.  Co.,  1885   (di- 
rector) ;  Hunter  Electric  Co.,    1886-1887 
(director)  ;  Electric  Car  Co.  of  America, 
1887   (president)  ;  General  Electric  Auto- 
mobile   Co.,     1898     (director)  ;    Tractor 
Truck  Co.,   1899    (director);  The  Mira- 
bile  Corporation,  1902  (president)  ;  U.  S. 
Assay  and  Bullion  Co.,  1903   (president). 
He  was  also  director  in  Acetylene  Light, 
Heat  &   Power  Co.,    1902;  Electric   Ve- 
hicle Equipment  Co.,    1902;  Herr  Auto- 
matic Press  Co.,  1906;  and  others.    He  or- 
ganized Hunter  Pressed  Steel  Co.,    1914 
(owner). 

In  expert  capacity,  Mr.  Hunter  has  been 


256 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


retained  by  many  corporations,  among 
them  General  Electric  Co.  (21  years); 
Victor  Talking  Machine  Co.  (17  years)  ; 
also  the  Continental  Conduit  and  Cable 
Co. ;  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co. ; 
National  Cable  Railway  Co. ;  United  Gas 
Improvement  Co. ;  Thomson-Houston 
Electric  Co.,  and  numerous  others.  In 
1879-1881,  he  developed  a  submarine  ves- 
sel, in  1882  published  an  illustrated  pam- 
phlet on  it,  and  in  1883  submitted  the  in- 
vention to  the  British  Government.  He  de- 
veloped a  smokeless  powder  and  made 
tests  for  the  French  Government  in  1883- 
1884;  placed  before  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, in  May,  1883,  his  electric  railway 
plans  for  use  in  proposed  Dover  and  Calais 
tunnel;  gave  demonstrations  of  his  subma- 
rine to  the  Chief  of  the  Torpedo  service  of 
Great  Britain  in  1884,  and  to  members  of 
the  United  States  Congress  in  1885.  His 
inventions  have  been  controlled  by  many 
corporations,  among  which  are  Thomson- 
Houston  Elec.  Co. ;  General  Elec.  Co.,  and 
the  Westinghouse  Elec.  and  Mfg.  Co., 
which  owned,  controlled,  or  were  licensed 
under  about  300  patents;  Electric  Car  Co. 
of  America,  about  150  patents;  General 
Electric  Automobile  Co.,  about  70  patents; 
Tractor  Truck  Co.,  8  patents;  Interna- 
tional Power  Co.,  about  72  patents;  and 
very  many  other  companies  and  indi- 
viduals, who  have  used  and  are  using  his 
patents  in  many  and  varied  industries.  His 
earliest  invention  was  a  machine  for  mak- 
ing tambour  lace  in  1868.  He  regards  as 
the  greatest  of  all  his  work,  that  in  original 
research  carried  on  since  1903,  relative  to 
the  breaking  down  and  reconstruction  of 
atomic  matter,  including  the  transmutation 
of  the  elements.  His  work  in  this  direction 
has  been  extensively  referred  to  by  the 
press.  He  describes  the  results  of  his 
work,  which  have  enabled  him  to  transmute 
one  character  of  atom  into  another,  thus: 


"This  may  be  done  as  an  instantaneous 
process,  or  it  may  be  caused  to  take  place 
slowly  as  a  "growing"  process.  The  pre- 
cious metals  are  more  easily  produced  by 
transmutation  than  the  baser  ones.  For  ex- 
ample, pure  gold  may  be  made  commer- 
cially at  a  cost  not  exceeding  about  ten  per- 
cent of  the  values  produced.  The  process 
does  not  set  the  electrons  of  the  atoms  free, 
but  so  modifies  the  control  of  the  electrons 
within  the  confines  of  their  atomic  struc- 
ture, that  combining  of  a  plurality  of  atoms 
to  form  an  atom  of  a  greater  atomic  weight 
is  possible.  This  process  is  rapid  when 
conditions  are  right.  In  case  of  "grow- 
ing", the  process  is  relatively  slow,  but  is  in 
effect  the  creation  of  life  to  a  mineral, 
giving  to  it  a  place  analogous  to  plant 
and  animal  life.  In  other  words — I  may 
treat  a  silver  dollar  to  a  process  which  im- 
presses upon  it  certain  physical  conditions, 
and  thereafter,  within  its  mass,  gold  will 
"grow"  in  such  quantity  that  it  may  be  sep- 
arated by  any  refining  process.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  growing  phenomena  there 
was  no  gold,  but  after  a  year  or  so,  the 
richness  in  gold  is  very  pronounced,  and 
this  growing  of  the  atom,  gold,  when  no 
gold  was  before  present,  may  continue  until 
10  to  20  per  cent  of  the  mass  has  been 
changed". 

England's  greatest  chemist,  the  late  Sir 
William  Ramsay,  was  in  touch  with  Mr. 
Hunter  in  this  work,  had  many  samples  of 
the  growing  gold  and  made  corroborative 
analyses  in  respect  to  some  of  the  tests  for 
Mr.  Hunter. 

Mr.  Hunter  is  a  member  of  the  Manu- 
facturers' Club  of  Philadelphia,  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  (since 
1884),  the  Societe  Internationale  des  Elec- 
triciens,  Paris  (foundation  member),  and 
the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science. 


HARVEY    HUBBELL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


257 


HARVEY  HUBBELL 


Harvey  Hubbell,  head  of  Harvey 
Hubbell,  Inc.,  of  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  has 
advanced  to  leading  prominence  in  the 
manufacture  of  electrical  specialties  and 
machine  screws,  and  this  position  has  been 
attained  by  adherence  to  high  standards 
of  quality  and  uniformity  in  production. 
Mr.  Hubbell  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  December  20,  1857,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Easton  Academy,  Easton, 
Conn.,  Eastman's  Business  College,  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.,  and  at  the  Cooper  Institute, 
New  York  City.  Having  a  natural  fond- 
ness for  mechanics,  he  entered  early  in 
life  into  practical  training  in  the  manu- 
facture and  designing  of  printing  presses 
with  the  Potter  Printing  Press  Works, 
and  with  the  Cranston  Printing  Press 
Works  of  Norwich,  Conn.  He  was  also 
for  a  time  connected  with  John  Roach 
&  Son,  ship  and  marine  engine  build- 
ers, of  New  York  City  and  Chester, 
Pa.  In  these  connections  he  was  thorough- 
ly trained  in  the  art  of  handling  tools 
and  also  gained  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature  that  was  of  great  value  to  him 
in  the  conduct  of  his  own  business.  At 
this  period,  while  working  hard  all  day, 
his  desire  to  thoroughly  familiarize  him- 
self with  every  detail  of  the  lines  along 
which  he  was  working,  led  to  the  devo- 
tion of  his  evenings  to  study  and  drafting, 
and  as  a  result  he  became  proficient  in 
the  theoretical  as  well  as  the  practical 
side  of  his  chosen  calling.  In  1888, 
he  went  to  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and 
started  in  a  small  way  the  manu- 
facture of  one  or  two  patented  ar- 
ticles of  his  own  invention.  This  led  to 
the  making  of  tools  and  machinery,  and 
with  his  practical  training  and  disposition 
to  study  mechanical  principles,  his  atten- 
tion was  directed  to  the  possibilities  in  the 
electrical  industry.  The  movement  to 
commercialize  the  science  was  then  in  its 
infancy,  but  had  advanced  far  enough  to 
give  some  idea  of  its  future  adaptation  to 
various  uses.  Mr.  Hubbell  combined  his 


knowledge  with  the  electrical  needs  of  that 
period  and  virtually  opened  up  a  new  field, 
keeping  pace  since  with  the  rapidly  devel- 
oped needs  of  the  industry.  As  electricity 
came  into  more  general  use  for  domestic 
and  industrial  appliances,  Mr.  Hubbell 
diverted  his  activities  in  that  direction  and 
added  many  electrical  specialities  to  his 
line  of  manufacture.  That  he  has  been 
a  prolific  worker  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
he  has  taken  out  over  one  hundred  patents. 
Among  these  are  the  well-known  Hubbell 
Pull  Socket  and  the  Hubbell  Interchange- 
able Attachment  Plug,  which  is  in  almost 
universal  use  throughout  the  country. 
Many  other  of  his  devices  of  convenience 
and  utility  have  been  leaders  in  their  line. 
He  was  the  first  to  make  rolled  thread 
machine  screws  with  automatic  machinery 
and  a  part  of  the  large  plant  is  given 
over  to  this  department  exclusively.  The 
many  products  of  Harvey  Hubbell,  Inc., 
are  most  favorably  known  in  every  state 
of  the  Union,  and  in  their  manufacture  the 
electrical  as  well  as  the  mechanical  re- 
quirements have  been  conscientiously  con- 
sidered, with  the  result  that  the  Hubbell 
goods  are  of  the  highest  type.  Mr.  Hub- 
bell  keeps  in  personal  touch  with  every 
branch  of  the  enterprise  and  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  business  attends  to  the  engineer- 
ing work  and  supervises  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  the  many  appliances  turned 
out.  Mr.  Hubbell  is  the  architect  of  the 
success  of  his  business  and  under  his  foster- 
ing care  the  small  and  seemingly  insignifi- 
cant undertaking  of  thirty  years  ago  has 
grown  to  large  proportion  and  is  now  one 
of  Bridgeport's  leading  industries.  The 
business  was  incorporated  under  its  present 
title  in  1905. 

Mr.  Hubbell  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club,  Hardware  Club,  New  York 
Athletic  Club  and  the  Electric  Manufac- 
turers' Club  of  New  York  City;  the  Auto- 
mobile Club  of  America;  the  Seaside  Club, 
Brooklawn  Country  Club  and  the  Manu- 
facturers' Club  of  Bridgeport,  Conn. 


258 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


DR.  MILLER  REESE  HUTCHISON 


Dr.  Miller  Reese  Hutchison,  late  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Thomas  A.  Edison  inter- 
ests, and  Engineering  Advisor  to  Mr.  Edi- 
son, and  now  President  of  Miller  Reese 
Hutchison,  Inc.,  Vice-President  of  the 
Hutchison  Office  Specialties  Company,  and 
member  of  the  Naval  Consulting  Board, 
has  a  career  along  electrical  lines,  begin- 
ning with  his  eleventh  year,  that  fairly 
teems  with  incident,  activity  and  great 
achievement.  He  is  a  Southerner,  having 
been  born  at  Montrose,  Baldwin  County, 
Alabama — a  suburb  and  summer  resort  of 
Mobile — on  August  6,  1876.  He  attended 
private  schools  in  Mobile,  Alabama,  from 
1883  to  1889,  followed  by  two  years  at 
the  Marion  (Alabama)  Military  Institute. 
In  1891,  he  entered  Spring  Hill  (Alaba- 
ma) College,  where  he  remained  until 
1892.  During  1893-95,  he  attended  the 
University  Military  School  of  Mobile,  and 
put  in  a  year  with  his  father  in  the  whole- 
sale grain  business.  He  finished  his  mental 
training  by  taking  a  special  course  in  Elec- 
trical and  Mechanical  Engineering  and  De- 
sign at  the  Alabama  Polytechnic  Institute, 
finishing  in  1897.  This  was  followed  by  a 
course  in  anatomical  dissection  in  the  Ala- 
bama Medical  College,  in  1897-98.  Dur- 
ing his  preparatory  work  in  private 
schools,  Dr.  Hutchison  served  an  appren- 
ticeship in  foundry,  pattern  and  machine 
shops,  to  get  the  practical  training  which 
proved  of  inestimable  value  to  him  in  later 
years.  He  was  only  eleven  years  of  age 
when  he  selected  his  profession.  The  work 
of  Edison  attracted  him  and,  more  than  any 
factor,  influenced  him  in  the  choice  of  a  pro- 
fession. With  Edison's  achievements  to 
emulate,  he  bent  every  energy  to  become 
a  worthy  follower  of  that  noted  scientist. 
At  the  age  of  twelve,  he  had  fully  deter- 
mined to  some  day  become  the  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  Edison  Laboratory,  and  in 
1912,  twenty-four  years  later,  this  desire 
was  gratified. 

After  finishing  his  education,  Dr.  Hutch- 


ison became  engaged  in  special  aural  invest- 
igation, in  connection  with  the  develop- 
ment of  instruments  to  enable  the  deaf  to 
hear,  which  were  invented  by  him  in  1895 
and  which  were  held  in  abeyance  for  per- 
fecting. When  the  Spanish-American  War 
threatened,  his  work  was  interrupted  and 
he  was  appointed  Electrical  Engineer  of 
the  Seventh  and  Eighth  Districts,  U.  S. 
Lighthouse  Establishment,  and  was  en- 
gaged during  the  war  in  laying  submarine 
mines  and  cables  along  the  Southern  coast 
of  our  country.  When  the  war  ended,  he 
came  to  New  York  and  established  a  labor- 
atory on  2Oth  Street,  near  4th  Ave.,  New 
York  City,  in  March,  1899,  perfecting  his 
aural  instruments,  now  universally  known 
as  the  Acousticon,  and  the  equally  well 
known  Dictagraph,  a  modification  of  the 
Acousticon.  In  addition  to  these  wonder- 
ful instruments,  Dr.  Hutchison  invented 
current-limiting  devices  for  street  railway 
cars,  and  was  only  a  few  months  behind 
Frank  J.  Sprague  in  the  conception  of  and 
application  for  patents  on  fundamenal  prin- 
ciples which  have  dominated  multiple  unit 
control.  Several  hundred  patents  have 
been  granted  Dr.  Hutchison  on  a  wide 
variety  of  invention,  among  which  are  the 
Klaxon  horn,  known  wherever  automobiles 
are  used;  the  Hutchison  Spool-o-Wire 
Paper  Fastener,  in  universal  use;  improve- 
ments in  alkaline  and  acid  storage  batteries; 
electrical  tachometers ;  road  speed  govern- 
ing devices  of  which  the  "Pierce"  operates 
under  his  patents,  etc. 

Dr.  Hutchison  possesses  a  somewhat 
rare  combination  of  inventor,  engineer  and 
business  man,  to  which  is  attributed  the 
fact  that,  aside  from  the  fame  which  his 
inventions  have  won,  a  substantial  fortune 
has  also  been  accumulated.  Following  his 
early  association  with  the  Government  Ser- 
vice, he  was  Vice-President  of  the  Akou- 
phone  Company,  1899-01;  Vice-President 
of  the  Hutchison  Acoustic  Company,  1901- 
04;  Consulting  Engineer  for  large  interests 


MILLER    REESE     HUTCHISON 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


259 


in  New  York,  1905-07  ;  Vice-President  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Hutchison  Electric  Horn 
Company,  1905-08;  engaged  in  research 
work  in  his  own  laboratory,  1908-10,  and 
at  the  same  time  engaged  in  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  Klaxon  horn,  development  work 
on  Edison  Storage  Batteries,  1910-12;  Ad- 
vertising Manager  Edison  Storage  Battery 
Company  and  Chief  Engineer  to  and  Per- 
sonal Representative  of  Thomas  A.  Edison 
in  1911-12.  His  fidelity  and  ability  were 
awarded  in  1912  by  his  being  made  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Edison  Laboratory,  of 
Thomas  A.  Edison,  Inc.,  and  of  the  Edi- 
son Storage  Battery  Company.  He  con- 
tinued in  this  relation  until  January  i, 
1917,  when  he  was  appointed  Engineering 
Advisor  to  Thomas  A.  Edison,  and  ac- 
quired exclusive  sales  rights  of  the  Edison 
Storage  Battery  for  all  Government  pur- 
poses. These  were  assigned  to  Miller 
Reese  Hutchison,  Inc.,  which  he  owns  in 
its  entirety,  and  of  which  he  became  presi- 
dent. He  is,  in  addition,  the  Vice-President 
and  majority  stockholder  of  the  Hutchison 
Office  Specialties  Company,  New  York, 
which  manufactures  and  markets  his  inven- 
tions of  this  character. 

Dr.  Hutchison  is  the  son  of  William 
Peter  and  Tracie  (Magruder)  Hutchison. 
He  is  of  Scotch  and  French  descent,  his 
progenitors  being  the  Perrys,  Magruders 
and  Hutchisons  who  are  numbered  among 
the  oldest  and  best  known  families  of  this 
country.  He  was  married  in  New  York 
City,  on  May  3ist,  1901,  to  Martha  Pome- 
roy,  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and  Jack- 
sonville, Florida,  and  is  the  father  of  four 
fine  boys,  Miller  Reese,  Jr.,  age  16,  Harold 
Pomeroy,  age  14,  Juan  Ceballos,  age  12, 
and  Robley  Pomeroy,  age  10. 

Although  Dr.  Hutchison's  time  is  fully 
occupied  with  scientific,  commercial  and 
Government  work,  he  takes  great  interest 
in  photography  and  the  observation  of  sur- 
gery in  hospitals.  His  achievements  have 
brought  honors  in  national  affairs,  and 
many  awards  and  decorations.  He  was 
Electrical  Engineer  of  the  United  States 
Lighthouse  Establishment,  7th  and  8th 
Districts,  during  the  Spanish-American 
War,  and  since  the  organization  of  the 
Naval  Consulting  Board,  has  been  a 
member  and  Assistant  to  the  Pres- 
ident of  same.  He  was  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Department  of  Elec- 


tricity, St.  Louis  Exposition,  1904,  and 
a  member  of  the  International  Electrical 
Congress  held  in  the  same  city  during  the 
Exposition.  In  1902,  he  was  presented 
with  a  special  gold  medal  by  Queen  Alex- 
andra, as  "Reward  of  Merit  for  Scientific 
Investigation  and  Invention."  He  was  also 
awarded  gold  medals  and  silver  medals  at 
the  St.  Louis  Exposition  in  1904.  The  de- 
gree of  Electrical  Engineer  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  the  Alabama  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, in  1913,  and  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  the  Spring  Hill  College  in  1914, 
both  for  conspicuous  achievement.  Dr. 
Hutchison  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  So- 
ciety of  Automotive  Engineers,  American 
Institute  of  Radio  Engineers,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  American  Society  of 
Naval  Engineers,  American  Institute  of 
Social  Sciences,  Naval  Institute,  Navy 
League,  Engineers  Club,  Machinery  Club 
of  New  York,  and  the  University  Club  of 
Washington,  D.  C.  His  winter  home  is 
in  Llewellyn  Park,  Orange,  New  Jersey, 
and  summer  home  on  Lake  Minnetonka, 
Excelsior,  Minnesota. 

WILLIAM  A.   HILL 

William  A.  Hill,  electrical  engineer  for 
the  Willys-Overland  Co.,  of  Toledo,  Ohio, 
is  a  native  of  Toledo,  where  he  was  born 
March  27,  1882.  After  completing  his 
education  in  the  schools  there,  making 
special  studies  of  electrical  subjects  he  be- 
came practically  identified  with  electrical 
work  for  the  F.  Bissell  Co.,  of  Toledo, 
manufacturers  of  switch  and  control  ap- 
paratus. From  there  he  went  to  the  Pope 
Motor  Car  Co.,  of  Toledo,  of  which  he 
became  electrical  engineer,  continuing  that 
connection  until  he  assumed  his  present 
position  as  electrical  engineer  for  the 
Willys-Overland  Co.,  manufacturers  of 
automobiles,  with  plants  at  Toledo  and 
Elyria,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Hill  has  made  a  specialty  of  test- 
ing automobiles  and  airplane  engines  by 
electricity.  For  this  purpose  the  engine  test 
room  of  the  Willys-Overland  Co.,  of 
Toledo,  has  been  equipped  upon  the  most 
elaborate  scale  for  electric  testing  of  auto- 


260 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM   A.    HILL 


mobile  engines,  the  result  of  which  is  a 
great  improvement  in  efficiency,  saving  of 
time  and  energy  and  reduction  of  cost  as 
compared  with  the  old  belt  system  of 
testing,  as  in  the  Toledo  test  room,  400 
engines  have  been  tested  in  a  nine-hour 
day. 

Mr.  Hill  is  also  particularly  well  known 
as  a  specialist  in  the  control  and  applica- 
tion of  electricity  for  industrial  heating 


with  special  reference  to  enamelling  pro- 
cesses. 

He  is  an  associate  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  was 
chairman  of  the  Toledo  Section  in  1918, 
and  is  a  member  of  several  fraternal 
societies.  Outside  of  his  profession  he  is 
particularly  interested  in  farming,  the 
growing  of  fruits,  and  the  raising  of  live- 
stock. 


JAMES     F.    HUGHES 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


261 


JAMES  F.  HUGHES 


Throughout  the  period  from  1845 
down  to  the  present  date,  the  career  of 
James  F.  Hughes  has  been  one  of  develop- 
ment of,  opportunities,  interesting  alike  to 
his  associates  and  to  the  younger  men  in 
the  industry.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  in  1861  James  F.  Hughes  found  him- 
self completing  his  studies  in  the  high 
schools  of  Pittsburgh,  and  it  is  to  be 
assumed  that  he  then  faced  a  critical  de- 
cision and  that  the  current  upheavals  in 
the  country's  life  had  their  influence  upon 
his  future.  It  may  explain  why  he  first 
turned  to  medicine,  serving  a  year's  ap- 
prenticeship in  the  office  of  Dr.  Murdick, 
a  local  physician  of  high  standing.  There 
was,  however,  to  be  no  future  Dr.  Hughes, 
for  the  mysteries  of  telegraphy  were  then 
just  becoming  understood.  One  could 
name  a  long  list  of  interesting  personalities 
who  as  young  men  felt  the  appeal  to  imag- 
ination found  in  the  telegraph  key.  Mr. 
Hughes  was  one  of  these.  As  a  first  step 
he  mastered  the  code  and  set  to  work  as  a 
telegrapher  in  Outer  Depot,  Pa.,  in  1862. 
Next  he  is  found  in  the  oflice  of  Andrew 
Carnegie  when  the  coming  steel  king  was 
superintendent  of  the  Western  Division  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  During  the 
progress  of  the  war  he  served  the  Western 
Union  in  a  managerial  capacity  at  Newark, 
Ohio,  and  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  His  character 
and  ambitions  were  of  the  caliber  that 
assumes  responsibility  and  gravitates  to- 
wards leadership.  The  Western  Union 
might  profitably  have  held  on  to  him,  but 
in  1890  events  led  to  a  connection  with  the 
New  York  Edison  Company,  as  down- 
town agent.  Two  years  later,  when  the 
New  York  Electric  Equipment  Company 
was  organized  to  take  over  the  equipment 
work  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
Mr.  Hughes  was  engaged  as  general  agent, 
a  position  he  held  until  1900  with  the  ex- 
ception of  an  interval  during  which  he 


acted  as  manager  of  the  Metropolitan 
Electric  Equipment  Company.  With  him 
in  the  New  York  Electric  Equipment  Com- 
pany were  Nathaniel  Webb,  J.  Howard 
Dilts,  Harry  E.  Bailey  and  Walter  G.  Dar- 
by. Their  association  here  was  productive 
of  pioneering  work  of  historic  interest. 
This  company  equipped  one  of  the  first 
electrically  propelled  locomotives  in  New 
York  City,  the  experimental  trip  being 
made  upon  the  old  34th  Street  shuttle  of 
the  Manhattan  Elevated  Railroad.  In  the 
same  connection,  many  of  the  city's  early 
electric  light  and  power  equipments  were 
the  result  of  Mr.  Hughes'  endeavors. 
The  present  successful  firm  of  James  F. 
Hughes  Company,  electric  contractors, 
dates  from  1901.  Mr.  Hughes  is  presi- 
dent and  in  continued  association  with  him 
are  the  above-named  gentlemen,  who  are, 
in  respective  order,  the  vice-presidents, 
treasurer  and  secretary.  Coincident  with 
the  presidency  of  the  James  F.  Hughes 
Company,  Mr.  Hughes  has  filled  the  post 
as  treasurer  to  the  Charles  A.  Borne  Com- 
pany, electrical  machinists,  New  York 
City.  As  ideals  of  service  have  distin- 
guished his  work  in  the  electrical  field,  so 
it  is  characteristic  of  the  man  that  he 
should  choose  to  identify  himself  with  an 
organization  of  proven  social  and  ethical 
purpose.  Masonry,  therefore,  has  been 
Mr.  Hughes'  hobby,  indeed,  it  implies  a 
fuller  description,  to  be  had  in  Ross's  His- 
tory of  Masonry.  Here,  it  will  indicate 
enough  to  mention  that  among  the  honored 
posts  he  has  held  in  the  Order  are:  Senior 
Past  Master  of  Metropolitan  Lodge,  No. 
273  of  New  York;  Past  High  Priest  of 
Ancient  Chapter,  No.  i,  New  York;  Rep- 
resentative of  Grand  Chapter  of  Florida, 
near  the  Grand  Chapter  of  New  York; 
Past  Commander  of  Damascus  Com- 
mandry,  No.  58,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


262 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WALTER  HOWARD  JOHNSON 


After  a  service  of  over  31  years  in 
aiding  the  development  of  Philadel- 
phia's public  utilities,  Walter  H.  John- 
son has  risen  to  the  position  of  first  vice- 
president  of  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
Company,  a  giant  corporation  that  fur- 
nishes unusually  efficient  light  and  power 
service  to  the  Quaker  City  and  its  wealthy 
and  extended  suburbs.  Mr.  Johnson  was 
born  in  Philadelphia,  August  27,  1863, 
the  son  of  Jesse  and  Charlotte  Grace  C. 
(Duncan)  Johnson.  The  paternal  ances- 
tors were  early  Colonial  settlers  in  Con- 
necticut, and  figured  in  the  Revolutionary 
struggle.  The  mother's  ancestors  were  of 
Scotch  origin,  the  American  branch  being 
established  in  Virginia  two  generations 
back.  Mr.  Johnson  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools,  after  which  he  filled  a  com- 
mercial position,  and  was  in  the  service  of 
two  of  the  large  trunk  line  railroads  enter- 
ing Philadelphia.  He  became  connected 
with  the  Edison  Electric  Light  Co.,  Nov. 


7,  1887,  finally  becoming  its  secretary. 
This  company  was  absorbed  by  the  Penn- 
sylvania Heat,  Light  &  Power  Company 
which,  in  turn  came  under  the  control  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Manufacturing  Light  & 
Power  Co.,  and  this  corporation  was  taken 
over  by  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Co.,  upon 
its  organization  October  6,  1899,  Mr. 
Johnson  becoming  a  director  and  vice- 
president  of  the  new  company — a  position 
he  still  retains. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  a 
life  member  of  the  Navy  League  of  the 
United  States,  member  of  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute of  Philadelphia,  and  Engineers 
Club  of  New  York  City.  Mr.  Johnson  is 
also  prominent  in  Masonic  circles,  and  his 
home  clubs  are  the  Union  League,  Racquet, 
Merion  Cricket,  Philadelphia  Country 
Club,  and  the  Pen  and  Pencil.  He  was 
married  October  i,  1888,  to  Clara  Wilson 
Knepley. 


DUGALD    C.   JACKSON 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


263 


In  the  field  of  applied  electricity  Pro- 
fessor Dugald  Caleb  Jackson  has  earned 
and  holds  threefold  prominence  as  en- 
gineer, educator  and  writer. 

He  was  born  at  Kennett  Square,  Penn- 
sylvania, February  13,  1865,  the  son  of 
Professor  Josiah  Jackson  and  Mary  Det- 
wiler  (Price)  Jackson.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  Pennsylvania  State  College 
with  the  degree  of  B.  S.  in  1885  and  in 
1888  received  that  of  C.  E.  from  the  same 
institution,  and  he  pursued  graduate 
studies  in  electrical  engineering  at  Cor- 
nell University  from  1885  to  1887,  and 
simultaneously  from  1886  to  1887  was  in- 
structor in  physics  at  Cornell.  He  was  en- 
gaged as  vice-president  and  engineer  of  the 
Western  Engineering  Company,  at  Lin- 
coln, Nebraska,  from  1887  to  1889;  be- 
came assistant  chief  engineer  of  the 
Sprague  Electric  Railway  and  Motor 
Company,  New  York,  from  1889  to  1890, 
and  in  1890  and  1891  was  chief  engineer 
for  the  Central  District  of  the  Edison 
General  Electric  Company.  In  1891  he 
entered  the  faculty  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  in  which  position  he  continued 
for  sixteen  years  of  remarkable  creative 
work,  making  his  department  notable  for 
its  excellence  in  management  and  efficiency 
from  the  standpoint  of  education.  From 
an  institution  which  had  not  specialized  in 
electrical  education  he  made  the  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin  known  everywhere  as 
having  an  electrical  engineering  depart- 
ment of  the  highest  grade  and  the  most 
able  management.  So  famous  had  Pro- 
fessor Jackson  become  as  an  educator  in 
that  branch  of  technology  and  a  creator 
of  a  department  of  electrical  engineering 
that  when,  following  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Louis  Duncan,  who  had  been  pro- 
fessor of  electrical  engineering  and  head 
of  the  electrical  department  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  the  trus- 
tees, after  the  survey  of  the  educational 
field,  settled  on  Professor  Jackson,  who 
since  1907  has  been  at  the  head  of  the 
department  of  electrical  engineering  in 


the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
His  work  in  that  connection  has  placed 
this  department  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
electrical  education  in  this  country  and  the 
peer  of  any  in  the  world,  and  given  to  Pro- 
fessor Jackson,  personally,  the  highest 
prestige  as  a  teacher  and  trainer  of  elec- 
trical engineers.  Nor  is  his  prestige  as  an 
educator  confined  to  his  work  in  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  departments  of  electrical  en- 
gineering in  the  two  great  institutions 
which  have  had  the  advantage  of  his 
effective  genius  for  organization  and  his 
exceptionally  complete  equipment  as  a 
technical  educator.  He  is  also  author  of 
text-books  in  his  department  which  have 
furnished  the  educational  basis  for  many 
in  his  own  and  other  institutions  who  are 
now  successfully  practising  as  electricians. 

Professor  Jackson  is  a  co-patentee  with 
Professors  Wm.  A.  Anthony  and  Harris 
J.  Ryan  of  the  repulsion  motor  with  closed 
coil  armature,  which  is  now  in  general  use 
wherever  repulsion  motors  are  needed. 
He  is  also  patentee  of  the  reciprocating 
motor  drive  used  for  actuating  planers, 
shapers  and  other  machine  tools;  and 
various  other  inventions  of  value. 

For  more  than  twenty  years  he  has 
been  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  con- 
sulting engineers  denominated  D.  C.  & 
Wm.  B.  Jackson,  who  began  business  with 
an  office  at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  while 
Professor  Jackson  was  at  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  and  who  for  ten  years  past 
have  had  offices  in  Chicago  and  Boston, 
during  which  time  they  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  many  of  the  notable  electrical 
projects  of  the  country  and  have  also 
served  as  engineers  in  foreign  countries. 

Professor  Jackson  was  called  to  active 
service  overseas  with  the  rank  of  Major 
of  the  Engineer  Reserve,  U.  S.  A.  He 
considered  it  his  duty  to  respond,  which  he 
did  at  great  sacrifice  to  domestic,  business 
and  financial  arrangements  and  the  tem- 
porary laying  down  of  his  duties  and  obli- 
gations at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology. 


264 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THEODORE  INSLEE  JONES 


Theodore  Inslee  Jones,  General  Sales 
Agent  of  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn,  graduated  from  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in 
the  department  of  Electrical  Engineering. 

Soon  after  graduation  he  entered  the 
telephone  field  in  the  New  York  office  of 
the  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph 


Company,  being  identified  with  the  In- 
spection and  Executive  Departments  of 
the  company.  While  there  he  organ- 
ized and  equipped  the  first  school  of  in- 
struction for  telephone  traffic,  writing  the 
first  student's  book  of  instruction  for  han- 
dling long  distance  business.  This  has 
since  become  an  important  adjunct  of  all 
telephone  companies'  work. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


265 


After  four  years  with  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Co.  he  became  as- 
sistant to  the  superintendent  of  the  New 
York  &  New  Jersey  Telephone  Co.  in  New 
Jersey,  and  while  there  directed  the  traffic 
work.  During  this  period  he  began  deliv- 
ering a  course  of  lectures  on  electrical  top- 
ics for  the  New  York  Board  of  Education, 
which  work  he  has  continued  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  including  in  his  courses  talks  on 
electrical  signalling,  electric  light,  electric 
power  and  electric  railways. 

Leaving  the  telephone  company  to  enter 
the  electric  lighting  field,  Mr.  Jones  or- 
ganized and  became  the  first  manager  of 
the  sales  department  of  the  United  States 
Light  and  Power  Company  of  New  York 
City.  After  two  years  with  the  United 
company  he  was  offered  and  accepted  the 
position  of  general  sales  agent  of  the 
Brooklyn  Edison  Co.  He  reorganized  the 
commercial  department  of  the  Brooklyn 
company,  combining  the  advertising,  .new 
wiring,  appliance,  city,  power  and  lighting 
bureaus  into  one  large  department.  An 
elaborate  appliance  showroom,  known  as 
the  Brooklyn  Edison  shop,  was  equipped 
and  seven  branch  offices  were  established 
throughout  the  city. 

Mr.  Jones  has  written  a  number  of  pa- 
pers which  have  been  presented  before  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  and 
the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned: "Functions  of  a  Sales  Depart- 
ment," "Development  of  Revenue  from 
Existing  Customers,"  "Canvassing  by  Tele- 
phone," "Selling  Electricity"  and  "Instru- 
mental Methods  of  Measuring  Maximum 
Demand." 

He  was  elected  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mercial Section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  and  served  in  such  ca- 
pacity during  the  year  1913-14.  He  is  a 
Past  Statesman  of  the  Jovian  Order,  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety, New  York  Electrical  Society,  Kilo- 
watt Club,  Brooklyn  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Rotary  Club  of  Brooklyn,  Technol- 
ogy Club  of  New  York,  Engineers  Club 
of  New  York,  Crescent  Athletic  Club,  En- 
gineers Country  Club  and  Richmond 
County  Country  Club. 


LUDWIG  KEMPER 

Holland,  which  in  its  early  days  of  col- 
onization in  America  furnished  one  of  the 
sturdiest  and  most  substantial  elements  to 
the  citizenship  of  the  country,  has  in  these 
later  days  contributed  to  the  engineering 
profession  of  this  country  a  number  of 
able  and  intensively  trained  men  who  have 
attained  professional  prominence. 

One  of  these,  holding  an  important  po- 
sition among  those  in  control  of  lighting 
interests  is  Ludwig  Kemper,  President  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Spokane  Heat, 
Light  and  Power  Company,  of  Spokane, 
Wash. 

Mr.  Kemper  was  born  in  Rotterdam, 
Holland,  September  13,  1877,  and  after 
a  very  thorough  elementary  and  prepara- 
tory training  he  entered  the  University  of 
Delft,  Holland,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated as  Mechanical  Engineer  in  1899,  fol- 
lowing with  a  two-year  post-graduate 
course  leading  to  graduation  as  electrical 
engineer  from  the  Engineering  School  at 
Karlsruhe,  Germany. 

After  graduation  Mr.  Kemper  was  man- 
aging engineer  for  the  Griendtsveen  Moss 
Litter  Company,  Limited,  of  Rotterdam, 
manufacturers  of  briquettes  of  peat  and 
other  peat  products.  Coming  to  this  coun- 
try he  became  identified  with  the  railway 
car-building  industry,  first  with  the  Pull- 
man Company,  Chicago,  as  draftsman,  and 
later  as  engineer  with  the  George  M.  Brill 
enterprise  in  Chicago.  He  was  also  as- 
sistant electrical  engineer  with  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad  at  Baltimore, 
Maryland. 

He  entered  the  field  of  gas  and  electric 
light  service  as  secretary-treasurer  of  the 
Minnesota  Gas  and  Electric  Company  of 
Albert  Lea,  Minnesota,  and  in  that  con- 
nection he  became  and  still  remains  deeply 
interested  as  a  student  of  the  problems  of 
combustion  engineering.  He  became  prom- 
inently identified  with  the  Minnesota  Elec- 
tric Association,  of  which  he  was  secretary- 
treasurer,  1908-1909,  and  president,  1910- 
1911  and  1916-1917.  He  is  now  consult- 
ing engineer  for  Field,  Richards  &  Co.,  of 
Cincinnati,  and  at  the  head  of  the  Spokane 
Heat,  Light  and  Power  Company  of  Spo- 
kane, which  has  a  complete  modern  equip- 
ment and  a  large  and  increasing  business. 

He  was  president  of  the  Business  Men's 


266 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


League  and  the  City  and  County  Hospital 
at  Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  and  is  a  member 
of  the  Town  and  Country  Club  there;  of 
the  University  and  Country  Clubs  of  Spo- 
kane; all  Masonic  bodies,  and  the  Elks. 

G.   L.    KNIGHT 

As  a  designing  engineer  of  central  sta- 
tion construction,  Mr.  G.  L.  Knight 
has  made  his  way  to  distinction  through 
paths  of  practical  experience.  He  is  of 
New  England  sea-captain  ancestry  on  both 
lines  of  descent,  his  earliest  American  an- 
cestor coming  over  in  the  Ship  James  in 
1635.  Born  in  Haddonfield,  N.  J.,  Feb- 
ruary 20,  1878,  he  was  educated  in  Phila- 
delphia in  the  Penn  Charter  School  and 
the  Drexel  Institute,  whence  he  was  gradu- 
ated E.E.  in  1900.  He  was  president  of 
the  Athletic  Association  and  captain  of  the 
track  team  in  college. 

His  first  work  was  with  the  Philadel- 
phia Electric  Company,  beginning  in  June, 
1900,  in  the  Operating  Department  at  its 
first  55OO-volt  "high-tension"  (so  called) 
generating  plant  in  Callowhill  Street  as 
dynamo  tender  and  switchboard  operator. 
In  1901  he  was  wireman  for  the  D'Olier 
Engineering  Company,  Philadelphia,  and 
later  manager  of  the  switchboard  shop  of 
the  Walker  Electric  Company.  In  1902 
he  became  surveyor  and  inspector  during 
the  construction  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company's  Waterside  Station;  and  in 
1903-1905,  under  George  O.  Orrok,  the 
company's  Mechanical  Engineer,  Mr. 
Knight  was  chief  draftsman  at  that  station 
and  had  charge  of  about  twenty  draftsmen 
and  inspectors  laying  out  and  surveying 
construction  work  at  that  station. 

In  September,  1905,  Mr.  Knight  was 
appointed  to  the  position  of  Chief  Drafts- 
man of  the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company, 
this  appointment  placing  upon  him  the 
duty  to  organize  an  Engineering  Depart- 
ment. Since  1908  he  has  been  the  De- 
signing Engineer  of  the  Company  and  the 
head  of  its  Engineering  Department.  In 
that  capacity  he  has  the  direct  supervision 
of  all  the  electrical,  mechanical  and  civil 
engineering  design  for  the  company,  and 
also  has  charge  of  building  construction, 
including  bulkheads  and  piers,  condensing 
tunnels,  etc.,  as  well  as  station  construction, 
so  that  his  work  has  covered  a  wide  field. 


He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  its  Standards  Committee  since 
1914;  also  a  member  of  the  American  Soci- 
ety of  Mechanical  Engineers.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, has  been  on  its  Electrical  Apparatus 
Committee  since  1911,  was  secretary  1914- 
1916,  and  since  then  has  been  chairman  of 
that  committee.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  New  York  Electrical  Society,  the 
Brooklyn  Engineers'  Club,  of  which  he  was 
elected  President  for  1918,  and  the  Cres- 
cent Athletic  Club  of  Brooklyn. 


LEONARD  KEBLER 

Leonard  Kebler  is  an  electrical  engineer 
specializing  on  the  design  and  manufacture 
of  electrical  controlling  devices.  He  was 
born  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  September  26, 
1883.  In  June,  1889,  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Co., 
and  worked  in  various  departments  until 
September,  1900,  when  he  entered  Colum- 
bia University,  in  the  class  of  1904.  In 
the  summers  of  1901  and  1902  he  worked 
for  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Co.,  and 
after  leaving  college  he  became  assistant 
to  the  general  manager.  Later  he  became 
president  of  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric 
Co.,  which  position  he  still  holds.  Mr. 
Kebler  is  the  inventor  of  a  number  of  elec- 
tric controlling  devices  made  by  his  com- 
pany. He  has  presented  several  papers 
on  the  electric  lighting  of  automobiles  be- 
fore the  Society  of  Automotive  Engineers, 
and  is  also  author  of  the  chapter  on 
"Rheostats  and  Resistors"  for  the  Stand- 
ard Handbook.  Besides  being  president 
of  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company, 
he  is  president  of  the  Sagamore  Develop- 
ment Company  and  secretary  and  treasurer 
of  H.  Ward  Leonard,  Inc.  He  served  as 
Street  Commissioner  of  the  village  of 
Bronxville  in  1908  and  as  President  of  the 
village  in  1912.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
the  Society  of  Automotive  Engineers  and 
was  chairman  of  the  Metropolitan  Section 
of  the  latter  in  the  year  1916-1917.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Theta  Delta  Chi 
fraternity,  Engineers'  Club,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Club,  and  Scarsdale  Golf  and  Coun- 
try Club. 


HARRV    H.  KABAT 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


267 


H.  H.  RABAT 


In  the  fifteen  years  that  have  intervened 
since  the  establishment  of  an  independent 
electric  supply  business,  H.  H.  Rabat,  the 
founder,  has  labored  assiduously  to  bring 
success  to  the  venture,  which  was  housed 
in  1904  in  a  meagre  building  at  the  corner 
of  Broadway  and  Canal  Street.  The  out- 
put has  so  expanded,  through  Mr.  Rabat's 
efforts,  that  it  now  requires  the  large  eight 
story  building  at  59  Warren  Street,  for 
stock  carrying  purposes  and  twice  the  floor 
space  could  be  utilized  were  it  attainable. 

Mr.  Rabat  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
October  16,  1877,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
years  he  secured  a  position  with  James  H. 
Mason,  an  electrical  inventor,  and  in  1895 
he  succeeded  to  the  Mason  laboratory 
and  gradually  drifted  into  the  manufac- 
ture of  electrical  specialties  and  then  en- 
tered the  construction  business  as  an  in- 
stallation engineer,  equipping  plants  with 
every  known  electrical  appliance  needed 
for  the  successful  conduct  of  the  manufac- 
turer's business.  In  1904  he  started  his 
present  electric  supply  house,  using  in  his 
advertising  the  slogan  "Look  out  for  the 
Electrical  Trust."  This  brought  promi- 


nence to  the  business,  which  had  grown  to 
such  proportions  in  1910  that  it  was  in- 
corporated as  the  Independent  Electric 
Supply  Company,  with  Mr.  Rabat  as  pres- 
ident, Mr.  Rabat's  entire  time  being 
devoted  to  'the  purchase  and  sale  of 
goods  which  range  from  dynamos  to 
lamps,  and  the  various  side  lines  of  small 
parts  and  accessories.  The  Independent 
Electrical  Supply  Co.  now  claims  the 
largest  independent  mail  order  electrical 
supply  business  in  the  United  States  and 
the  territory  covers  the  entire  world,  ship- 
ments being  made  to  remote  points  in  the 
Far  East,  all  of  Europe  and  South 
America. 

The  company  are  exclusively  jobbers 
and  state  that  no  little  effort  is  required  to 
get  a  stock  at  a  price  where  that  of  the 
dealer  handling  trust  goods  can  be  met. 
This  Mr.  Rabat  has  succeeded  in  doing 
and  makes  the  additional  claim  that  he  can 
save  the  purchaser  one  third  of  the  cost 
by  buying  goods  of  his  house,  and  for  this 
very  practical  and  economic  reason  the 
successful  progress  of  the  business  has 
placed  it  in  the  position  it  now  holds. 


268 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ANDREW  KIDD,  JR. 


Andrew  Kidd,  Jr.,  consulting  engineer 
in  the  application  of  steam,  electrical  and 
mechanical  forces,  is  also  well  known  as  a 
specialist  on  "Power  in  Silk  Mills."  He 
was  born  July  17,  1875,  m  Troy,  N.  Y., 
and  attended  the  public  schools,  the  Troy 
Academy  and  the  Rensselaer  Polytechnic 
Institute  in  that  city.  His  first  active  em- 
ployment was  as  a  draftsman  with  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.  He  remained  with  this  company 
fourteen  years,  filling  positions  in  the 
drafting,  testing,  engineering  and  sales  de- 
partments, and  then  began  practice  on  his 


own  account.  Just  before  severing  his 
connection  with  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Kidd  held  the  office  of  Textile 
Mill  Expert  and  specialized  particularly 
in  power  for  silk  mills,  in  which  branch 
of  work  he  has  continued  to  a  large  ex- 
tent. The  present  extensive  use  of  indi- 
vidual motors  on  silk  looms  is  due  to  Mr. 
Kidd's  past  endeavors,  as  he  has  made  a 
special  study  of  this  character  of  work 
and  has  written  several  articles  on  the  sub- 
ject. Mr.  Kidd's  office  address  is  95  Lib- 
erty Street. 


BENJAMIN    G.L-AMME 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


269 


BENJAMIN  G.  LAMME 


Mr.  Benjamin  G.  Lamme,  Pittsburgh, 
Chief  Engineer,  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Mfg.  Company  and  a  member  of  the 
Naval  Consulting  Board,  was  born  on  a 
farm  near  Springfield,  Ohio,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  the  country  schools  of  that  vicinity. 
Later  he  entered  the  Ohio  State  University 
and  was  graduated  as  mechanical  engineer 
in  1888. 

In  May,  1889,  he  entered  the  Testing 
Department  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Mfg.  Company,  then  located  on  Garri- 
son Way,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Soon  after- 
ward he  took  up  design  work,  which  he 
has  followed  continuously  since.  In  1900 
he  was  made  Assistant  Chief  Engineer, 
succeeding  to  the  position  of  Chief  Engi- 
neer in  1903,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

Mr.  Lamme  has  been  a  leader  in  the 
developing  of  alternating  current  appa- 
ratus, including  the  induction  motor,  poly- 
phase generators,  rotary  converters  and 
single-phase  railway  apparatus.  He  has 
also  been  a  pioneer  in  the  development  of 
the  earlier  direct  current  apparatus  for 
railway  lighting  and  power  work. 

As  an  electrical  engineer,  Mr.  Lamme 
is  known  the  world  over,  and  he  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly fertile  inventor,  having  to  his 
credit  a  very  large  number  of  important 
patents  covering  electrical  apparatus. 

One  of  his  duties  at  the  present  time  is 
the  chairmanship  of  a  commiteee  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  &  Mfg.  Company, 
which  passes  on  the  value  and  application 
of  various  inventions  which  are  brought 
to  the  attention  of  the  company. 

On  recommendation  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  in  1915  appointed  Mr. 
Lamme  a  member  of  the  Naval  Consulting 
Board,  which  appointment  was  made  after 
a  very  careful  consideration  of  the  entire 
membership  of  this  organization,  number- 
ing over  10,000  and  constituting  what  is 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  influential 
engineering  societies  in  the  world.  In 
thus  conferring  this  honor  upon  Mr. 


Lamme,  the  Institute  has  accorded  to  him 
the  highest  possible  rank  as  an  engineer 
and  an  inventor. 

Mr.  Lamme  was  much  interested  in  the 
adoption  of  standardization  rules  by  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  was  largely  instrumental  in  formu- 
lating those  finally  adopted. 

To  attempt  to  enumerate  the  achieve- 
ments of  Mr.  Lamme  in  the  engineering 
field  would  be  far  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
article.  His  record  and  his  prominent 
position  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
&  Mfg.  Company  have  fully  established 
his  position  in  the  engineering  field.  This 
company  has  been  foremost  in  the  field  of 
power  generation,  transmission  and  utili- 
zation for  industrial  purposes,  particu- 
larly in  the  development  of  railway  appa- 
ratus in  their  interurban  and  steam  railway 
lines. 

Several  years  ago,  22  to  be  exact,  the 
country  was  startled  by  the  bold  project 
of  harnessing  the  vast  falls  of  Niagara 
and  distributing  electric  energy  therefrom 
over  a  wide  range  of  territory.  The  elec- 
trical design  of  the  5000  horse-power 
generators,  far  bigger  than  any  ever  built 
up  to  that  time,  was  the  individual  work 
of  Mr.  Lamme.  It  is  a  particularly  sig- 
nificant fact  that,  in  designing  these  ma- 
chines, he  had  no  data  or  previous  machine 
by  which  to  be  guided,  as  no  such  generator 
had  ever  been  built  before,  and  was  there- 
fore obliged  to  rely  on  his  own  initiative. 
The  fact  that  the  machines  were  built  from 
the  original  design  without  any  change  and 
are  now  in  daily  operation  after  over  a 
score  of  years  of  service,  speaks  volumes 
for  the  engineering  ability  of  the  designer. 
This  same  statement  could  be  made  con- 
cerning a  large  number  of  other  pioneer 
installations  throughout  the  country  in 
which  Mr.  Lamme  has  taken  a  prominent 
part. 

Among  the  other  more  prominent  in- 
stallations with  which  he  has  been  identi- 
fied may  be  mentioned  the  design  of  the 


270 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


single-phase  motor  and  generator  equip- 
ment for  the  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford  Railroad,  the  Philadelphia- 
Paoli  electrification  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  electrification  of  the  Norfolk  & 
Western  Railroad  and  numerous  other 
installations  of  importance. 

His  writings  are  noted  for  their  clear- 
ness and  freedom  from  mathematical  com- 
plications. Some  of  his  papers  read  before 
engineering  societies  are  regarded  as  clas- 
sics in  their  line,  especially  one  read  before 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association 


in  1897.  This,  after  20  years,  is  regarded 
as  an  up-to-date  work  on  the  characteristics 
of  induction  motors. 

Mr.  Lamme  has  acted  for  some  time 
past  as  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Editors 
of  the  Electric  Journal. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  especially 
interested  in  the  training  of  young  engi- 
neers and  takes  a  particular  delight  in 
discovering  young  men  gifted  along  the 
lines  in  which  he  himself  has  been  success- 
ful and  further  placing  them  where  they 
can  make  the  most  of  their  abilities. 


RICHARD  LAMB 


Richard  Lamb,   90  West  Street,   New 
York,  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Va.,  Septem- 


RICHARD  LAMB 


her  15,  1859.     He  received  his  education 
at   Brown   University.      He   invented   the 


electric  cableway  used  for  canal  boat  tow- 
ing, logging  and  material  handling,  in 
which  the  motors  get  their  tractional  fric- 
tion independent  of  their  weight.  The  first 
large  entirely  enclosed  electric  motor  was 
used  in  this  system.  See  proceedings 
American  Institute  Electrical  Engineers, 
October  27,  1897.  He  invented  the 
chemico-electrolytic  process  for  extracting 
copper  from  siliceous  ores.  See  proceed- 
ings American  Institute  Mining  Engineers, 
April,  1915.  As  chief  engineer  of  Bir- 
mingham Water,  Light  and  Power  Co.,  he 
designed  the  63'  high  dam  as  built  on  the 
Black  Warrior  River,  Alabama,  to  take 
the  place  of  three  21'  high  dams.  See 
U.  S.  Engineers'  Report,  June,  1911.  He 
has  had  a  large  and  varied  experience  in 
designing  and  building  railroads,  trolley 
lines,  material  handling  and  mine  plants, 
streets,  roads,  sewers,  water  works,  water- 
ways, canals  and  docks. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute Electrical  Engineers,  American  Society 
Civil  Engineers,  American  Institute  Min- 
ing Engineers,  American  Road  Builders' 
Association,  American  Society  Municipal 
Improvements. 

He  designed  and  built  the  first  large 
electrically  operated  coal-handling  plant  in 
the  metropolitan  district,  and  the  first  large 
electrically  operated  single-phase  A.C. 
bridge  traveling  crane. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


271 


HARRY  N.  LATEY 

Harry  N.  Latey,  who  finished  his  elec- 
trical engineering  studies  with  the  student's 
course  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
and  Manufacturing  Co.  at  Pittsburgh,  was 
born  in  Omaha,  Neb.,  and  received  his 
preparatory  training  at  the  Smith  Acad- 
emy, St.  Louis.  He  afterwards  took  an 


HARRY   N.   LATEY 

electrical  engineering  course  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  graduat- 
ing in  1893.  He  was  engineer  at  the  St. 
Louis  office  of  the  Westinghouse  Company 
from  1894  until  1898;  assistant  engineer 
of  the  Manhattan  Elevated  Railway,  New 
York,  in  1898-1900;  principal  assistant  en- 
gineer of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit 
Co.,  1900  until  1904,  during  which  time 
he  had  charge  of  the  electrical  installation 
of  the  first  New  York  subways.  He  was 
electrical  engineer  with  the  same  company, 
from  1904  until  1906,  and  from  1906 
until  1912  was  in  private  practice  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Latey  &  Slater,  Inc., 
consulting  engineers.  Since  1912  he  has 
been  connected  with  the  General  Electric 
Co.  While  in  private  practice,  he  was 
consulting  engineer  for  the  Rapid  Transit 
Subway  Commission,  Public  Service  Com- 
mission, First  Division,  and  the  Joint  Con- 


servation Committee  of  New  York  State. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  New 
York  Railroad  Club,  Engineers'  Club, 
Railroad  Club  of  New  York,  Phi  Gamma 
Delta  Club,  Technology  Club  of  New 
York  and  the  Scarsdale  Golf  and  Country 
Club. 

IRVING  LANGMUIR 

Dr.  Irving  Langmuir,  of  the  Research 
Laboratory  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, was  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Jan- 
uary 31,  1 88 1,  son  of  Charles  Langmuir, 
born  in  Canada  of  Scotch  descent,  and 
Sadie  (Comings)  Langmuir,  born  in  Ohio, 
of  Mayflower  descent.  He  was  graduated 
Metallurgical  Engineer  from  Columbia 


IRVING  LANGMUIR 

University  in  1903,  was  at  the  University 
of  Gottingen,  1903-1906  (degree  of 
Ph.D.),  and  was  instructor  in  Chemistry, 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  1906- 
1909.  Since  then  he  has  been  assistant  to 
Dr.  Whitney  in  the  Research  Department 
of  the  General  Electric  Company.  Among 
his  larger  achievements  have  been  investi- 
gations of  the  principles  of  thermionic 
emission  in  high  vacua;  heat  conduction  in 


272 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


gases;  chemical  reactions  at  low  pressures 
(for  which  he  was  awarded  the  W.  H. 
Nichols  Medal  in  1915),  absorption  and 
surface  tension  phenomena,  structure  of 
liquid  films;  and  other  molecular  and 
atomic  properties,  which  have  found  ap- 
plication in  the  Coolidge  X-ray  tube,  the 
pliotron  and  kenotron,  the  nitrogen-filled 
lamp,  and  the  high  vacuum  mercury-vapor 
pump.  He  is  author  of  many  important 
papers  contributed  to  technical  journals 
and  the  transactions  of  technical  societies. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  National  Academy 
of  Sciences,  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  American  Chemical  Society, 
American  Electrochemical  Society,  Ameri- 
can Physical  Society  and  American  Insti- 
tute of  Radio  Engineers. 

ALEXANDER  S.  LANGSDORF 

Both  from  the  professional  and  educa- 
tional sides,  Professor  Alexander  S.  Langs- 
dorf,  of  Washington  University,  St. 
Louis,  holds  a  place  of  distinctive  promi- 
nence in  the  electrical  world.  He  was  born 
in  St.  Louis,  August  31,  1877,  was  gradu- 
ated from  St.  Louis  High  School,  1894, 
from  Washington  University  (School  of 
Engineering)  B.  S.,  1898;  was  instructor 
in  electrical  engineering  there,  1898-1900; 
then  was  graduate  student  at  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, receiving  the  M.  M.  E.  degree, 
1901.  He  was  assistant  professor  of  elec- 
trical engineering  in  Washington  Univer- 
sity, 1901-1904,  and  since  then  has  been 
professor  of  electrical  engineering  there, 
and  since  1910,  dean  of  the  Schools  of  En- 
gineering and  Architecture. 


Endowed  with  natural  inclination  to- 
ward research  and  experiment  in  the  field 
of  applied  physics,  Mr.  Langsdorf,  from 
the  close  of  his  junior  year  at  Washington 
University  has  spent  most  of  his  summers 
in  practical  work,  and  in  expert  and  test- 
ing work.  During  the  summers  of  1897 
and  1898  he  was  in  the  shop  and  office  of 
the  Emerson  Electrical  Manufacturing 
Company;  the  summer  of  1900  with  Bryan 
&  Humphrey,  consulting  engineers,  in 
charge  of  acceptance  tests  of  the  Interna- 
tional Light  and  Power  Company,  at  El 
Paso,  Texas;  the  summer  of  1901  with  the 
General  Electric  Company,  in  the  Testing 
Department  of  its  Schenectady  (N.  Y. ) 
plant,  and  other  summers  with  other  com- 
panies in  professional  consulting  capaci- 
ties of  various  kinds,  with  a  summer  course 
with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Man- 
ufacturing Company  in  1917. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  International 
Jury  of  Awards  (Electrical  Section)  of 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St. 
Louis,  1904;  and  acted  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Terminal  Railway  Electrifi- 
cation of  the  Civic  League  of  St.  Louis,  re- 
porting in  1911. 

Dean  Langsdorf  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineer- 
ing Education,  the  Faculty  Club  of  Wash- 
ington University,  the  Engineers  Club  of 
St.  Louis,  the  Academy  of  Science,  St. 
Louis;  Fellow  of  the  American  Associ- 
ation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and 
member  of  Sigma  Xi.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  City  Plan  Commission  of  St.  Louis, 
City  Club,  and  Town  and  Gown  Club. 


H.WARD    LEONARD 

(DECEASED) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


273 


H.  WARD  LEONARD 


The  late  H.  Ward  Leonard  was  a  strik- 
ing example  of  that  limited  and  fortunate 
class  of  professional  men  who,-  having  de- 
cided in  their  youth  their  life  career,  con- 
sistently follow  the  logical  steps  which 
lead  to  success  and  achievement.  Al- 
though Mr.  Leonard  was  called  to  his  rest 
in  the  height  of  his  powers  and  in  the 
prime  of  life,  he  leaves  behind  him  an 
enviable  record  of  accomplishments  in  the 
electrical  industry,  many  of  them  distinctly 
pioneer  in  character.  In  this  connection 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  a  year  and  a  half 
after  Mr.  Leonard's  death  a  number  of 
the  large  electrical  manufacturing  compa- 
nies acknowledged  the  validity  of  sixty 
odd  patents  belonging  to  him.  These  re- 
lated chiefly  to  methods  of  control  in 
various  kinds  of  apparatus. 

H.  Ward  Leonard  was  born  in  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  February  8,  1861,  and  died 
suddenly  while  attending  the  annual  din- 
ner of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  at  the  Hotel  Astor,  New  York 
City,  February  18,  1915.  He  came  from 
a  long  line  of  American  ancestors,  three  of 
his  forebears  having  lived  in  this  country 
prior  to  1639.  Mr.  Leonard  married  in 
1895  Miss  Carolyn  Good,  of  New  York 
City,  who  survives  him. 

Having  decided  to  make  electrical  engi- 
neering his  life  work,  Mr.  Leonard  en- 
tered the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, at  Boston,  and  was  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1883.  Within  a  year  of  leav- 
ing college  he  was  associated  with  Thomas 
A.  Edison  as  one  of  four  engineers  select- 
ed by  Mr.  Edison  as  a  personal  staff  to 
introduce  the  Edison  central  station  sys- 
tem. At  the  age  of  26  he  was  made  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  Western  Electric 
Light  Company,  of  Chicago.  A  year  later 
he  became  senior  member  of  the  firm  of 
Leonard  &  Izard,  of  Chicago,  a  concern 
which  installed  many  central  station  plants 
and  electric  railways  in  all  parts  of  the 
United  States.  The  Edison  interests 
bought  out  this  firm,  in  1889,  and  Mr. 
Leonard  was  appointed  general  manager 
of  the  light  and  power  departments  of  the 


combined  Edison  interests  for  the  United 
States  and  Canada  with  headquarters  in 
New  York.  In  1891  Mr.  Leonard  re- 
signed this  position  to  establish  his  own 
manufacturing  business  which  still  operates 
as  the  Ward  Leonard  Electric  Company, 
at  Bronxville,  N.  Y.  By  1900  Mr.  Leon- 
ard had  so  organized  his  company  that  he 
was  able  to  leave  the  detailed  management 
of  it  to  others  and  devote  himself  princi- 
pally to  experimental  work  and  to  the  de- 
velopment of  his  many  inventions. 

Mr.  Leonard's  first  important  inventive 
work  was  electric  lighting  for  railway 
trains,  which  in  1888  he  put  into  commer- 
cial operation  by  installing  his  system  on 
two  trains  running  between  Chicago  and 
Minneapolis. 

In  1891,  he  completed  his  inventions  of 
the  Ward  Leonard  System  of  Motor  Con- 
trol. By  this  system  it  is  possible  to  se- 
cure a  smooth  speed  control  and  to 
almost  instantaneously  reverse  the  motor 
speed  from  maximum  in  one  direction  to 
full  speed  in  the  opposite  direction  and  to 
reduce  to  the  lowest  practicable  limit  the 
amount  of  energy  required  when  starting, 
reversing  and  stopping.  These  results  he 
obtained  by  an  entirely  original  method  of 
using  electric  energy.  One  year  after  in- 
venting this  system  Mr.  Leonard  demon- 
strated its  practicability  and  value  to  the 
Otis  Elevator  Company  and  that  well- 
known  corporation  at  once  paid  the  in- 
ventor a  large  price  for  the  right  to  use  it 
in  elevator  installation. 

In  1892,  Mr.  Leonard  gave  to  the 
world  his  Multiple  Voltage  System,  which 
was  designed  for  operating  motors  and 
electric  lights  in  factories,  so  that  the 
motors  in  large  plants  could  be  economi- 
cally operated  at  any  desired  speed.  This 
system  has  been  successfully  applied  in 
many  large  industrial  plants  throughout 
the  world. 

Another  of  Mr.  Leonard's  important  in- 
ventions was  the  "Ward  Leonard  Double 
Arm  Circuit  Breaker"  which  has  come  into 
almost  universal  use. 

The  value  of  the  Ward  Leonard  System 


274 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


of  Control,  was  demonstrated  in  battle 
during  the  Spanish-American  war,  where  it 
was  used  upon  the  "Brooklyn." 

Theodore  Roosevelt  was  then  Assistant 
Secretary  of  War  and  in  his  presence  the 
U.  S.  Battleship  "Brooklyn"  was  thor- 
oughly tested  with  one  turret  operated  by 
the  old  method  and  one  by  the  Ward  Leon- 
ard system,  which  resulted  in  the  general 
adoption  of  the  Ward  Leonard  system  in 
the  U.  S.  Navy.  The  superiority  of  the 
Ward  Leonard  control  was  shown  when 
the  "Brooklyn"  was  in  battle.  A  turret 
equipped  with  the  Ward  Leonard  system 
can  be  so  accurately  controlled  that  a  shot 
fired  at  an  object  2,000  yards  away  can  be 
moved  only  two  inches  in  either  direction. 
In  1894,  soon  after  perfecting  his  sys- 
tem of  control,  Mr.  Leonard  visited  Man- 
chester, England,  and  met  the  builders  of 
reversible  steam  engines  used  in  rolling 
mills.  The  steam  engines  being  used  were 
so  limited  as  to  power  that  they  restricted 
the  mills'  output.  Not  only  were  they 
deficient  in  power,  but  their  reversal,  so 
necessary  to  rolling  mill  operation,  was 
slow  and  incapable  of  speed  increase;  de- 
preciation was  high,  and  break-downs 
were  frequent. 

At  that  time  Mr.  Leonard  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  convincing  the  engineers  that  his 
system  was  advantageous,  but  to-day  near- 
ly every  modern  rolling  mill  throughout 
the  world  is  operated  by  the  Ward  Leon- 
ard system.  Recent  exhaustive  tests  in 
Germany  show  that  the  electrification  of 
the  rolling  mills  by  the  Ward  Leonard 
system  has  resulted  in  a  saving  of  about 
15  per  cent,  in  the  cost  of  rolling  steel, 
which  in  the  aggregate  makes  a  saving 
of  tens  of  millions  of  dollars  annually  in 
that  country  alone. 

In  1910,  Lord  Justice  Fletcher  Moul- 
ton,  in  handing  down  the  decision  of  the 
highest  court  of  England  in  a  patent  litiga- 
tion in  which  Mr.  Leonard's  invention  was 
involved,  said,  after  reciting  the  difficulty 
of  the  reversible  rolling  mill  problem : 
"Ward  Leonard  met  this  difficulty  in  a 
very  ingenious  way,"  and  describing  Mr. 
Leonard's  invention  said:  "It  is  no  doubt  a 
triumph  on  which  electric  engineering  may 
well  congratulate  itself." 

The  system  has  also  been  extensively 
applied  to  mine  hoists  and  by  its  use  a 
speed  of  4,000  feet  a  minute  has  been 


safely  achieved.  This  is  double  the  speed 
under  the  old  system  of  operation  and  in 
addition  increased  power  and  greater 
handling  capacity  has  been  secured. 

In  1895  the  Heilmann  locomotive  was 
equipped  with  the  Ward  Leonard  system. 
Instead  of  using  the  power  directly,  elec- 
tric motors  were  employed  and  this  elec- 
tric transmission  of  power  did  away  with 
the  rigidity  that  is  so  noticeable  in  ordi- 
nary locomotives.  In  this  equipment  any 
prime  mover  is  used  for  generating  the 
necessary  electricity.  Both  in  this  country 
and  abroad  this  so-called  gasoline-electric 
type  of  railway  traction  is  rapidly  increas- 
ing, which  shows  the  increasing  recogni- 
tion of  the  superiority  of  electricity  as  a 
motive  power. 

Mr.  Leonard's  system  of  "Regenerative 
Braking"  is  a  very  important  factor  in  rail- 
road operations.  By  this  system  a  train 
can  be  stopped  more  quickly  than  by  air 
brakes  and  while  being  stopped  generates 
electricity  which  is  restored  to  the  plant. 
It  also  effects  an  important  saving  by 
doing  away  with  flat  wheels  and  the  wear 
on  brake  shoes. 

This  system  is  particularly  valuable  in 
mountain  regions  where  heavy  grades  exist 
and  by  its  use  the  expensive  cuts  in  moun- 
tains to  eliminate  these  grades  are  not 
necessary.  By  this  system  a  train  going 
down  a  heavy  grade  can  raise  one  coming 
up  to  the  extent  of  60  per  cent,  of  the 
needed  energy,  the  power  house  furnish- 
ing the  other  40  per  cent.  The  road  is 
usually  equipped  with  an  overhead  wire 
supplying  single  phase  alternating  current 
and  transformed  on  the  locomotive  accord- 
ing to  the  Ward  Leonard  system. 

The  Swiss  engineers  were  the  first  ones 
to  fully  appreciate  the  value  of  the  Ward 
Leonard  Single  Phase  Railway  system. 
It  was  early  in  1902  that  the  Oerlikon 
Co.,  the  leading  electrical  concern  of  Switz- 
erland, secured  a  license  under  Mr.  Leon- 
ard's patents  and  proceeded  to  build 
the  Ward  Leonard-Oerlikon  locomotive, 
which  was  soon  thereafter  successfully 
operated  upon  the  State  Railways  of 
Switzerland.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  commercial  development  of  the  well- 
known  single  phase  railway  system  which 
now  is  recognized  as  the  best  form  of 
trunk  line  electrification  and  is  being  in- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


275 


stalled  comprehensively  for  railway  elec- 
trification in  all  of  the  leading  countries. 

One  of  the  latest  important  applications 
of  the  Ward  Leonard  system  is  to  Trans- 
Atlantic  steamers  and  war  ships.  Its 
value  can  be  readily  seen.  Turbines  can- 
not be  reversed  and  an  intermediate  gear 
must  be  used.  The  maneuvering  of  a 
large  ship  is  necessarily  somewhat  slow 
and  clumsy.  In  warfare  much  depends  on 
the  quick  movement  of  the  ships.  They 
should  be  directly  and  accurately  manceu- 
vered  by  the  commanding  officer  and  this 
cannot  be  done  with  the  usual  equipment, 
but  a  turbine  can  be  used  to  great  advan- 
tage in  generating  electricity  by  which  a 
suitable  system  of  electric  propulsion  can 
be  operated.  By  the  use  of  the  Ward 
Leonard  system,  the  captain  in  the  con- 
ning tower  is  absolute  master  of  the  situa- 
tion— he  would  not  have  to  transmit  or- 
ders because  he  unaided  and  alone  can 
control  the  operation  of  the  ship  without 
any  appreciable  effort. 

Mr.  Leonard's  system  of  electric  train 
lighting,  one  of  his  first  inventions,  was 
recently  modified  by  him  so  as  to  adapt  it 
to  automobile  use,  several  recent  inven- 
tions combining  to  make  the  Ward  Leon- 
ard Dynamo  Lighting  system  the  simplest, 
smallest,  lightest  and  most  efficient  now  in 
use. 

Another  of  his  inventions  applicable  to 
automobiles  is  the  form  of  change  gear 
which  is  now  used  in  nine  out  of  every  ten 
high  grade  motor  cars  and  is  considered 
the  best  in  use. 

Still  another  very  important  invention 
of  Mr.  Leonard's  is  the  "Compound  Con- 
troller" for  the  control  of  electric  motors 
operating  machine  tools.  This  type  of 
controller  is  in  universal  use  and  the  ques- 
tion of  priority  of  inventions  was  settled 
in  Mr.  Leonard's  favor  only  after  a  long 
series  of  contests  in  the  Patent  Office  with 
several  different  inventors  of  the  leading 
electrical  companies. 

Mr.  Leonard  has  been  a  contributor  to 
many  technical  papers  and  has  delivered  a 
number  of  addresses  to  scientific  bodies. 
In  June,  1892,  he  lectured  before  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
on  "A  New  System  of  Electric  Propul- 
sion," and  in  February,  1894,  before  the 
same  body  on  "How  Shall  We  Operate 


an  Electric  Railway  Extending  One  Hun- 
derd  Miles  from  the  Power  Station?" 
This  was  followed  in  November,  1896,  by 
"Volts  vs.  Ohms;  Speed  Regulation  of 
Electric  Motors,"  and  in  November,  1902, 
by  "Multiple  Unit,  Voltage  Speed  Control 
for  Trunk  Line  Service." 

His  contributions  to  the  technical  press 
have  included  "How  Can  We  Haul  by 
Electric  Locomotives  Freight  Trains 
Weighing  Twice  as  Much  as  Those  Now 
Hauled  by  Steam  Locomotives?"  "Why 
Steam  Locomotives  Must  Be  Replaced  by 
Electric  Locomotives  for  the  Heaviest 
Freight  Service"  and  the  "Electrification 
of  Steam  Railroads."  All  of  these  sub- 
jects were  exhaustively  treated  by  Mr. 
Leonard,  who  showed  conclusively  that  the 
limit  of  the  steam  locomotive  had  been 
reached  while  there  was  no  reasonable  limit 
to  the  power  which  can  be  applied  to  a 
freight  train  by  a  multiple  of  electric 
locomotives  under  simultaneous  control  by 
one  operator. 

For  work  along  electrical  research,  the 
Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia,  in 
1903,  conferred  upon  Mr.  Leonard  the 
John  Scott  Medal  while  he  also  was 
awarded  the  Gold  Medal  at  the  Paris  Ex- 
position in  1900  and  at  the  St.  Louis  Ex- 
position in  1904. 

One  of  the  connections  he  prized  highly 
was  his  membership  in  the  Inventors' 
Guild.  The  society  is  fashioned  some- 
what after  the  French  Academy,  and  none 
but  men  who  have  become  noted  through 
important  inventive  achievement  are 
eligible.  In  1913  he  was  unanimously 
elected  president  of  the  Inventors'  Guild. 

He  had  been  vice  president  and  also  a 
manager  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber since  1887.  He  was  a  member  of 
many  social  organizations,  including  the 
Union  League  Club  of  New  York,  the  In- 
ventors' Guild,  the  Engineers  Club,  the 
Clove  Valley  Rod  and  Gun  Club,  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  the  Technology 
Club  of  N.  Y.,  and  the  Scarsdale  Golf 
Club.  He  was  a  director  of  the  Mount 
Morris  Bank  of  New  York,  president  of 
the  Sagamore  Development  Company  and 
had  been  president  of  the  village  of  Bronx- 
ville,  where  he  resided  in  Lawrence  Park. 


276 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


GEORGE  B.  LELAND 


Since  June,  1917,  George  B.  Leland  has 
been  general  manager  of  The  Stamford 
Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  a  position  led  up  to 
through  several  successive  stages  of  exper- 
ience. The  wholehearted  and  often  disin- 
terested service  that  he  has  given  to  his 
profession  has  made  his  name  familiar  to 
the  fraternity  at  large  and  in  particular  to 
the  lighting  division  of  the  industry.  He 
has  been  especially  noted  for  his  work  in 
New  England  as  well  as  in  Connecticut, 
having  been  zealous  in  promoting  the  wel- 
fare of  the  New  England  Section  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  in  ad- 
dition to  his  strictly  professional  duties.  He 
was  president  of  the  Section  in  1919-1920. 
Mr.  Leland  was  born  at  Johnson,  Vt, 
Dec.  14,  1870,  receiving  his  education  at 


common  and  normal  schools.  Lacking  the 
means  and  opportunity  to  continue  his 
schooling  in  the  technique  of  electrical 
practice,  to  which  subject  he  was  drawn, 
he  devoted  himself  to  home  study  to  gain 
the  equipment  for  a  practical  career,  mean- 
while filling  a  position  as  engineer  at  the 
Connecticut  Industrial  School  for  Girls. 
This  was  at  Middleton,  Conn.,  where  he 
later  entered  the  employ  of  the  local  elec- 
tric light  company.  Then  followed  an  en- 
gagement with  the  Queen's  Borough  Elec- 
tric Light  Co.  of  Far  Rockaway,  N.  Y., 
and  a  subsequent  period  spent  with  the 
Norwich  Gas  and  Electric  Company  of 
Norwich,  Conn.  Mr.  Leland  has  held 
office  as  Chairman  in  the  Connecticut 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


277 


Electric  Light  Association  and  the  Connec- 
ticut Get  Together  Club  of  N.  E.  L.  A.,  be- 
sides being  a  member  of  the  Engineers' 
Club  of  Boston,  Mass.  He  is  active  in  the 
Suburban  Club  of  Stamford,  Conn.,  is  a 
3 id  degree  Mason  and  an  Odd  Fellow.  In 


his  spare  hours,  which  must  be  few,  he  is 
fond  of  making  excursions  into  the  field  of 
amateur  photography.  Mr.  Leland's  home 
is  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  where  as  noted 
above  he  is  in  charge  of  the  Gas  &  Electric 
Lighting  Co.  of  that  City. 


EDWARD  A.  LESLIE 

(Deceased) 


As  the  first  important  commercial  appli- 
cation of  electricity  was  in  connection  with 
telegraphy,  it  followed  as  a  natural  se- 
quence that  when  invention  and  develop- 
ment created  newer  and  greater  applica- 
tions of  electricity  the  pioneers  of  success 
in  these  should  be  largely  drawn  from 
the  ranks  of  distinguished  telegraphers. 
Among  these  the  late  Edward  A.  Leslie 
was  a  well-known  and  prominent  example 
of  those  who,  having  made  their  mark  in 
the  telegraph  field,  later  became  executives 
of  ability  and  distinction  in  the  electric 
light  industry.  He  was  born  in  Harris- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  in  1849,  but  in  early 
boyhood  removed  to  Illinois,  and  in  that 
State  made  an  early  entrance  into  the  tele- 
graph business  as  a  messenger  boy  in  the 
service  of  the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Tele- 
graph Company  at  its  Freeport  (Illinois) 
office.  In  those  days  the  telegraph  busi- 
ness of  the  country  was  split  up  between 
numerous  companies,  each  owning  rights 
for  certain  States  or  parts  of  States.  The 
;  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Telegraph  Com- 
pany was  one  of  those  afterward  acquired 
by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany. His  early  service  was  interrupted 
by  his  enlistment  as  a  drummer  boy,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  when  he  joined  the  Union 
Army  in  that  capacity  with  Company  E 
of  the  Forty-sixth  regiment  of  Illinois  In- 
fantry, and  with  that  regiment  participated 
in  the  siege  of  Mobile,  Alabama.  After 
he  had  acquired  proficiency  in  the  art  of 
telegraphy  he  was  made  manager  of  the 
telegraph  office  at  Lena,  Illinois.  The  ex- 
pert operator  of  those  days  did  not,  in 
many  cases,  stay  long  in  the  smaller  towns. 
As  vacancies  occurred  Leslie  was  sent  to 
supply  them  until  finally  he  arrived  in  New 
York  in  the  service  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company.  He  had  not  been 
there  long  when  he  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  cable  department  for  that  company, 


filling  that  important  position  with  faith- 
fulness and  high  efficiency.  In  1882,  Mr. 
Leslie  received  appointment  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  Mutual  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  with  headquarters  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  and  in  1883  was  appointed  as- 
sistant general  superintendent  of  the  Pos- 
tal Telegraph  Company.  A  year  later  he 
was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Na- 
tional Telegraph  Company,  which  was  a 
part  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  system,  and 
at  the  same  time  he  was  designated  as  su- 
perintendent of  the  Eastern  Division  of  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Company,  comprising 
the  Eastern  States,  and  portions  of  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and  Dela- 
ware. His  excellent  service  in  this  capac- 
ity won  the  recognition  of  promotion,  on 
October  i,  1885,  to  general  superintendent 
of  the  Eastern  Division,  with  headquar- 
ters in  New  York.  By  that  time  the  elec- 
tric light  and  other  electrical  inventions  had 
reached  a  position  of  commercial  impor- 
tance and  Mr.  Leslie  became  interested  in 
these  developments.  He  was,  for  a  short 
period,  with  a  storage  battery  company, 
and  afterwards  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Consolidated  Telegraph  and  Electrical 
Subway  Company.  In  1888  he  was  made 
manager  of  the  Manhattan  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  was  afterward  consolidated 
with  the  New  York  Edison  Company,  and 
remained  with  the  latter  company  until 
1901.  As  had  been  the  case  with  teleg- 
raphy, so  now  with  the  electric  light  serv- 
ice. Mr.  Leslie  became  known  in  electric 
service  for  his  thorough  technical  and 
practical  mastery  of  the  business,  and  ap- 
plying to  it  executive  ability  of  a  superior 
order.  In  1901  he  became  general  man- 
ager of  the  King's  County  Electric  Light 
and  Power  Company,  at  its  headquarters 
on  Pearl  Street  in  Brooklyn.  To  this  im- 
portant post  he  brought  ability  and  genius 
which  made  him  a  leading  factor  in  the 


278 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


EDWARD   A.  LESLIE 


development  of  that  large  and  important 
electrical  enterprise.  He  remained  in  that 
position  until  his  death  on  June  5,  1905. 
Besides  the  rewards  that  come  from  duty 
faithfully,  fearlessly  and  efficiently  per- 
formed, Mr.  Leslie  gained  those  that  are 
attained  through  a  genial  personality.  Mr. 
Leslie,  throughout  his  business  life,  made 
friends  of  his  business  associates  as  well 
as  of  those  with  whom  he  mingled  in  social 
life.  Many  of  his  friendships  were  among 
the  veterans  in  telegraphy  with  whom  he 
had  been  associated  in  the  sixties  and  sev- 
enties, as  well  as  those  who  in  later  decades 
became  known  as  leaders  in  other  electri- 


cal activities.  Others  were  his  comrades 
from  Civil  War  times,  he  being  a  member 
of  the  Grant  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, of  Brooklyn.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Crescent  Athletic  Club  and  the  Hamil- 
ton Club  of  Brooklyn,  and  was  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Brooklyn  Whist  Club,  in 
which  he  took  a  deep  interest.  He  was 
also  prominent  in  Masonry,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Lodge,  and  of  the 
Kismet  Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic 
Shrine.  He  married  Miss  M.  E.  Morley, 
who  survives  him,  with  their  son,  Edward 
Leslie,  Junior,  and  their  daughter,  Miss 
Florence  M.  Leslie. 


PAUL.     M  _  LINCOLN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


279 


PAUL   M.    LINCOLN 


The  present  position  and  past  achieve- 
ments of  Paul  Martyn  Lincoln  give  him  a 
place  of  distinction  in  the  profession  of 
electrical  engineering.  He  was  born  in 
Norwood,  Michigan,  January  i,  1870, 
was  graduated  from  the  public  schools 
and  for  one  year,  1888-1889  he  pursued 
the  freshman  year  studies  in  the  Adelbert 
College  of  the  Western  Reserve  Univer- 
sity. From  there  he  went  in  1889  to  take 
up  technical  studies  at  the  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity, where  he  worked  hard  in  class  and 
laboratory  for  two  and  a  half  years,  leav- 
ing at  the  end  of  the  first  term  of  the 
senior  year  to  take  a  position  which  had 
been  offered  him  by  the  Short  Electric 
Company  of  Cleveland,  Ohio.  He  was, 
however,  under  a  special  arrangement 
with  the  faculty  of  the  State  University, 
permitted  to  take  examination  in  his  col- 
lege work  from  time  to  time,  and  was  by 
that  means  enabled  to  graduate  regularly 
with  his  class  in  the  summer  of  1892,  and 
receiving  the  degree  of  E.E.  from  Ohio 
State  University. 

In  the  prosecution  of  his  technical 
studies  Mr.  Lincoln  brought  to  them  the 
advantage  of  a  natural  inclination  toward 
engineering.  The  year  of  his  graduation 
was  a  period  when  the  opportunities  for 
those  who  were  prepared  for  the  electrical 
profession  were  very  attractive.  The  ad- 
vantages of  electricity  as  a  source  of  light 
were  making  a  strong  impression  upon  in- 
dustrialists and  the  public,  and  the  demand 
for  installations  taxed  the  capacity  of  all 
the  firms  and  companies  in  the  business. 
Mr.  Lincoln's  service  with  the  Short  Elec- 
tric Company  extended  from  January  to 
December,  1892,  and  he  was  engaged  dur- 
ing that  period  in  experimental  work. 

In  December,  1892,  he  went  with  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  and  there  he  was  connected 
with  various  branches  of  electrical  engi- 
neering, and  worked  with  especial  zeal  to- 
ward the  mastery  of  problems  connected 
with  the  generation  and  distribution  of  the 
electric  current  for  light  and  power  serv- 
ice. It  was  this  specialization  which  gave 


him   peculiar  fitness   for  the    position   to 
which  he  was  called  in  May,  1895,  by  the 
Niagara  Falls  Power  Company  to  super- 
vise their  electrical  installations.     It  was 
a  very  important  work  and  was  efficiently 
executed,    the   plant  'beginning   to   supply 
current   commercially   later    in    the    same 
year.     The  extensions  of  this  service  kept 
Mr.  Lincoln  busy  for  seven  years.     He  did 
not  abandon  the  field  of  experiment,  how- 
ever, and  it  was  while  he  was  connected 
with  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company 
that  he  worked  out  his  best  known  inven- 
tion, the  Lincoln  Synchronizer.    This  is  an 
instrument   designed    for   the   purpose    of 
making  easier  the  paralleling  of  alterna- 
ting current  generators.     It  was  a  notable 
improvement    toward    the    stabilizing    of 
electric    service,    was    awarded    a    bronze 
medal  at  the  Buffalo  Electrical  Exhibition 
in  1901,  and  in  1902  it  received  the  John 
Scott  medal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  of 
Philadelphia.     His  work  at  Niagara  Falls 
was  a  valuable  experience  in  the  practical 
construction    and    operation    of    a    large- 
scale  production  and  transmission  of  elec- 
tric light  and  power,  in  the  development 
of  which  he  had  an  important  and  con- 
structive participation.      Mr.   Lincoln  re- 
turned to  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company  as   engineer   of 
the  Power  Department  in   1902,  and  has 
since  continued  with  that  company  in  sev- 
eral   responsible     engineering    capacities, 
now  '(1918)    being  commercial   engineer 
for  the  company.      He  has  served  as  a 
member  of  the  Publishing  Committee  of 
the    Electric   Journal    and   has    published 
many  contributions   on   electrical  subjects 
in  technical  journals  and  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  engineering  societies.    He  is  at  the 
present  time  much  interested  in  studies  of 
the  evaluation  of  electric  service  for  rate- 
making  purposes.     He  is  director  of  the 
Department  of  Engineering  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pittsburgh,  and  is  an  enthusiastic 
supporter  of  all  measures  for  the  advance- 
ment  of    the    electrical    engineering   pro- 
fession. 


280 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


He  is  a  fellow  and  was  president,  1914- 
1915,  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the 
Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia,  the 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering 
Education,  the  American  Electrochemical 
Society,  the  Engineering  Society  of  West- 
ern Pennsylvania,  the  Engineers'  Club  of 
New  York  and  the  Pittsburgh  Athletic 
Association,  and  a  fellow  of  the  American 


Association     for     the     Advancement     of 
Science. 

Although  still  a  young  man,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln has  seen  and  participated  in  an  ad- 
vance in  electrical  knowledge  and  an  ex- 
pansion of  electric  service  which  is  one  of 
the  most  marvelous  chapters  of  the  history 
of  invention  and  industry.  He  has  made 
his  way  to  the  front  rank  by  hacd  work 
and  by  attacking  technical  problems  in  a 
scientific  spirit  which  compels  mastery. 


HERMANN  LEMP 


Hermann  Lemp,  born  in  Bern,  Switzer- 
land, August  8,  1862,  was  educated  there 
and  at  Zurich,  Burgdorf  and  Neuchatel, 
graduating  in  1878,  and  then  becoming 
student  electrician  in  Mathias  Hipp's 
works,  Neuchatel,  makers  of  electric  clocks 


HERMANN  LEMP 

and  precision  instruments.  Edison's  mem- 
orable exhibit  at  the  first  electrical  exhibi- 
tion in  Paris  in  1881  led  him  to  come  to 
America  and  successfully  seek  employment 
in  Edison's  Laboratory,  where  he  spent  a 
year. 

He     was     afterward     associated     with 
Merle  J.  Wightman  in  development  of  the 


series  incandescent  lamp  system  of  the 
Schuyler  Electric  Company,  Hartford, 
Conn. ;  became  assistant  to  Professor  Elihu 
Thomson  in  his  laboratory  at  Lynn,  Mass. ; 
chief  engineer  of  the  Thomson  Electric 
Welding  Company,  1889;  and  since  1896 
has  been  connected  with  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company;  was  sent  abroad  in  1911  to 
study  Diesel  engines,  and  on  his  return  was 
transferred  to  the  Erie  works  to  assist  in 
the  development  of  high-compression,  oil- 
engined  electric  lighting  sets.  Alone  or 
with  others,  he  has  taken  out  more  than 
300  patents,  many  of  them  basic.  He  is  a 
fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  distinguished  in  the 
profession. 

ARTHUR  B.  LISLE 

Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  electric 
power  men  have  long  and  favorably  known 
Arthur  B.  Lisle,  who  is  General  Manager 
of  the  Narragansett  Electric  Lighting 
Company  and  the  Westerly  Light  &  Power 
Company,  and  President  of  the  Central 
Connecticut  Power  and  Light  Company; 
treasurer  of  the  Putnam  Light  &  Power 
Co.;  the  West  Gloucester  Light  &  Power 
Company;  and  the  East  Providence  Water 
Company.  Mr.  Lisle  entered  the  profes- 
sion via  the  Narragansett  Electric  Light- 
ing Co.,  of  Providence,  R.  I.,  which  he 
joined  in  July,  1893.  In  that  city  he  was 
educated,  but  was  born  at  West  Newton, 
Mass.,  December  26,  1871.  He  is  an 
Associate  Member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  of  whose 
New  England  Section  he  is  Past-President. 


THOMAS  D.  LOCKWOOD 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


281 


THOMAS   DIXON   LOCKWOOD 


Thomas  Dixon  Lockwood,  long  dis- 
tinguished in  the  American  art  of  tele- 
phony, and  an  electrical  expert  and  inven- 
tor of  typical  persistence,  tenacity  and 
versatility,  was  born  at  Smethwick,  Staf- 
fordshire, a  suburb  of  Birmingham,  Eng- 
land, December  30,  1848,  the  son  of  John 
Frederick  and  Mary  (Dixon)  Lockwood. 
Mr.  Lockwood  early  acquired  a  taste  for 
mineralogy,  biography,  history,  engineer- 
ing and  chemistry,  and  by  indomitable  per- 
severance gained  a  wide  acquaintance  with 
these  subjects,  long  ago  becoming  a  recog- 
nized authority  in  his  special  electrical 
branches  of  study.  For  a  short  time  he 
attended  a  day  school  at  West  Smethwick, 
but  his  studies  were  ended  at  the  age  of 
ten,  and  since  then  he  has  had  no  further 
academic  instruction,  his  various  accom- 
plishments having  been  self-acquired  by 
home  study  and  practical  experience.  His 
first  employment  was  washing  emery  at 
the  Birmingham  Plate  Glass  Works,  which 
he  began  in  1859.  He  entered  the  ma- 
chine-shops of  the  factory  in  1861,  and 
worked  there,  learning  and  practicing  the 
trade  of  machinist,  until  1865.  In  that 
year  he  immigrated  with  the  family  to 
Port  Hope,  Ontario.  Here  he  was  em- 
ployed at  first  in  a  machine-shop  and  then 
in  a  tannery,  but  soon  learned  telegraphy; 
and  in  1867  became  the  first  operator  at 
Port  Hope  for  the  Provincial  Telegraph 
Company.  Here,  and  in  subsequent  tele- 
graphic positions,  he  preferred  night  work, 
as  affording  better  opportunity  for  the 
study  of  electricity,  which  he  continued 
steadily  and  effectively,  so  that  on  the  in- 
vention of  the  telephone  by  Bell  he  was 
one  of  the  few  thoroughly  equipped  to 
take  a  leading  part  in  the  introduction  and 
improvement  and  development  of  the  new 
instrument  and  its  principal  utilization,  the 
Telephone  Exchange. 

The  telegraph  company  having  failed, 
he  sought  other  employment,  becoming 
finisher  in  the  mills  of  the  Smith  Paper 
Company  at  Lee,  Mass.  In  1869  Mr. 
Lockwood  went  to  New  Albany,  Indiana, 
where  he  aided  in  establishing  works  for 
making  polished  plate  glass.  This  was  the 
first  American  plant  of  the  kind,  and  it  was 


he  who  ordered  the  first  machinery  to  be 
imported  for  such  work.  This  factory 
afterwards  contributed  to  the  great  for- 
tune from  which  W.  C.  DePauw  endowed 
DePauw  University.  On  the  creation  of 
this  industry,  Mr.  Lockwood  wrote  a  four- 
column  article  on  plate  glass  manufacture 
for  the  "Scientific  American,"  and  thus 
began  the  literary  labors  that  since  then 
have  been  so  extensive. 

In  1871,  while  the  glass  furnaces  were 
temporarily  not  in  operation,  he  taught 
school  at  Helena,  Arkansas,  and  incident- 
ally learned  why  the  salaries  offered  and 
paid  there  at  that  time  for  male  teachers 
were  high. 

Working  his  way  East  in  1872,  he 
served  in  various  capacities  for  the  Hous- 
atonic  Railroad  and  the  Delaware,  Lack- 
awanna  and  Western  Railroad,  being 
successively,  or  contemporaneously,  ticket 
clerk,  freight  clerk,  telegraph  operator, 
chief  clerk  and  paymaster  in  the  master- 
mechanics'  department,  signal  operator, 
and  even  brakeman,  fireman  and  locomo- 
tive engineer. 

Going  to  New  York  in  1875,  he  became 
inspector  of  a  private  fire-alarm  service 
and  subsequently  filled  important  positions 
with  the  Gold  and  Stock  Telegraph  Com- 
pany and  the  American  District  Telegraph 
Company.  In  this  work,  which  he  fol- 
lowed until  1879,  he  had  unusual  advan- 
tages for  improving  his  practical  knowl- 
edge of  telegraphy. 

In  1879  he  joined  and  was  the  first  of 
the  compianyof  electricians  which  was  being 
enlisted  by  the  telephone  industry,  becom- 
ing Assistant  General  Inspector  and  In- 
staller of  Exchanges  for  the  National  Bell 
Telephone  Company,  afterwards  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company.  In 
1 88 1  he  organized  and  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  a  new  bureau  of  patent  and  techni- 
cal information  which  the  company  had 
decided  to  establish.  For  nearly  forty 
years  he  has  continued  his  invaluable  serv- 
ices for  the  American  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company  and  its  predecessors,  and 
for  many  years  has  been  General  Patent 
Attorney  of  the  Company,  with  offices  in 
New  York  and  Boston.  On  July  i,  1917, 


282 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


he  retired  from  this  office,  and  while  now 
desirous  of  leisure  and  of  more  time  for 
himself,  holds,  and  expects  to  hold  for 
some  time  to  come,  an  advisory  position 
as  Consulting  Patent  Attorney. 

Mr.  Lockwood  is  the  author  of  several 
important  books  on  electrical  subjects,  and 
has  written  innumerable  technical  articles 
and  papers.  His  first  book  was  "Informa- 
tion for  Telephonists"  (New  York,  1881), 
which  comprises  many  articles  of  practical 
value.  The  "Text-Book  of  Electrical 
Measurement"  (New -York,  1883)  fol- 
lowed. "Electricity,  Magnetism  and  the 
Electric  Telegraph"  (New  York,  1885) 
is  a  treatise  in  the  form  of  questions  and 
answers,  and  was  admirably  planned  to 
give  a  general  survey  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  electricity  and  magnetism  up 
to  the  date  of  its  appearance.  He  edited 
a  translation  of  "Ohm's  Law,"  which  was 
published  in  1890.  Among  the  more  note- 
worthy of  his  other  writings  were  a  series 
of  articles  on  "Practical  Telephony"  that 
appeared  in  the  Western  Electrician  in 
1887.  "History  of  the  Word  Telephone," 
in  the  Electrician  and  the  Electrical  Engi- 
neer, in  1887;  and  "Telephone  Repeaters 
or  Relays,"  in  the  Electrical  World,  in 
1895.  He  has  made  many  inventions  in 
electrical  methods  and  apparatus.  These 
include  the  Automatic  Telephone  Call, 
patented  July  n,  1882,  and  "Means  for 
Preventing  Telephone  Disturbances  Due 
to  Electric  Railroads,"  patented  November 
20,  1888.  He  has  given  some  attention  to 
Burglar  Alarms  and  Alarm  Systems. 

Mr.  Lockwood  is  a  public  speaker  of 
much  ability.  He  is  in  demand  for  papers 
at  society  meetings  and  as  a  lecturer,  and 
he  possesses  great  facility  of  expression  in 
extemporaneous  addresses.  He  was  lec- 


turer before  the  Lowell  Institute,  on  the 
Telegraph  and  Telephone,  in  the  winter  of 
1883;  Associate  Professor  of  Telegraphy, 
Telephony  and  Patent  Law  at  the  Brook- 
lyn Polytechnic  Institute,  in  1904-05;  and 
is  an  occasional  lecturer  at  many  colleges. 

Mr.  Lockwood  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
Fraternity,  is  a  member  of  the  Algonquin, 
Exchange  and  Engineers'  Clubs,  Boston; 
Engineers'  and  Whitehall  Clubs,  New 
York;  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  of  which  also 
he  has  been  Manager  and  Vice-President; 
Member  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  London;  Honorary  Member 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association 
and  the  Association  of  Railroad  Telegraph 
Superintendents,  and  Life  Member  of  the 
American  Geographical  Society.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
at  Melrose,  Massachusetts,  in  which  city 
he  has  resided  for  many  years;  and  finds 
relaxation  and  pleasure  in  traveling,  read- 
ing, astronomy,  whist  and  chess.  Mr. 
Lockwood  found  early  inspiration  in  the 
optimistic  biographies  of  Samuel  Smiles, 
especially  in  "Lives  of  the  Engineers."  He 
asserts  that  he  owes  much  also  to  "The 
American  Telegraph"  of  Pope;  "The  En- 
cyclopedia Britannica";  Crecy's  "Civil  En- 
gineering"; "The  Pilgrim's  Progress"; 
and  Dick's  "Christian  Philosopher."  He 
has  given  much  attention  to  the  collection 
of  a  reference  and  technical  library,  which 
is  especially  rich  in  works  relating  to 
telegraphy,  telephony  and  electricity. 

Mr.  Lockwood  was  married  October 
29,  1875,  to  Mary  Helm,  daughter  of 
George  Helm,  late  pf  Port  Hope,  On- 
tario; of  two  children  born,  the  survivor  is 
Arthur  G.  F.  Lockwood,  who  is  in  business 
in  New  York. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


283 


ROBERT    TEN    EYCK    LOZIER 


Robert  Ten  Eyck  Lozier,  who  relin- 
quished his  engineering  practice  in  New 
York  City  to  enter  the  Government  serv- 
ice at  the  Naval  Airplane  Factory,  League 
Island  Navy  Yard,  Philadelphia,  was 
born  in  South  Norwalk,  Conn.,  May  5, 
1868.  He  became  assistant  statistician  of 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company,  Feb- 
ruary 1 8,  1883,  and  shortly  afterwards 
was  transferred  to  Mr.  Edison's  private 
office.  Mr.  Lozier  was  one  of  the  group 


of  pioneers  in  the  development  of  the  elec- 
tric light,  power  and  railway  industries, 
and  was  actively  engaged  with  the  Edison 
construction  department  in  the  building  of 
the  first  electric  light  stations  in  this  coun- 
try. He  was  the  first  electrical  engineer 
for  the  Sprague  Electric  Company,  and 
continued  in  that  position  for  thirteen 
years,  finally  becoming  assistant  to  the 
General  Manager  of  the  Lighting  Depart- 
ment and  Manager  of  the  Isolated  Light- 


284 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ing  Department.  For  eight  years  he  was 
General  Manager  of  Sales  for  the  Bullock 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company.  Fol- 
lowing this  for  thirteen  years  he  was  in  gen- 
eral consulting  practice.  Mr.  Lozier  was 
a  protege  of  Thomas  A.  Edison.  He 
started  with  him  when  fourteen  years  of 
age,  and  was  closely  associated  with  the 
great  inventor  in  much  of  the  experimental 
and  development  work  that  he  carried  on 
at  the  Edison  Machine  Works  in  Goreck 
Street,  New  York  City,  and  later  at  his 
laboratory  at  Llewellyn  Park,  New  Jersey. 
He  was  the  originator  of  the  Edison  Medal 
Fund  and  secretary  of  the  Edison  Medal 
Association.  He  was  also  closely  associ- 
ated with  Frank  J.  Sprague,  and  with  him 
followed  the  art,  both  in  the  shop  and  in 
the  field,  until  he  finally  reached  a  posi- 
tion that  enabled  him  to  become  consulting 
engineer  for  large  financial  interests.  Mr. 


Lozier  made  the  first  designs  for  the  drum 
type  of  railway  controller,  and  in  1888 
assisted  in  building  and  testing  the  first 
multipolar  (annular  frame)  generator 
at  Edison's  laboratory.  He  was  one  of 
the  pioneers  in  the  introduction  and  use 
of  individual  motors  for  machine  drive, 
and  also  in  the  development  and  applica- 
tion of  the  so-called  "Teazer"  system  for 
operating  large  newspaper  printing  presses 
and  directed  the  installation  of  these 
equipments  in  the  principal  newspaper  of- 
fices of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Lozier  has 
taken  out  several  patents  on  motor  con- 
trol. He  is  a  member  of  the  Engineers 
Club,  Railway  Club,  Greenwich  Country 
Club,  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  life  member  and 
past  president  of  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society. 


JESSE  R.  LOVEJOY 


Taking  up  electrical  work  through  a  de- 
sire to  enter  a  new  field  of  activity  because 
of  the  many  possibilities  presented  by  that 
science,  and  strengthened  in  his  determina- 
tion by  early  training  and  the  subsequent 
sound  advice  of  Dr.  T.  C.  Mendenhall, 
of  the  Ohio  State  University,  Jesse  R. 
Lovejoy  has  accomplished  the  desires 
of  his  early  youth  and  risen  to  a  position 
of  prominence  in  the  electrical  world. 

Mr.  Lovejoy  was  born  in  Columbus, 
Ohio,  November  10,  1863,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Ohio  State  University,  where 
he  took  the  engineering  course  and  grad- 
uated in  1884  with  the  B.Sc.  degree.  In 
1886  he  entered  the  works  of  the  Thom- 
son-Houston Co.,  Lynn,  Mass.,  as  an  ap- 
prentice, and  after  mastering  the  details 
of  construction  of  electrical  apparatus, 
assisted  the  management  of  the  company 
in  various  capacities.  He  continued 
in  the  service  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  which  succeeded  the  Thomson- 


Houston  Co.,  and  was  made  department 
manager  and  finally  general  sales  manager 
and  vice-president  of  the  succeeding  com- 
pany, still  retaining  the  latter  position.  He 
is  also  president  and  director  of  several 
companies  affiliated  with  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company.  Mr.  Lovejoy  is  a  son  of 
Nathan  Ellis  and  Carrie  Perkins  (Drew) 
Lovejoy,  who  removed  from  New  Eng- 
land to  Ohio  early  in  life,  and  to  them 
Mr.  Lovejoy  ascribes  his  entire  success. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  member  of  the 
Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia,  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  National  Electrical  Light  Associa- 
tion, American  Electric  Railway  Associa- 
tion, Ohio  Society  of  New  York,  Adiron- 
dack League  Club,  Bankers'  Club,  Sleepy 
Hollow  Club,  Mohawk  Golf  Club,  and 
the  Mohawk  Club.  Mr.  Lovejoy  was 
married  June  23,  1891,  to  Mary  E. 
Gould  of  Lebanon,  N.  H. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


285 


JESSE   R.    LOVEJOY 

Vice-President  of  the  General  Electric  Company 
(See  Opposite  Page) 


286 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


MANAGING  OFFICIALS  OF  THE  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH-CABLE  COMPANY,  INCLUDING 

THE  LATE  JOHN  W.  MACKAY,  THE   FOUNDER  OF  THIS 

WORLD-EMBRACING  SYSTEM. 


JOHN    WILLIAM    MACKAY 
(Deceased) 


John  William  Mackay,  who  was  born 
in  Dublin,  Ireland,  November  28,  1831, 
came  to  America  with  his  family  in  1840, 
attended  school  in  New  York  City, 
learned  the  shipbuilding  trade  in  the  New 
York  yards  of  W.  H.  Webb,  and  when  the 
gold  discovery  in  California  lured  adven- 


turers to  the  Pacific  Coast  he  went  with  ar 
overland  party  in  1851.  He  gained  a  tech 
nical  and  practical  knowledge  of  mining, 
which  he  followed  in  California  with  vary- 
ing fortunes  until  1860,  when  he  went  to 
Nevada  and  became  one  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Washoe  country.  He  acquired 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


287 


valuable  interests  along  the  far-famed 
Comstock  Lode.  He  was  one  of  the  dis- 
coverers of  the  famous  "Bonanza"  ore 
body  which  was  uncovered  in  1872  in  the 
Consolidated  Virginia  and  adjoining 
claims  in  Virginia  City.  There  were  five 
shares  of  this  Bonanza  property,  of  which 
Mr.  Mackay  owned  two,  and  one  each  be- 
longed to  James  C.  Flood,  James  G.  Fair 
and  William  O'Brien.  It  proved  to  be  the 
most  valuable  silver  property  in  the  his- 
tory of  mining  industry.  Mr.  Mackay 
personally  supervised  production  during 
the  most  profitable  period  of  the  exploita- 
tion of  the  "Bonanza"  properties,  taking 
out  vast  fortunes  for  himself  and  his  part- 
ners. In  1878,  in  association  with  Messrs. 
Flood  and  Fair,  he  founded  the  Bank  of 
Nevada,  with  headquarters  in  San  Fran- 
cisco. Mr.  Mackay  was  a  man  of  sound 
business  judgment  and  after  attaining  his 
large  fortune  was  much  abroad,  thus  be- 
coming familiar  with  the  international  tele- 
graph cable  situation.  He  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  great  possibilities  for  ex- 
pansion of  transatlantic  cable  communica- 
tion and  the  need  for  better  service  and 
lower  rates.  With  James  Gordon  Ben- 
nett, proprietor  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
he  laid  two  cables  across  the  Atlantic  to 
England  and  France  from  the  United 
States,  and  thus  founded  the  Commercial 
Cable  Company,  to  be  followed  in  1886 
by  the  organizing  of  the  Postal  Telegraph- 
Cable  Company,  of  both  of  which  compa- 
nies he  remained  President  until  his  death 
on  July  20,  1902.  He  possessed  a  high 
order  of  executive  and  organizing  ability 
and  was  a  man  of  initiative  and  high 
ideals,  who  put  his  compelling  personality 
into  all  his  undertakings.  He  was  also 
known  as  a  connoisseur  of  art  and  a  dis- 
penser of  broad  and  effective  charity. 


CLARENCE    HUNGERFORD 
MACKAY 

Called  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  to  be 
the  head  of  the  great  Postal  Telegraph- 
Cable  Company  and  Commercial  Cable 
Company  in  the  position  of  president, 
which  he  has  now  held  for  fifteen  years, 
Clarence  Hungerford  Mackay  occupies  a 
place  of  great  prominence  among  those 
who  hold  the  mastery  of  space.  He  was 
born  in  San  Francisco,  April  14,  1874,  the 
only  son  of  John  William  and  Marie 
Louise  (Hungerford)  Mackay.  His 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Colonel  Daniel 
C.  Hungerford  of  old  New  England 
lineage  and  a  veteran  of  the  Mexican  and 
Civil  Wars.  Mr.  Mackay  spent  most  of  his 
early  life  in  London  and  Paris;  was  edu- 
cated at  Vaugirard  College,  Paris,  and  at 
Beaumont  College,  Windsor,  England,  his 
education  being  chiefly  so  directed  as  to 
give  him  a  grasp  of  large  affairs.  He  en- 
tered his  father's  office  in  New  York  in 
1894,  and  for  two  years  was  in  active 
preparation  for  his  future  career.  He  be- 
came president  of  the  American  Forcite 
Powder  Company  in  1896,  serving  until 
1899.  He  became  a  director  in  1896, 
vice-president  in  1897,  and  since  the  death 
of  his  father  in  1902  he  has  been  president 
of  the  Commercial  Cable  Company,  the 
Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company,  Postal 
Telegraph  Building  Company,  and  is  now 
also  president  of  The  Mackay  Companies,, 
Commercial  Cable  Company  of  Cuba, 
Commercial  Pacific  Cable  Company,  and 
altogether  is  a  director  of  some  thirty  cor- 
porations. He  is  a  director  of  the  Metro- 
politan Opera  Company;  director  of  the 
Saratoga  Association  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  the  Breed  of  Horses,  and  of  the 
Westchester  Racing  Association  and  a 
member  of  the  leading  clubs.  Mr.  Mackay 


288 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CLARENCE   H.    MACKAY 
President  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company  and  Commercial  Cable  Company 


in  his  earlier  years  was  a  notable  patron 
of  the  turf  and  maintained  a  large  stable 
of  thoroughbreds  which  many  times  car- 
ried his  colors  to  victory  on  the  metro- 
politan tracks.  But  in  1902,  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  Mr.  Mackay  disposed 
of  his  racing  stable  and  withdrew  from 
turf  activities.  He  gives  the  large  inter- 
ests which  he  controls  a  close  personal  at- 


tention. Under  his  direction  both  the  land 
and  ocean  systems  of  telegraph  service 
have  been  widely  extended,  including  the 
laying  of  a  cable  to  the  Orient;  and  the 
enterprise  is  now  a  world-embracing  one 
of  international  fame  and  influence,  known 
far  and  wide  as  the  Mackay  Companies 
System. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


289 


GEORGE  GRAY  WARD 


In  the  upbuilding  and  present  greatness 
of  the  Commercial  Cable  and  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable Companies  no  one  has  borne 
a  more  constructive  part  than  George 
Gray  Ward.  He  was  born  in  Hertford- 
shire, England,  December  30,  1844,  and 
received  part  of  his  education  in  Cam- 
bridge, England.  He  became  associated 
with  the  late  John  W.  Mackay  in  organiz- 
ing the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  cables  of  the 
Commercial  Cable  Company,  of  which  he 
is  Vice-President,  General  Manager  and 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  The 
active  direction  of  the  cable  laying  work 
of  the  company  in  both  oceans  was  con- 
fided to  his  hands,  with  such  success  that 
upon  the  completion  of  the  cables  from  the 
United  States  to  Germany  and  later  to 
Japan  his  constructive  share  in  them  re- 
ceived Imperial  recognition  by  the  confer- 
ring upon  him  of  the  decoration  of  the 
Royal  Prussian  Crown  in  1900  and  the 
Japanese  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun  in  1906. 
Mr.  Ward  bears  merited  distinction  as  one 
of  the  men  who  have  done  most  to  weld 
together  the  nations  of  the  earth  by  put- 
ting them  in  close  communication  with 
each  other.  He  has  been  closely  identified 
with  the  Mackays,  father  and  son,  in  the 
progressive  efforts  and  able  management 
which  have  created  the  wonderful  and 
world-compassing  land  and  ocean  tele- 
graph system  they  now  control.  Mr. 
Ward,  besides  his  important  place  in  the 
Commercial  Cable  Company  organization, 
is  vice-president  of  the  Commercial  Cable 
Company  of  Cuba ;  vice-president,  general 
manager  and  director  of  the  Commercial- 
Pacific  Cable  Company;  vice-president  and 
trustee  of  The  Mackay  Companies;  vice- 
president  and  director  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph Building  Company;  president  and 
director  of  the  United  States  and  Haiti 
Telegraph  and  Cable  Company,  and  is  a 


director  of  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable 
Company,  the  United  States  Mortgage 
and  Trust  Company,  and  the  National 
Surety  Company.  Mr.  Ward  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Institute  of  Electri- 


GEORGE   GRAY    WARD 

Vice-President    and    General    Manager    Commercial 
Cable  Company 

cal  Engineers  and  is  honorary  treasurer 
for  the  United  States  of  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers  of  Great  Britain.  It 
has  been  his  good  fortune  to  see  many 
changes  and  much  progress  in  telegraph 
service  since  he  entered  it  and  to  bear  a 
constructive  part  in  that  wonderful  evo- 
lution. 


290 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


EDWARD    REYNOLDS 


Thirty-five  years  of  active  service  have 
given  Edward  Reynolds,  vice-president 
and  general  manager  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable Company,  a  place  of  marked 
distinction  as  one  whose  knowledge  of  the 


EDWARD   REYNOLDS 

Vice-President  and  General  Manager  Postal 

Telegraph-Cable  Company 

telegraph  business  is  complete  and  whose 
contributions  to  methods  of  efficiency  in 
telegraph  management  are  of  unsurpassed 
value.  He  was  born  in  Catskill,  New 
York,  November  u,  1866;  was  educated 
at  the  Catskill  Academy,  and  was  gradu- 
ated from  that  institution  in  1881.  His 
first  business  activity  was  in  the  employ  of 
a  druggist,  where  he  was  under  training 
for  a  career  in  the  profession  of  pharmacy. 


But  after  he  had  thought  it  over  he  con- 
cluded that  he  would  rather  be  a  teleg- 
rapher than  a  druggist,  and,  giving  up 
the  drug  business  after  a  few  months,  he 
began  telegraph  service  as  a  messenger. 
His  advance  was  steady.  He  applied  him- 
self to  the  business  given  him  to  do  until 
he  had  mastered  it  thoroughly,  and  then 
became  a  telegraph  operator  and  later  of- 
fice manager.  In  these  capacities  he 
worked  for  about  eleven  years,  and  then 
became,  for  about  six  years,  the  chief 
clerk  to  a  district  superintendent  (operat- 
ing officer).  For  the  following  two  years 
he  was  chief  clerk  to  the  Vice-President, 
having  charge  of  the  lines  and  offices  and 
the  handling  of  traffic  over  the  entire 
Postal  Telegraph-Cable  System.  He  be- 
came general  auditor  for  the  entire  system 
for  about  twelve  years,  and  in  1912  Vice- 
President  and  Assistant  to  the  President. 
Since  1913  he  has  been  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  in  charge  of  all  opera- 
tions. This  is  a  record  of  thorough  train- 
ing— technical,  practical  and  executive — 
such  as  few  men  have  had.  Its  successes 
indicate  talents  and  capacities  equally  ex- 
ceptional, and  the  combination,  rarely  at- 
tained, of  perfect  mastery  of  detail  with 
the  ability  to  take  broad  control  of  opera- 
tions of  so  vast  and  complex  a  character 
as  those  of  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable 
Company.  He  has  accomplished  much 
constructive  work  in  promotion  of  effi- 
ciency in  telegraph  administration.  Mr. 
Reynolds  is  a  charter  member,  was  an  or- 
ganizer, and  was  ten  years  secretary  and 
two  years  president  of  the  Greene  County 
Society  in  the  City  of  New  York.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Wykagyl  Country  Club  of 
New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Magnetic 
and  Hardware  Clubs  of  New  York  City. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


291 


CHARLES   CLOSSON   ADAMS 


The  men  who  have  by  their  experience 
and  ability  so  developed  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable Company  and  its  related  or- 
ganizations as  to  have  set  a  new  mark  for 
efficiency  in  telegraph  service  are  largely 
those  who  entered  the  service  of  the  com- 
pany on  its  organization.  One  of  these 
who  has  had  a  constructive  part  in  the 
organization  of  the  company's  plans  and 
policies  is  Charles  Closson  Adams,  who, 
since  1904,  has  been  a  Vice-President  and 
director  of  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable 
Company.  Mr.  Adams  was  born  in  Free- 
port,  Pennsylvania,  and  after  completing 
the  courses  in  the  Pittsburgh  public  schools 
he  continued  his  studies  at  the  Sharpsburg 
Academy.  From  there  he  went  into  tele- 
graph service  as  an  operator  with  the 
Columbia  Conduit  Oil  Pipe  Line  and  later 
with  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Telegraph 
Company  and  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  soon  becoming  an  expert 
at  that  work,  and  afterwards  going  to 
Fort  Wayne,  Indiana,  as  telegrapher  for 
the  Associated  Press.  When  the  Mutual 
Union  Telegraph  Company  was  organized 
in  1880  he  entered  its  force  and  was 
assigned  to  duty  as  manager  of  that  com- 
pany at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  in  which  capacity 
he  continued  until  the  company,  in  turn, 
was  absorbed  by  the  Western  Union.  He 
returned  to  newspaper  work  for  a  period, 
but  on  the  organization  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable Company  in  1884  he  became 
manager  and  superintendent  at  Philadel- 
phia. He  was  afterwards  general  super- 
intendent of  the  Southern  Division  of  the 
company,  with  headquarters  at  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  until  1904,  and  from  there  came 
to  New  York  to  assume  his  present  posi- 
tion as  vice-president  of  the  company. 
While  his  activities  have  largely  centered 
in  the  development  of  telegraph  efficiency 
he  has  had  other  interests,  and,  among 
others,  built  at  Niagara  Falls  in  1895  the 
first  plant  for  the  manufacture  of  calcium 
carbide  (acetylene  gas).  During  his  resi- 
dence in  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Adams  was 
prominent  in  civic  affairs.  On  appointment 


by  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  he 
served  as  a  Commissioner  of  Valley  Forge 
Park  from  1898  to  1902,  and  during  the 
same  period  also  served  as  Civil  Service 
Commissioner  for  the  City  of  Philadel- 


CHARLES    C.    ADAMS 
Vice-President    Postal    Telegraph-Cable    Company 

phia.  He  is  a  director  in  the  numerous 
subsidiary  companies  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph System  and  has  an  active  and  influ- 
ential part  in  the  management  of  the  com- 
pany. He  is  a  member  of  the  Nassau 
County  Mosquito  Extermination  Commis- 
sion and  its  Treasurer.  He  is  United 
States  Fuel  Administrator  for  the  South 
Shore  District  of  Nassau  County,  Long 
Island;  President  of  the  Village  of  Law- 
rence, N.  Y.,  and  a  director  of  the  Nassau 
County  Hospital.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League,  the  Lotos,  the  Magnetic 
(of  which  he  is  President)  and  Hardware 
Clubs  of  New  York,  and  the  Rockaway 
Hunting  Club  of  Cedarhurst,  L.  I. 


292 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES   PATTERSON   BRUCH 


Charles  Patterson  Bruch,  a  Vice-Presi- 
dent  and  director  of  the  Postal  Telegraph- 
Cable  Company,  is  a  telegrapher  by  hered- 
ity, his  father,  Captain  Samuel  Bruch 


CHARLES    P.    BRUCH 
Vice-President    Postal    Telegraph-Cable    Company 

(brevetted  Lieutenant-Colonel  shortly  be- 
fore his  death  in  March,  1865),  having 
been  General  Manager  of  the  Southwest- 
ern Telegraph  Company,  and  in  charge  of 
United  States  Military  Telegraphs,  Divi- 
sion of  the  Mississippi,  and  two  uncles  also 
having  been  telegraphers.  He  was  born 
in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  but  was  reared  at 
Canton,  Ohio.  After  preparing  to  enter 
college,  in  the  junior  year  of  the  course  he 
decided  he  would  rather  study  telegraphy, 
and  on  June  i,  1878,  after  intensive  study 
and  practice  from  February  20,  previous, 
he  regularly  entered  as  a  telegraph  opera- 
tor in  the  office  of  the  Western  Union 


Telegraph  Company  at  Canton,  Ohio.  In 
the  Fall  of  1878  he  came  to  New  York  and 
was  employed  in  the  Western  Union  main 
office  at  195  Broadway,  remaining  as  op- 
erator and  clerk  until  May,  1883.  He 
then  became  secretary  until  1888  of  the 
Telegraphers'  Mutual  Benefit  Association 
(now  the  Telegraph  and  Telephone  Life 
Insurance  Association).  He  became  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
that  Association  1894-1897  and  has  since 
been  its  vice-president.  From  1888  to 
1891  he  was  connected  with  various  enter- 
prises in  which  the  late  Ezra  T.  Gilliland 
was  interested,  acting  as  his  assistant  and 
personal  representative  in  official  and 
managerial  connection  with  several  electri- 
cal enterprises.  He  entered  the  service  of 
the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company, 
June  ist,  1891,  serving  as  assistant  secre- 
tary until  1898,  then  assistant  general 
manager  until  1905  and  since  then  vice- 
president  and  assistant  general  manager. 
He  is  Major  in  the  Signal  Section  of  the 
Officers'  Reserve  Corps,  United  States 
Army;  member  of  the  committee  on  Tele- 
graphs and  Telephones  of  the  Council  of 
National  Defence,  and  member  of  the 
Mayor's  Committee  on  National  Defence. 
He  is  a  charter  member  and  past  president 
of  the  Ohio  Society  of  New  York;  charter 
member  of  the  Magnetic  Club  of  New 
York,  was  its  first  president  1888-1889, 
and  again  its  president  1908-1913;  mem- 
ber and  has  served  in  official  capacities  in 
the  Indian  Harbor  Yacht  Club  (Green- 
wich, Conn.)  ;  New  York  Telegraphers' 
Aid  Society,  Old-Time  Telegraphers' 
and  Historical  Society,  and  other  related 
organizations,  and  is  a  member  in  the  sec- 
ond generation  of  the  Society  of  the 
United  States  Military  Telegraph  Corps. 
He  has  been  a  witness  and  active  partici- 
pant in  the  remarkable  evolution  of  the 
telegraph  for  nearly  four  decades. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


293 


WELCOME  I.  CAPEN 


Welcome  I.   Capen,  who  is  now  Vice- 
President  in  charge  of  construction  of  the 
Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company,   is  an- 
other one  of  the  class  of  telegraph  officials 
whose  thoroughness  is  backed  by  an  ex- 
perience  that,   beginning   as   a   messenger 
boy,  has  gone  through  operating  and  man- 
agerial advancements  to  high  executive  po- 
sition.    He  was  born  in  Brattleboro,  Ver- 
mont, July  25,  1854;  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  town,  and  in  1864 
began  telegraph  service  in  the  local  office 
of   the   Vermont,    Boston    and    Montreal 
Telegraph   Company.      He  later  became 
an  operator  with  that  company,  and  after- 
wards served  as  operator  and  wire  chief 
with    several     telegraph     companies     of 
that    period,    including,    successively,    the 
Western  Union,    Franklin,   Southern   and 
Atlantic,  Automatic,  Atlantic  and  Pacific, 
Baltimore   and   Ohio,    and   Bankers'    and 
Merchants'    Telegraph    Companies.       In 
1885,  while  the  present  Postal  Telegraph- 
Cable  Company  was  in  process  of  forma- 
tion, Mr.  Capen  was  appointed  manager 
of  the  Cincinnati  office,  where  he  remained 
until  he  was  appointed  Superintendent  in 
1890,   the  company's   first  superintendent 
appointed  in  the  territory  of  the  Western 
Division.     He  was  promoted,  in  1906,  to 
General   Superintendent    of   the   Western 
Division,   with   headquarters   in   Chicago, 
and  in  1909  came  to  the  New  York  head- 
quarters as  the  General  Superintendent  of 
Plant    for   the    entire    Postal   Telegraph- 
Cable   System,   and  since    1912   has   been 
Vice-President  in  charge  of  construction. 
As  an  expert  and  directing  head  of  con- 
struction   work    on    the    many    and    con- 
stantly extending  lines  of  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable    Company,     Mr.     Capen     is 
famous  among  the  members  of  the  tele- 
graphic profession  and  has  a  wide-flung 
certificate   of  efficiency   in   the   unequalled 
excellence   in  work  and  materials  of  the 


telegraphic  lines  of  that  great  sys- 
tem which  parallels  the  highways 
traversing  all  States  and  sections  of 
this  country,  the  choice  of  those  mate- 
rials and  the  general  executive  manage- 
ment of  that  constructive  work  being  vig- 
ilantly controlled  by  him,  including  the 
building  of  new  lines,  the  stringing  and 
insulation  of  wires  and  the  making  of  re- 


WELCOME    I.    CAPEN 
Vice-President    Postal    Telegraph-Cable    Company 

pairs  from  ocean  to  ocean  and  from  the 
Gulf  to  the  Canadian  border.  Mr.  Capen 
is  devoted  to  his  work,  the  excellence  of 
which  is  an  important  factor  in  the  physi- 
cal perfection  for  which  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable System  is  famous.  Mr. 
Capen  is  a  member  of  the  Magnetic  and 
Hardware  Clubs  ot  New  York. 


294 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


JOSEPH  B.  McCALL 


Joseph  B.  McCall,  a  dominant  figure  in 
the  electrical  field  and  in  the  commercial 
life  of  Philadelphia,  has  been  president  of 
the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  since 


JOSEPH    B.    McCALL 

its^  organization,  and  has  been  a  most  con- 
spicuous figure  in_  giving  the  Quaker  City 
the  best  electric  light  and  power  facilities 
possible.  He  has  also  found  time  to  de- 
vote to  public  welfare  movements.  His 
first  thought,  however,  has  been  the  devel- 
opment of  the  company  which  he  heads 
and  his  energies  have  been  concentrated 
in  the  extension  of  its  field  of  operation  un- 
til it  is  now  one  of  the  most  complete  and 
important  public  utility  corporations  in  the 
country. 

Mr.  McCall  was  born  in  New  York 
City,  May  12,  1870,  but  was  taken  to  Phil- 
adelphia when  a  child  and  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  city.  In  1885  he 


secured  employment  in  the  law  office  of 
Rufus  E.  Shapley,  where  he  read  law  and 
studied  stenography.  Rufus  E.  Shapley 
was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  city 
and  there  is  no  doubt  Mr.  McCall  would 
have  been  successful  in  that  profession 
with  such  an  able  preceptor,  but  his  mind 
turned  to  other  pursuits  and  after  a  year 
of  communion  with  Blackstone,  he  started 
to  work  for  the  Pennsylvania  Globe  Gas 
Light  Company.  He  quickly  familiarized 
himself  with  the  duties  of  his  new  position 
and  being  energetic  and  efficient,  rose 
through  successive  promotions  to  the  posi- 
tion of  secretary  of  the  company.  In  1895 
he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Heat,  Light  and  Power  Company 
of  which  he  was  chosen  secretary  and 
treasurer.  Three  years  later  this  company 
was  absorbed  by  the  Pennsylvania  Manu- 
facturing, Light  &  Power  Company.  Mr. 
McCall  became  president  of  the  new  or- 
ganization and  when  it  in  turn  was  ab- 
sorbed by  the  Philadelphia  Electric  Com- 
pany he  became  the  directing  head  of  that 
corporation.  He  has  labored  indefatig- 
ably  for  the  company  to  the  exclusion  of 
other  commercial  enterprises  which  he  has 
been  solicited  to  join,  the  one  exception  be- 
ing the  directorship  in  the  First  National 
Bank,  one  of  the  strongest  of  Philadel- 
phia's financial  institutions.  Mr.  McCall 
served  as  president  of  the  Association  of 
Illuminating  Companies  from  1904  until 
1907  and  was  also  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  1913- 
1914.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  of 
the  Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Country,  Rac- 
quet, Merion  Cricket  Clubs,  The  Associ- 
ates of  Philadelphia  and  the  Union 
League,  of  which  he  was  formerly  vice- 
president.  Mr.  McCall  was  married 
September  30,  1889,  to  Lenore  Adah 
Guest  and  has  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 


LOUIS     C.    MARBURG 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


295 


LOUIS  C.   MARBURG 


Louis  C.  Marburg  was  born  March  8th, 
1876,  at  Wiesbaden,  Germany,  where  his 
parents,  American  citizens,  were  residing 
at  the  time.  He  was  graduated  from  the 
Gymnasium  at  Wiesbaden  in  1894,  having 
been  prepared  for  a  "practical"  career  by 
many  years'  study  in  Latin  and  Greek. 
The  same  year  he  entered  one  of  the  plants 
of  Sulzer  Bros,  of  Winterthur,  Switzer- 
land, the  well-known  engine  builders,  as 
apprentice,  successively  passing  through 
the  different  departments  of  the  large  fac- 
tory. Thus  he  soon  learned  the  rudiments 
of  the  practical  side  of  the  profession  he 
expected  to  follow  and  became  acquainted 
with  the  shop  methods  of  an  establishment 
standing,  according  to  the  unanimous  opin- 
ion of  European  engineers,  at  the  head  of 
the  manufacturing  industry  abroad.  After 
this  experience  he  became  connected  with 
the  Allgemeine  Elektrizitaets  Gesellschaft 
of  Berlin  as  an  assistant  in  electrical  instal- 
lation work. 

In  the  fall  of  1895  Mr.  Marburg  en- 
tered the  Technical  High  School  of  Char- 
lottenburg,  choosing  the  course  in  electrical 
engineering. 

Mr.  Marburg  mentions  that  the  choice 
of  his  profession  was  actually  made  at  the 
age  of  ten,  when,  by  chance,  he  came  in 
contact  with  a  series  of  elementary  lectures 
by  Professor  Tyndall  on  "Experiments  in 
Electricity." 

Although  rather  premature,  this  choice 
of  profession  was  final  and  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  a  primitive  workshop  and 
experimental  laboratory.  Here  was  made 
many  a  valuable  discovery,  long  since  for- 
gotten, while  incidentally  school  work  was 
being  neglected. 

After  a  year's  study  in  Charlottenburg, 
Mr.  Marburg  attended  the  Technical  High 
School  of  Hanover  and  finally  that  of 
Darmstadt.  Among  the  professors  at 
these  colleges,  whose  lectures  Mr.  Mar- 
burg was  fortunate  in  attending,  were 
Riedler,  Kohlrausch,  Kittler,  Guthermuth 
and  others  prominent  in  scientific  and  prac- 
tical work.  Various  college  vacations  were 
spent  in  the  experimental  departments  of 
Siemens  &  Halske  of  Berlin,  assisting  in 


the  testing  of  standard  machines  and  in 
research  work. 

In  1898  Mr.  Marburg  went  with  the 
Sprague  Electric  Company,  becoming  con- 
nected with  the  famous  pioneer  work  of 
Mr.  Frank  J.  Sprague  in  installing  the 
Multiple  Unit  System  on  the  South  Side 
Elevated  in  Chicago.  In  1900  he  moved 
to  Schenectady,  where  he  remained  for 
over  four  years  in  the  railway  department 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  assisting 
in  the  designing  of  railway  motors  and 
later  in  the  designing  of  power  stations. 

In  1904  Mr.  Marburg  accepted  an  offer 
to  join  the  forces  of  the  Allis-Chalmers 
Company,  which  at  that  time  entered  the 
electrical  field.  Owing  to  the  connection 
established  about  this  time  between  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Company  and  the  Bullock 
Electric  Company,  the  Electrical  Depart- 
ment made  its  headquarters  at  Cincinnati, 
where  Mr.  Marburg  looked  after  the  sale 
of  power  plants  and  car  equipments  and 
supervised  the  design  of  electric  power 
plants.  In  1895  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Contracting  Department  in 
Milwaukee,  and  soon  after  was  appointed 
Engineer  of  the  Department  in  charge  of 
its  engineering  work. 

Among  the  power  plant  designs  origi- 
nating during  this  period  under  his  super- 
vision are  the  stations  of  the  Toledo,  Port 
Clinton  and  Lake  Side  Railway,  the  San- 
dusky,  Norwalk  and  Mansfield  Railway, 
the  Indianapolis,  New  Castle  and  Toledo 
Railway,  the  electrical  parts  of  the  high 
pressure  fire  service  stations  in  New  York 
and  many  other  steam  driven  and  water 
power  stations  in  various  parts  of  the 
country. 

In  1907  Mr.  Marburg  was  appointed 
Mechanical  Engineer  of  the  Gas  and  Mill 
Engine  Department.  He  followed  closely 
the  operation  of  the  gas  engine  power  sta- 
tions of  the  steel  plants  at  South  Chicago 
and  Gary,  which  were  equipped  with  Allis- 
Chalmers  machinery. 

To  parallel  operation  of  gas  engine 
driven  alternators  he  devoted  particular 
attention  and  made  it  a  special  study  dur- 
ing a  trip  aboard. 


296 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


In  1908  Mr.  Marburg  was  placed  in 
charge  of  electric  hoisting  work,  another 
subject  which  he  investigated  in  Europe. 

Mr.  Marburg  is  now  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  of  Marburg  Brothers,  Inc.,  En- 
gineers, Exporters  &  Importers,  New 
York,  a  corporation  formed  in  1910  to  im- 
port engineering  specialties  from  Europe, 
to  represent  European  inventors  in  the 
exploitation  of  their  patents  in  this  coun- 
try, and  also  to  export  engineering  prod- 
ucts and  raw  materials  to  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

At  one  time  Mr.  Marburg  was  among 
the  special  contributors  of  "Elektrische 
Kraftbetriebe  &  Bahnen"  of  Berlin.  There 
are  a  number  of  patents  issued  in  his  name 


covering  various  electrical  improvements 
in  connection  with  power  distribution. 

Mr.  Marburg  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  a 
Member  of  the  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  New  York  Electrical 
Society,  Verein  Deutscher  Ingenieure  of 
Germany,  and  the  Electrical  Society  of 
Berlin.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  New  York,  the  League  to 
Enforce  Peace,  the  American  Society  for 
Judicial  Settlement  of  International  Dis- 
putes, the  Railroad  Club  and  the  Glen 
Ridge  Country  Club. 

Mr.  Marburg's  business  address  is  90 
West  Street,  and  he  resides  at  24  Franklin 
Place,  Montclair,  New  Jersey. 


JAMES   T.    MAXWELL 


The  electrical  profession  has  recently 
lost  one  of  its  most  useful  and  admired 
members  in  the  late  James  T.  Maxwell.  By 


JAMES   T.   MAXWELL 

none  so  much  as  by  his  own  immediate 
associates  has  his  eminent  ability  and  fine- 
ness of  character  been  recognized.  They 
were  the  personnel  of  the  Philadelphia 


Electric  Company,  of  which  he  was  a  lead- 
ing organizer  and  executive.  An  uninter- 
rupted term  of  service  with  them  began  in 
1888,  when  he  joined  the  Edison  Electric 
Light  Company  as  general  agent.  From 
the  commercial  department  of  the  Edison 
Company  grew  the  commercial  department 
of  the  consolidation  of  a  group  of  electric 
lighting  companies  in  Philadelphia,  form- 
ing the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company. 
As  general  agent  in  charge  of  the  contract 
department,  Mr.  Maxwell  won  a  high  rep- 
utation for  business  judgment  and  knowl- 
edge of  conditions  entering  into  rate  mak- 
ing. In  his  youth  he  had  seen  years  of 
service  as  a  telegraphist.  Thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  at  an  early  age,  he  was 
first  employed  by  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  in  New  York  City,  but  in 
1870  he  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he 
served  successfully  and  in  responsible  posi- 
tions a  number  of  the  competing  telegraph 
companies  until  one  after  another  they  were 
absorbed  into  the  Western  Union  system. 
Mr.  Maxwell  was  born  January  i,  1848, 
in  New  York  City.  He  was  a  life  member 
of  the  Navy  League  of  the  United  States 
and  a  member  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  the  Illuminating  Engi- 
neering Society,  the  Jovian  Order  and 
other  professional  and  social  organiza- 
tions. 


ARCHIBALD    J_  MARTIN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


297 


ARCHIBALD  J.  MARTIN 


Archibald  J.  Martin,  whose  entire  life 
has  been  devoted  to  the  construction  and 
installation  of  electrical  and  power  equip- 
ment, is  a  pioneer  in  that  branch  of  the 
service.  When  he  entered  the  field  the 
science  was  in  its  infancy.  The  arc  light 
was  at  an  experimental  stage;  incandescent 
installation  was  in  an  embryonic  state  and 
Van  Depoele  had  not  perfected  his  system 
of  electric  street  car  propulsion.  The  in- 
stitutions of  learning,  as  a  rule,  did  not 
include  in  their  curriculum  a  complete 
course  in  this  invisible  agent,  which  was 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  greatest 
forces  known  and  furnish  heat,  light  and 
power  to  the  world;  and  the  man  doing 
pioneer  work  in  those  days  was  compelled 
to  meet  the  many  obstacles  by  personal 
investigation  and  individual  application. 
There  were  no  established  precedents  to 
govern  and  the  electrician  of  forty  years 
ago  was  the  "trail  blazer"  who  paved  the 
way  for  the  wonderful  development  of  the 
present  day.  How  well  these  conditions 
were  met  by  some  of  the  workers  in  the 
field,  is  shown  by  the  story  of  Mr. 
Martin's  achievement.  He  was  born  in 
Brooklyn,  October  22,  1860,  and  with  only 
an  ordinary  school  education  to  start  him 
on  his  successful  career,  eventually  became 
identified  with  every  phase  of  electrical  de- 
velopment. His  first  employment  was  with 
the  firm  of  Arnoux,  Hochhausen  &  Co., 
who  were  manufacturers  of  single  arc 
lights,  the  first  of  which  was  installed  on 
the  Old  Iron  Pier,  Coney  Island.  This 
work  was  under  Mr.  Martin's  supervision, 
and  bare  copper  wires  were  used.  Mr. 
Martin  gained  wide  experience  with  this 
firm  and  his  next  connection  was  with  the 
Edison  Company,  65  Fifth  Avenue,  where 
he  served  in  the  capacity  of  specialist  in 
installation  and  construction.  Thence 
he  was  sent  to  Philadelphia  by  the  same 
company  to  install  the  electrical  apparatus 
on  Jay  Gould's  yacht,  then  building  at 
Cramp's  shipyard,  and  from  there  he  was 
detailed  to  the  middle  west,  where  he  had 
charge  of  the  erection  of  several  isolated 
plants.  His  next  connection  was  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Company  at  Lynn, 
Mass.,  and  for  thus  company  he  installed 
at  Northampton,  Mass.,  one  of  their  first 
incandescent  lighting  central  stations.  He 


also  erected  a  three-wire  station  at 
Dover,  New  Hampshire,  a  central  station 
at  Orange,  Mass.,  another  at  Amherst, 
Mass.,  and  several  others  in  that  territory. 
The  company  then  sent  him  to  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  erected  the  Germantown 
central  station  for  the  electric  company  and 
while  in  that  city  he  engineered  the  first 
interior  conduit  system  ever  installed. 
This  was  in  a  large  apartment  house  for 
William  G.  Warden,  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company.  He  also  built  the  West  End 
Electric  Company's  central  station  in  Phil- 
adelphia. At  that  time  this  was  one  of  the 
first  complete  systems  with  wires  com- 
pletely underground.  Returning  to  New 
York  City  he  had  charge  of  the  equipment 
of  the  first  electrical  show  ever  held  in  the 
Grand  Central  Palace,  and  after  superin- 
tending the  building  of  an  electrical  rail- 
road in  St.  Louis,  he  returned  to  New 
York  City,  and  in  1896  organized  the 
Commercial  Construction  Company,  of 
which  he  became  president  and  of  which 
he  is  now  sole  owner.  This  brief  synopsis 
of  his  activities  along  all  lines  will  show 
his  equipment  to  conduct  business  for  him- 
self. Since  the  Commercial  Construction 
Company  entered  the  field,  Mr.  Martin 
has  installed  electrical  and  power  equip- 
ment for  residences,  clubs,  apartment 
houses,  hotels,  institutions  of  every  char- 
acter, hospitals,  schools,  public  buildings, 
factories,  bridges,  power  houses,  sub- 
ways, loft  buildings  and  transmission 
lines.  In  this  work  he  has  invaded 
many  states  and  South  America  and  his 
clientele  includes  some  of  the  best  known 
and  wealthiest  men  in  the  country,  the 
most  important  manufacturing  concerns 
and  the  largest  institutions.  These  activi- 
ties have  run  into  many  millions  of  dollars 
and  the  success  of  the  company  is  the  re- 
sult of  Mr.  Martin's  long  and  varied  ex- 
perience and  a  thoroughly  seasoned  organ- 
ization which  has  kept  in  close  touch  with 
the  steady  progress,  in  the  electrical  and 
power  field.  Mr.  Martin  is  an  associate 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Crescent  Athletic  Club  of  Brooklyn,  and 
several  kindred  organizations.  His  offices 
are  at  8  and  10  Bridge  Street,  New  York 
City. 


298 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ALBERT  H.  MANWARING 


Albert  H.  Manwaring,  electrical  engi- 
neer, who  has  directed  some  of  the  most 
important  electrical  installations  through- 
out the  country  during  the  past  two  dec- 


ALBERT    H.    MANWARING 

ades,  has  by  his  achievement  taken  first 
rank  among  the  workers  in  the  electrical 
industry.  His  career  has  been  one  of  con- 
tinuous success  and  he  has  played  a  most 
important  part  in  the  development  of  the 
science.  Mr.  Manwaring  was  born  in 
Mexico,  Oswego  County,  New  York,  but 
removed  early  in  life  to  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
and  was  educated  principally  in  the  schools 
of  that  city  and  at  the  Bryant  &  Stratton 
Business  College.  His  thoughts  turning 
to  electricity  as  presenting  the  best  possi- 
bilities of  the  period,  he  determined  to  take 
up  that  work  and  was  soon  enrolled  as  an 
employee  of  the  Brush  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany of  Cleveland.  This  was  in  August 


1880,  and  his  position,  assisting  in  the 
manufacturing  of  carbons  for  arc  lamps, 
was  an  ordinary  one,  but  it  was  the  first 
stepping  stone  in  the  career  he  had  selected. 
Performing  his  work  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  his  employer  he  was  soon  trans- 
ferred to  the  lamp  department,  where  he 
assembled  arc  lamps.  Mr.  Manwaring 
manifested  such  ability  in  mastering  the 
details  of  electrical  work  that  he  was  as- 
signed by  the  company  to  take  charge  of 
the  construction  and  direction  of  electrical 
plants  for  the  eastern  agency  in  Philadel- 
phia, since  which  time  he  has  made  that 
city  his  home.  The  plants  Mr.  Manwar- 
ing installed  previous  to  1882  included  the 
Jackson  &  Sharp  Car  Works,  Wilmington, 
Delaware;  William  Sellers  Co.,  Philadel- 
phia, Pa. ;  Delaware  &  Lackawanna  Iron 
&  Coal  Co.,  Scranton;  Reading  Coal  & 
Iron  Works,  Reading;  Blain  Car  Works, 
Huntington,  Pa.,  and  other  less  important 
ones.  In  August,  1881,  he  took  charge  of 
the  installation  and  remodeling  of  electric 
light  plants  for  the  Thomson-Houston 
Co.,  and  while  with  them  he  installed  or 
remodeled  the  Cavern  of  Luray,  Virginia, 
the  Midvale  Steel  Works,  the  Girard 
Hotel  and  many  other  large  operations. 
In  1882  he  accepted  a  position  with  the 
Brush  Electric  Company  of  Philadelphia 
and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  commer- 
cial wiring.  He  was  made  general  super- 
intendent of  the  Electric  department  in 
1890  and  later  was  appointed  engineer  of 
the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  a 
position  he  still  retains.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Engineers  Club  of  Philadelphia, 
Franklin  Institute,  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  American  Institute  of  Electri- 
cal Engineers,  the  Jovian  Order,  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Manufac- 
turers Club  of  Philadelphia,  Ohio  Society 
of  Philadelphia,  Old  York  Road  Country 
Club  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Bucks 
County  Country  Club  of  Bucks  County. 


ROBERT    D.  MCCARTER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


299 


ROBERT  DALE  McCARTER 


Among  the  American  engineers  who 
have  attained  international  reputations 
through  achievements  abroad,  none  have 
been  more  active  than  Robert  D.  Mc- 
Carter.  He  was  born  in  Emporia,  Kansas, 
September  10, 1872,  and  after  apreparatory 
education  entered  the  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity, where  he  took  a  special  course  and 
graduated  in  1895  as  an  electrical  engineer 
in  mechanical  engineering.  Immediately 
upon  graduation  he  took  the  student's 
course  at  the  General  Electric  Company's 
works  at  Schenectady,  New  York,  and 
Lynn,  Mass.,  during  the  years  of  1895-97. 
While  still  with  the  Schenectady  works  of 
the  General  Electric  Company  in  1899,  he 
was  sent  to  Berlin  as  Chief  Designing  En- 
gineer. He  remained  in  this  position  for 
one  year  and  when  the  company  opened  an 
export  office  in  London  he  was  sent  to  the 
English  metropolis  as  Chief  Engineer  of 
that  branch.  He  left  the  General  Electric 
Company's  employ  in  1902  and  opened  an 
office  as  Consulting  Engineer  in  London, 
and  has  continued  to  practice  consulting  en- 
gineering from  that  period  to  the  present 
time.  From  1902  until  1907,  Mr.  Mc- 
Carter  specialized  in  electric  tramways  in 
England,  and  in  addition  to  being  Consult- 
ing Engineer  in  nearly  all  instances,  he 
managed  the  operating  companies  as  well 
as  carried  out  the  construction  work.  From 
1907  to  August,  1914,  as  Consulting  Engi- 
neer to  the  European  Westinghouse  Com- 
panies, and  the  President  and  Managing 
Director  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  & 
Manufacturing  Company  in  Russia,  he  was 
compelled  to  do  considerable  traveling  on 
the  Continent,  especially  in  European  Rus- 
sia, which  gave  him  an  exceptionally  good 
insight  into  European  conditions  in  general. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  European 
War  Mr.  McCarter  was  appointed  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Committee  in  London  to  assist 
Americans  in  returning  to  the  United 
States.  He  returned  to  this  country  in 
1914.  When  the  Commission  for  Relief 
in  Belgium  was  formed,  Mr.  Hoover  asked 
Mr.  McCarter  to  take  charge  of  the  com- 
mercial activities  in  America.  He  accepted 
the  position  and  was  Honorary  Secretary 
to  the  commission  during  the  first  year  of 
the  relief  work  in  Belgium,  during  which 
time  he  organized  in  this  country  all  the 


commercial  departments  of  the  commis- 
sion, including  shipping,  freight,  purchas- 
ing foodstuffs,  etc.  Although  born  in 
Kansas,  Mr.  McCarter  made  his  home  in 
Columbus,  Ohio,  from  1875  until  1895, 
and  from  1900  until  shortly  after  the  start 
of  the  European  War  in  1914,  his  head- 
quarters were  in  London.  Since  that  his 
offices  have  been  located  at  165  Broadway, 
New  York  City,  and  his  home  at  Rye,  New 
York. 

Chronologically,  Mr.  McCarter's  activi- 
ties are:  1897-1899,  assistant  designing  en- 
gineer direct  current  machinery  and  rotary 
converters,  General  Electric  Company, 
Schenectady;  1899-1900,  chief  designing 
engineer  in  charge  of  D.  C.  machines,  ro- 
tary converters,  street  railway  motors,  etc., 
Union  Elektricitats  Gesellschaft  (affiliated 
with  the  General  Electric  Company),  Ber- 
lin, Germany;  1900-1902,  chief  engineer  of 
the  General  Electric  Company's  export 
office  in  London;  1902  to  date,  consulting 
engineer  under  the  firm  name  R.  D.  Mc- 
Carter, London  and  New  York.  His  im- 
portant work,  carried  out  from  1902  to 
date,  was  consulting  engineer  and  general 
manager  to  Bath  Electric  Tramways,  Ltd., 
England;  consulting  engineer  and  general 
manager  to  Falkirk  and  District  Electric 
Tramways,  Scotland;  consulting  engineer 
and  general  manager  to  Sunderland  Dis- 
trict Electric  Tramways,  England;  consult- 
ing engineer  to  the  Amsterdam  and  North 
Holland  Electric  Railway  Company;  con- 
sulting engineer  of  Petrograd  Street  Rail- 
ways during  construction;  consulting  engi- 
neer to  Ceara  Electric  Power  Tramway 
Lighting  Company,  Ceara,  Brazil;  consult- 
ing engineer  Tucuman  Hydro-Electric 
Company,  Argentine;  general  manager 
and  consulting  engineer  to  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  Company,  Ltd.,  London; 
consulting  engineer  to  the  Societe  Elec- 
trique  Westinghouse  de  Russie,  and  presi- 
dent and  managing  director  of  the  Societe 
Electrique  Westinghouse  de  Russie,  1910- 
1913.  Mr.  McCarter  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  Club,  Engineers'  Club,  In- 
dia House,  Railroad  Club,  American  In- 
stitute Electrical  Engineers,  The  Pilgrims' 
Automobile  Club,  London,  and  the  English 
Club,  Moscow. 


300 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES    T.    MAIN 

Consulting  Engineer.    President,  1918,  of  the  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Civil  Engineers 
(See  Next  Page) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


301 


CHARLES  THOMAS  MAIN 


Charles  Thomas  Main,  consulting  engi- 
neer and  mill  expert,  was  born  in  Marble- 
head,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  Feb- 
ruary 1 6,  1856,  the  son  of  Thomas,  Jr., 
and  Cordelia  (Reed)  Main,  and  grandson 
of  Thomas  and  Deborah  (Phillips)  Main 
and  of  Lemuel  Fish  and  Eunice  (Holmes) 
Reed.  He  is  a  descendant  of  the  Rev. 
George  Phillips,  who,  with  his  wife  and 
two  children,  left  Boxted,  Essex,  England, 
and  on  April  12,  1630,  embarked  on  the 
"Arbella,"  landing  at  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts Bay  Colony,  June  I2th  following, 
having  Winthrop  and  Saltonstall  as  fellow 
passengers  and  becoming  the  first  minister 
of  Watertown.  One  of  his  sons  was  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Phillips  (1625-1696);  one 
of  his  grandsons,  Samuel  Phillips,  of  Salem, 
and  one  of  his  great-grandsons,  John  Phil- 
lips (1701-1768),  who  married  Mary, 
daughter  of  Nicholas  Buttolph  of  Boston, 
and  their  great-grandson  was  Wendell 
Phillips  (1811-1884),  the  abolition  leader. 
Other  ancestors  were  William  Reede  of 
Weymouth,  Mass.,  who  arrived  from  Eng- 
land in  1635,  and  William  Holmes,  born 
in  England  in  1592,  who  settled  in  Marsh- 
field,  Plymouth  Colony.  Mr.  Main's 
father,  Thomas  Main,  Jr.,  was  a  machinist 
and  engineer  in  Marblehead,  where 
Charles  Thomas  attended  the  public 
schools,  and  under  a  private  tutor  was  pre- 
pared for  matriculation  at  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  from  which 
institution  he  was  graduated  S.B.  1876, 
and  remained  at  the  institute  as  an  assistant 
instructor  for  three  years,  1876-79.  He 
was  draughtsman  for  the  Manchester 
Mills,  Manchester,  N.  H.,  in  1879;  erW' 
neer  for  the  Lower  Pacific  Mills,  Law- 
rence, Mass.,  1880-85,  having  charge  of 
the  reorganization  of  the  plant,  assistant 
superintendent  Lower  Pacific  Mills  1885, 
and  superintendent  1886-91.  After  1891 
he  engaged  in  general  engineering  work, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  designed  and 
supervised  the  construction  of  a  large 
number  of  textile  mills  and  other  industrial 
plants,  including  steam  and  hydro-electric 
operations,  and  is  consulting  engineer  of 
many  other  projects.  He  has  made  re- 


ports of  proposed  developments,  valua- 
tions on  properties  using  steam  and  water 
power  for  various  purposes,  erected  mill 
buildings,  store,  boiler  and  engine  houses, 
made  plans  for  worsted  and  woolen  yarn 
mills,  made  reports  on  the  reorganization 
of  plants  and  water  power  construction. 
His  field  of  operation,  while  principally  in 
New  England,  has  extended  through  vari- 
ous states  as  far  west  as  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  to  Canada.  Perhaps  the  most  interest- 
ing of  Mr.  Main's  work  along  electrical 
lines,  was  designing  and  supervising  the 
construction  of  four  hydro-electric  plants 
for  the  Montana  Power  Company.  These 
stations  are  from  45,000  to  90,000  H.P. 
capacity. 

His  offices  are  at  201  Devonshire  Street, 
Boston.     He  was  married  November  14, 
1883,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  and 
Mary  (Jane)  Appleton,  and  after  a  resi- 
dence  in   Lawrence   of   eleven   years,    re- 
moved to  Winchester.    While  a  resident  of 
Lawrence  he  served  as  alderman  of  the 
city  1888,  1889  and  1890,  and  a  member 
of  the  school  committees  and  trustee  of  the 
public   library    1891.     In    Winchester   he 
served  as  a  member  of  the  water  board 
from  1895  to  1906.    In  1905  he  was  elect- 
ed a  term  member  of  the  Corporation  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,    and    President 
in    1918,    member   American     Society   of 
Civil  Engineers,  member  of  the  National 
Association     of     Cotton     Manufacturers, 
member  and  past-president  of  the  Boston 
Society  of  Civil    Engineers.     His    social 
affiliations  include  membership  in  the  Ex- 
change, Engineers,  president  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  1914  to  date,  and  Technology 
Clubs  of  Boston,    The    Engineers'   Club, 
New  York,  and    Calumet    Club  of  Win- 
chester.     His   published  papers   read  be- 
fore scientific  societies,  of  which  he  is   a 
member,   covered    the    subjects:     "Steam 
Power,"  "Water  Power,"  "Mill  Construc- 
tion,"   "Valuation   of   Industrial   Proper- 
ties," etc.     He  invented  a  receiver  pres- 
sure   regulator     for     compound    engines, 
which  was  widely  used. 


302 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


DANIEL  McFARLAN   MOORE 


The  name  of  Moore  is  perpetuated  in 
a  public  sense  by  the  Moore  Light,  the 
history  of  which  is  an  interesting  part  of 
the  narrative  of  its  inventor's  career.  The 
prolific  inventiveness  of  Daniel  McFarlan 


DANIEL   McFARLAN   MOORE 

Moore  and  his  fertile  experiments  in  pro- 
ducing light  by  the  flow  of  electricity 
through  various  gases,  have  been  an  ever 
recurring  subject  of  comment  in  scientific 
circles.  His  inventions  protected  here  and 
abroad  number  over  one  hundred,  begin- 
ning with  the  first  patent  taken  out  in  1893. 
The  following  year  the  Moore  Electric 
Company  and  the  Moore  Light  Company 
were  organized,  of  both  of  which  Mr. 
Moore  was  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager for  a  period  of  eighteen  years,  or  until 
their  absorption  into  the  General  Electric 
Company.  At  various  stages  of  its  develop- 
ment the  Moore  Light  was  a  featured  at- 
traction at  electrical  expositions,  as  at  the 
Grand  Central  Palace  in  New  York  in  the 
90*8,  and  as  shown  a  while  later  at  Madi- 
son Square  Garden,  where  the  "Moore 
Chapel,"  lighted  with  vacuum  tubes,  ex- 
cited the  wonder  of  visitors.  Eventually 


there  was  a  permanent  installation  of 
Moore  Lights  provided  for  the  Garden, 
lengths  of  tubes  totaling  four  miles  in  all. 
Soon  they  came  into  general  commercial 
use,  and  Moore  Light  Companies  were 
found  as  far  away  as  Russia,  Switzerland, 
France  and  Germany.  One  of  the  modified 
forms  of  the  Moore  Light  exhibited  at  the 
New  York  Electrical  Show  of  1916  was  a 
unit  supplied  with  Neon  gas.  Another, 
using  carbon  dioxide  gas,  duplicated  ex- 
actly the  best  quality  of  daylight,  and  in 
consequence  is  regarded  as  a  standard  of 
comparison  for  the  color  values  of  light 
and  has  been  invaluable  to  the  textile  in- 
dustry. The  city  of  Philadelphia,  through 
the  Franklin  Institute,  awarded  to  Mr. 
Moore  the  John  Scott  medal  and  premium 
in  1910,  and  in  1912  Sir  William  Ramsay 
sent  him,  as  a  mark  of  esteem,  a  bottle 
of  the  precious  Neon  gas,  an  element  dis- 
covered by  the  donor.  Mr.  Moore's 
papers  upon  the  subject  of  light,  presented 
in  the  form  of  lectures  before  scientific 
societies  and  as  articles  in  the  periodical 
press,  have  been  in  many  instances  authori- 
tative in  description,  explanation  and 
power  of  prophecy.  Mr.  Moore  was  born 
in  Northcumberland,  Pa.,  February  27, 
1869,  the  son  of  Rev.  Alexander  Davis 
and  Maris  Louisa  (Douglas)  Moore,  a 
scion  of  ancestry  distinguished  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  country  from  early  Revolutionary 
times.  He  was  married  on  June  5,  1895, 
to  Mary  Alice  Elliott  of  New  York  City. 
Their  three  children  are  Dorothy  Mae, 
1900;  Elliott  McFarlan,  1902,  and  Bea- 
trice Jean,  1912.  Their  home  is  at  510 
Park  Avenue,  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  and 
Mr.  Moore's  office  is  at  the  plant  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  at  Harrison, 
N.  J.  Mr.  Moore  is  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
a  past  chairman  of  the  Illuminating  Engi- 
neers Society  and  a  member  of  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  also  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  the  War  of  1812  and  is  vice-president 
of  the  Orange  Chapter  of  the  Sons  of 
American  Revolution. 


JAMES   H.  MCGRAW 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


303 


JAMES  H.  McGRAW 


James  H.  McGraw,  the  leading  techni- 
cal publisher  in  America,  if  not  indeed,  in 
the  whole  world,  was  born  at  Panama, 
Chautauqua  County,  N.  Y.,  December  17, 
1860,  and  graduated  as  valedictorian  of 
his  class  in  1884  from  the  State  Normal 
School,  Fredonia,  N.  Y.  He  taught  school 
for  some  years  in  Western  New  York,  but 
found  his  way  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and 
entered  the  field  of  trade  and  technical 
journalism,  then  in  a  very  primitive  stage 
of  development. 

At  heart  an  educator,  Mr.  McGraw  in 
leaving  the  professional  field  of  teaching, 
brought  to  publishing  a  viewpoint  of  serv- 
ice which,  combined  with  his  energy  and 
ambition,  has  been  fundamentally  respon- 
sible for  the  growth  of  his  papers  as  pub- 
lishing properties. 

His  first  venture  into  active  publishing 
was  as  Philadelphia  representative  of  the 
American  Railway  Publishing  Company, 
and  in  1888  he  became  the  active  head  and 
publisher  of  the  Street  Railway  Journal, 
a  weekly  journal  of  authority  and  influence 
throughout  its  career,  and  continuing  as 
the  leading  journal  in  its  field  up  to  the 
present  time  as  the  Electric  Railway  Jour- 
nal. 

In  1896  he  founded  the  American  Elec- 
trician, and  soon  after,  in  1899,  purchased 
the  Electrical  World  and  Electrical  En- 
gineer, consolidating  these  three  proper- 
ties into  the  Electrical  World.  With  the 
amalgamating  of  the  forces  of  these  pub- 
lications came  the  McGraw  Publishing 
Company  in  the  year  1899,  and  offices  were 
established  in  Chicago,  London,  Denver 
and  San  Francisco. 

Building  and  serving  as  a  part  of  the 
industry  itself,  the  business  of  the  McGraw 
Publishing  Company  soon  necessitated  the 
occupancy  of  larger  quarters.  The  Mc- 
Graw Realty  Company,  organized  in  1905, 
put  up  on  West  Thirty-ninth  street  the 
first  large  reinforced  concrete  structure  of 
its  kind  in  New  York,  and  the  pioneer 
publishing  home  in  the  now  great  district 
bounded  by  the  Herald  and  Times  home 
north  and  south,  the  Public  Library  on  the 
east,  and  the  present  McGraw  headquar- 


ters on  Tenth  avenue  at  Thirty-sixth  street 
Associated  with  this  enterprise  was  the 
creation  of  a  huge  printing  establishment. 
Mr.  McGraw's  vision  of  the  industry 
and  his  conception  of  the  possibility  of  the 
widening  influence  of  electricity  in  the  ap- 
plied fields  of  commerce  and  industry  led 
him  to  establish  Chemical  and  Metallurg- 
ical Engineering,  which  has  now  become 
a  journal  of  the  industry  of  international 
reputation. 

In  the  same  spirit  of  serving  completely 
every  constructive  group  in  the  industry, 
Electrical  Merchandising  was  established 
as  the  creative  influence  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  electrical  trade  in  the  new 
branches  of  retailing  which  grew  out  of  the 
constantly  widening  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  industrial,  commercial  and  domes- 
tic life. 

This  belief  in  the  fundamental  back- 
ground of  engineering  as  a  basis  for  pro- 
gress in  our  nation,  led  to  the  purchase  of 
the  Engineering  Record,  which  was  made 
a  most  progressive  and  successful  weekly 
in  the  civil  engineering  and  construction 
field  of  activity.  An  incidental  episode  in 
serving  the  engineering  profession,  as  a 
publisher,  was  the  foundation  of  the  Mc- 
Graw-Hill Book  Company,  understood  to 
be  the  largest  publisher  of  technical  and 
applied  engineering  books  on  the  American 
continent. 

It  was  but  natural  with  Mr.  McGraw's 
conception  of  the  relation  of  journalism 
to  industry  that  in  1917  came  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  McGraw  Publishing  Com- 
pany and  the  Hill  Publishing  Company, 
by  which,  with  Mr.  McGraw  at  its  head, 
the  McGraw-Hill  Publishing  Company, 
Inc.,  adding  to  the  journals  above  named, 
became  proprietors  also  of  Power,  Amer- 
ican Machinist,  Engineering  News,  Engi- 
neering &  Mining  Journal  and  Coal  Age. 

As  a  corollary  to  this  great  move,  the 
two  civil  engineering  papers  were  merged 
into  the  Engineering  News-Record,  the 
largest  and  most  complete  publication  of 
its  kind  in  the  English  language. 

This  brief  summary  compresses  in  short 
space  a  career  of  achievement  based  upon 
the  best  and  soundest  ideals  of  progres- 


304 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


sive  American  journalism.  Mr.  McGraw 
has  kept  before  him  always  the  funda- 
mental philosophy  of  the  educator,  the 
desire  to  serve,  and  to  establish  and  main- 
tain the  leadership  of  his  publications  by 
a  complete  and  thorough  service. 

The  McGraw  publications  have  each 
and  all  been  leaders  in  their  respective 
fields,  and  have  been  agencies  and  advo- 
cates of  all  that  is  highest  in  engineering 
and  industrial  advance.  Such  work  might 


well  absorb  all  the  thought  and  energy 
of  a  crowded  life,  but  Mr.  McGraw  has 
found  time  for  active  participation  in  Re- 
publican politics  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  work 
in  New  Jersey;  for  banking  in  New  York 
City,  and  for  prominent  engineering  serv- 
ice, notably  in  building  up  the  great  Amer- 
ican Electric  Railway  Association.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  of  the  Engi- 
neers', Railroad  and  Republican  Clubs. 


The  city  of  Lafayette,  Indiana,  is  not  a 
great  metropolis,  but  a  small  city  of  about 
twenty  thousand  people,  but  there  .is 
scarcely  another  city  of  the  United  States 
which  for  its  size  has  produced  a  larger 
number  of  people  notable  in  literature,  sci- 
ence and  professional  life.  One  of  the 
reasons  for  its  prominence  is  that -it  is  the 
home  of  Purdue  University,  a  state  insti- 
tution where  two  thousand  students,  on 
the  average,  are  in  training,  and  which 
has  a  standing  for  its  excellent  work.  It 
was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Western  schools 
to  specialize  in  mechanical  and  electrical 
science,  and  in  that  and  other  technology 
courses  its  standards  are  of  the  best. 

Cloyd  Marshall,  electrical  engineer, 
was  born  in  Lafayette  on  August  5,  1873, 
grew  up  amid  the  excellent  scholastic  sur- 


roundings of  the  place,  went  in  due  time 
to  Purdue  University,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  Bachelor  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neering in  1893  and  Electrical  Engineer 
in  1900.  He  was  elected  to  the  honor  soci- 
ety of  Tau  Beta  Pi  on  graduation  in  1895, 
and  became  a  member  of  Sigma  Alpha 
Epsilon  fraternity  while  in  the  university. 
He  became  electrical  editor  of  the  Street 
Railway  Review  in  1895,  and  later  he  en- 
tered upon  the  contracting  and  manufac- 
turing branches  of  electrical  business  in 
New  York  City,  where  he  is  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Firth  &  Marshall,  at  81  New 
Street,  and  treasurer  of  the  Wireless  Im- 
provement Company,  at  the  same  address. 
He  is  also  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Dubilier  Condenser  Company,  of  217 
Centre  Street,  New  York. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


305 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  ELECTRICAL  SOCIETIES 

REVIEWS  OF  THE  LEADING  ORGANIZATIONS  ESTABLISHED  FOR  THE 
PROMOTION  OF  THE  ELECTRICAL  INDUSTRY 


THE  old  adage  that  "two  of  a  trade 
can  never  agree"  is  obsolete.  It 
never  expressed  a  universal  truth, 
as  is  evidenced  by  the  success  of  the  an- 
cient trade  guilds;  but  in  this  Electric  Age, 
when  every  capital  city  of  the  world  is 
within  a  few  minutes  of  Broadway  by  elec- 
tric communication,  the  old  saw  has  en- 
tirely lost  its  point.  Cooperation  rather 
than  competition  is  the  "life  of  trade,"  and 
every  successful  profession,  business  or  cult 
owes  much  to  organizations  that  are 
formed  to  promote  mutual  interests,  to 
standardize  practice  and  to  bring  about 
united  action  for  the  common  good. 

In  the  profession  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing, and  also  in  the  electrical  industries, 
the  value  of  associated  counsel  and  united 
effort  was  early  recognized.  Mutual  ex- 
position of  the  researches  and  experiences 
of  pioneers  in  many  lines  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  electrical  applications  created  a 
body  of  technical  data  of  vast  value  to  elec- 
trical engineers,  and,  through  them,  to  the 
world.  Hence  many  electrical  societies 
have  been  organized  and  have  continued  to 
contribute  in  an  important  degree  to  elec- 
trical progress.  Some  of  them  are  here 
noted,  being  arranged  in  the  chronological 
order  of  their  earliest  organization: 

NEW  YORK  ELECTRICAL  SOCIETY. 

The  oldest  electrical  society  in  the 
United  States  is  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society,  which  was  organized  February  23, 
1 88 1.  On  that  date  a  prominent  group  of 


telegraphers  met  at  the  famous  old  United 
States  Hotel,  corner  of  Fulton  and  Water 
Streets,  New  York,  and  Francis  W.  Jones 
was  elected  President;  George  B.  Scott,  Dr. 
P.  H.  Van  der  Weyde,  Gerrit  Smith,  W. 
J.  Dealy,  George  A.  Hamilton,  George  G. 
Ward,  Vice-Presidents;  J.  W.  Moreland, 
Secretary,  and  M.  Brich,  Treasurer. 

The  Society  has  a  distinct  mission,  which 
has  been  thus  defined:  "One  crucial  fact 
should  never  be  lost  sight  of,  and  that 
is  that  the  New  York  Electrical  Society  is 
the  one  and  only  electrical  body  in  New 
York  that  covers  the  entire  field  of  elec- 
trical science,  industry  and  trade,  besides 
other  scientific  fields.  Its  usefulness  has 
earned  for  it  and  claims  the  affiliation  of 
every  electrical  man  in  New  York,  what- 
ever his  profession  or  occupation." 

In  the  thirty-seven  years  of  its  existence 
it  has  been  addressed  by  many  of  the  most 
notable  scientific  men  of  this  and  other 
countries,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned : 
Admiral  Bradley  A.  Fiske,  Dr.  E.  J.  Hous- 
ton, Dr.  C.  O.  Mailloux,  Dr.  Michael  I. 
Pupin,  Dr.  Schuyler  S.  Wheeler,  Professor 
Elihu  Thomson,  Dr.  A.  E.  Kennelly,  Pro- 
fessor W.  E.  Ayrton,  Dr.  Louis  Bell,  Peter 
Cooper  Hewitt,  Senator  Guglielmo  Mar- 
coni, John  J.  Carty  (Col.),  T.  Commer- 
ford  Martin,  and  Elmer  A.  Sperry.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  high  standard  which  has  thus 
been  created  for  its  ordinary  monthly  meet- 
ings, the  Society  has  made  a  notable  mark 
in  its  "Visiting  Meetings,"  which  gives  its 
members  opportunities  to  study  at  first 
hand  new  developments  in  electrical  and 
scientific  progress.  One  of  such  meetings 


306 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


was  held  on  the  ill-fated  steamship  "Lusi- 
tania,"  when  six  hundred  of  its  members 
inspected  the  ship  and  its  up-to-date  elec- 
trical features,  and  were  afterwards  enter- 
tained in  the  grand  saloon. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Society  have  been 
Francis  W.  Jones,  1881-3;  Charles  S.  H. 
Small,  1883-4;  Professor  P.  H.  Van  der 
Weyde,  1884-7;  John  M.  Pendleton,  JSSy- 
9;  Professor  Francis  B.  Crocker,  1889-92; 
Joseph  Wetzler,  1892-4;  C.  O.  Mailloux; 
1 894-5  ;  John  W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  1895-6  ;  Dr.  C. 
E.  Emery,  1896-7;  Dr.  Michael  I.  Pupin, 
1897-8;  Gano  Dunn,  1898-1900;  T. 
Commerford  Martin,  1900-1 ;  Arthur  Wil- 
liams, 1901-2;  Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon,  1902- 
3;  John  J.  Carty  (Col.),  1903-4;  Frank  J. 
Sprague,  1904-5;  William  S.  Barstow, 
1905-6;  George  Herbert  Condict,  1906-7; 
Dr.  Albert  F.  Ganz,  1907-8;  Henry  A. 
Lardner,  1908-9;  Theodore  Beran,  1909- 
10;  Robert  T.  Lozier,  1910-11;  John 
Bottomley,  1911-12;  Henry  L.  Doherty, 
1912-13;  H.  H.  Barnes,  Jr.,  1913-14; 
Frederick  A.  Scheffler,  1914-15;  Elmer  A. 
Sperry,  1915-16;  Putnam  A.  Bates,  1916- 
17;  Dr.  A.  S.  McAllister,  1917-18;  A.  L. 
Doremus,  1918-19. 

J.  W.  Moreland  was  the  first  secretary 
of  the  society  and  A.  A.  Knudson  the 
second.  He  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  Wet- 
zler, and  he  by  George  H.  Guy,  the 
present  incumbent. 

ASSOCIATION  OF  RAILWAY  TELEGRAPH 
SUPERINTENDENTS 

The  Association  of  Railway  Telegraph 
Superintendents  was  organized  in  Chicago 
November  20,  1882,  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  the  advancement  of  the  tele- 
graph, telephone,  and  other  electrical  de- 
partments of  railroad  service.  Conven- 
tions are  held  annually  at  some  designated 
railroad  point.  Except  W.  K.  Morley, 
the  first  president,  who  served  two  years, 
a  new  president  has  been  elected  at  each 
annual  meeting,  the  President's  office  thus 
changing  to  his  business  headquarters.  The 
first  Secretary-Treasurer  was  C.  S.  Jones, 
and  P.  W.  Drew,  of  Chicago,  who  was 
elected  June  3,  1883,  was  annually  re- 
elected  for  thirty-three  terms,  his  last  elec- 
tion being  at  St.  Paul,  June  20,  1916,  but 
a  few  months  later,  Mr.  Drew  resigned, 


and  W.  L.  Connelly  of  Gibson,  Ind.,  was 
selected  as  secretary  and  treasurer  in  his 
place.  The  presidents  elected  have  been: 
W.  K.  Morley,  1882,  1883;  C.  Selden, 
1884;  C.  W.  Hammond,  1885;  A.  R. 
Swift,  1886;  G.  L.  Lang,  1887;  G.  C. 
Kinsman,  1889;  C.  A.  Darlton,  1889; 
G.  T.  Williams,  1890;  C.  S.  Jones,  1891; 
L.  H.  Korty,  1892;!;.  J.  Fry,  1893;  O.  C. 
Greene,  1894;  M.  B.  Leonard,  1895;  G. 
M.  Dugan,  1896;  J.  W.  Lattig,  1897;  W. 
W.  Ryder,  1898;  L.  B.  Foley,  1899;  W. 
F.  Williams,  1900;  C.  F.  Annett,  1901; 
J.  H.  Jacoby,  1902;  C.  S.  Rhoads,  1903; 
H.  C.  Hope,  1904;  E.  E.  Torrey,  1905; 
E.  A.  Chenery,  i9o6;E.  P.  Griffith,  1907; 
W.  J.  Camp,  1908;  J.  L.  Davis,  1909;  I. 
T.  Dyer,  1910;  G.  A.  Cellar,  1911;  J.  B. 
Sheldon,  1912;  W.  Bennett,  1913;  W.  C. 
Walstrum,  1914;  E.  C.  Keenan,  1915; 
M.  H.  Clapp,  1916. 

AMERICAN  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY 
ASSOCIATION 

This  association  was  not  originally  an 
electrical  society,  as  its  first  organization 
antedated  the  electric  railway.  It  was  or- 
ganized as  the  American  Street  Railway 
Association  at  a  meeting  held  in  Boston  on 
December  12  and  13,  1882.  In  September, 
1905,  the  name  of  the  Association  was 
changed  to  the  American  Street  and  In- 
terurban  Railway  Association;  and  in 
October,  1910,  to  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Association.  In  1905  the  Street 
Railway  Accountants'  Association  of 
America,  the  American  Railway  and 
Mechanical  Electric  Association,  and  the 
Street  Railway  Claim  Agents'  Association 
of  America,  were  joined  with  this  organ- 
ization as  affiliated  bodies;  and  in  1908 
the  American  Street  and  Interurban  Trans- 
portation and  Traffic  Association  was  or- 
ganized as  an  affiliated  association.  In 
February,  1916,  the  scope  of  the  Associa- 
tion was  broadened  so  as  to  include  man- 
ufacturing companies,  as  well  as  railway 
companies,  in  the  membership. 

There  were  fifty-six  street  railways  rep- 
resented at  the  organization  meeting  in 
Boston  in  1882,  and  H.  H.  Littell,  general 
manager  of  the  Louisville,  Ky.,  Street 
Railway  Company,  was  the  first  president, 
for  the  year  1882-3. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


307 


The  association  as  now  organized  has 
brought  into  one  group  body  all  the 
national  associations  working  in  the  in- 
terest of  electric  railways.  It  has  accom- 
plished many  important  things  for  the 
benefit  of  railway  service,  notably  in  work 
for  the  standardization  of  methods  and 
practices.  Through  it  have  been  accom- 
plished the  standard  code  of  operating 
rules  both  for  street  and  interurban  prop- 
erties, also  important  work  toward  se- 
curing the  Standard  Classification  of  Ac- 
counts for  electric  railways,  and  it  has 
created  numerous  engineering  standards 
and  recommendations.  It  has  secured  a 
lowering  of  insurance  rates  on  electric  rail- 
way properties,  and  effective  methods  of 
fire  prevention;  has  been  a  powerful  factor 
in  bettering  the  relations  between  railway 
companies  and  the  public,  and  bringing 
about  a  better  understanding  between  the 
companies  and  their  employees.  It  has, 
through  its  Company  Sections  and  by  means 
of  its  educational  courses,  assisted  materi- 
ally in  the  education  of  electric  railway 
men;  and,  through  the  discussions  at  its 
conventions  and  the  acts  of  its  committees, 
has  collected  and  disseminated  information 
of  great  value  in  improving  the  efficiency 
of  electric  railway  practices  and  methods. 

The  offices  of  the  Association  were  in 
Brooklyn,  1882-1895,  in  Chicago,  1895- 
1905  and  since  1905  have  been  in  New 
York.  The  presidents  of  the  Association 
have  been  H.  H.  Littell,  1882-3;  William 
H.  Hazzard,  1883-4;  Calvin  A.  Richards, 
1884-5;  Julius  S,  Walsh,  1885-6;  T.  W. 
Ackley,  1886-7;  Charles  B.  Holmes,  1887- 
8;  George  B.  Kerper,  1888-9;  Thomas 
Lowry,  1 8  89-90;  Henry  M.Watson,  1890- 
i;  John  G.  Holmes,  1891-2;  D.  F.  Long- 
street,  1892-3;  H.  C.  Payne,  1893-4;  Joel 
Hurt,  1894-5;  H.  M.  Littell,  1895-6; 
Robert  McCulloch,  1896-7;  Albion  E. 
Lang,  1897-8;  Charles  S.  Sargent,  1898-9; 
John  M.  Roach,  1899-1900;  Walton  H. 
Holmes,  1900-1 ;  H.  H.  Vreeland,  1901-2; 
Jere  C.  Hutchins,  1902-3;  W.  Caryl  Ely, 
1903-6;  John  I.  Beggs,  1906-7;  C.  G. 
Goodrich,  1907-8;  James  F.  Shaw,  1908- 
10 ;  Arthur  W.  Brady,  1910-11;  Thomas 
N.  McCarter,  1911-12;  George  H.  Har- 
ries, 1912-13;  Charles  N.  Black,  1913-14; 
C.  Loomis  Allen,  1914-15;  Charles  L. 
Henry,  1915-16;  L.  S.  Storrs,  1916-17; 


John  J.  Stanley,  1917-18,  and  J.  H.  Par- 
dee,  1918-19. 

The  Secretaries  have  been,  William  J. 
Richardson,  1882-95;  Thomas  C.  Pen- 
nington,  1895-1905;  Bernard  E.  Swenson, 
1905-9;  H.  C.  Donecker,  1909-13;  E.  B. 
Burritt  since  1913. 

AMERICAN    INSTITUTE    OF    ELECTRICAL 
ENGINEERS 

The  profession  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing has  had  a  development  more  remark- 
able in  the  rapidity  of  its  rise  than  any 
other  in  history.  In  this  achievement  no 
factor  has  been  more  potent  than  the  or- 
ganization which,  when  the  profession,  as 
we  now  know  it,  was  in  its  formative 
period,  was  created  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  its  members  together  for  counsel 
and  improvement  and  for  the  general  ad- 
vancement of  electrical  research  and 
achievement. 

The  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  was  organized  in  New  York  on 
May  13,  1884.  A  preliminary  meeting 
of  the  founders  was  held  on  April  15,  1884, 
in  response  to  a  call  which  had  been  cir- 
culated to  a  considerable  extent  among 
men  identified  with  electrical  activities  and 
interests.  The  list  of  those  signing  the  call 
is  of  interest  as  a  most  representative  one 
of  those  who  in  that  early  day  (electrically 
speaking)  were  prominent  in  divers  ways 
in  such  electrical  interests  and  projects  as 
were  then  being  conducted  or  promoted. 
The  following,  many  of  them  still  living, 
were  signers  of  the  call:  Norvin  Green, 

A.  W.  Dimock,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  George 

B.  Prescott,   Frank  L.   Pope,  George  A. 
Hamilton,  Gerrit  Smith,  Roland  R.  Haz- 
ard,  Charles  L.   Buckingham,   Charles  S. 
H.  Small,  Stephen  D.  Field,  A.  D.  Schuyler, 
L.  E.  Curtis,  Edward  Weston,  C.  O.  Mail- 
loux,  E.  A.  Leslie,  Charles  D.  Haskins,  J. 
A.  Seely,  J.  H.  Bunnell,  George  B.  Scott, 
S.  B.  Eaton,  W.  H.  McGrath,  H.  Seymour 
Geary,   A.    B.    Chandler,   William   Hoch- 
hausen,   George  D.  Allen,  A.  A.  Hayes, 
Augustus  C.  Graham,  George  M.  Hopkins, 
L.  G.  Tillotson,  G.  V.  B.  Frost,  R.  D.  Bu- 
chanan,   Edward    Callahan,    William    C. 
Behrens,  T.  H.  Delano,  William  H.  Childs, 
Frank  Shaw,  Charles  J.  VanDepoele,  C.  E. 
Chinnock,  H.  L.  Bailey,  Theodore  Mace, 
W.    H.    Eckert,    Robert    Brown,    E.    N. 


308 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Dickerson,  Jr.,  D.  Van  Nostrand,  W.  J. 
Johnston,  Francis  W.  Jones,  James  W. 
McDonough,  Thomas  R.  Taltavall,  P.  H. 
Van  der  Weyde,  A.  K.  Eaton,  F.  A.  P. 
Barnard,  C.  F.  Chandler,  W.  P.  Trow- 
bridge,  Thomas  Egleston,  F.  S.  Newberry, 
F.  R.  Hutton,  J.  H.  Van  Amringe,  J.  K. 
Rees,  Joseph  P.  Davis,  D.  H.  Bates,  N.  S. 
Keith,  W.  A.  Hovey,  George  W.  Fuller, 
Charles  A.  Randall,  W.  G.  Holcomb, 
George  F.  Bulen,  Robert  Hewitt,  Jr., 
Frank  C.  Mason,  W.  D.  Sargent,  J.  C. 
Reilly,  P.  L.  Watson,  C.  S.  Thompson,  A. 
E.  Huntington,  Charles  L.  Clarke,  G.  L. 
Beetle,  T.  C.  Martin,  George  Worthing- 
ton,  F.  B.  Knight,  H.  B.  Lytle,  C.  M. 
Lungren,  George  C.  Maynard,  Frank  B. 
Rae,  Edwin  J.  Houston,  Thomas  D. 
Lockwood,  Elihu  Thomson,  George  W. 
Stockley,  A.  A.  Hayes.  Not  all  of  these 
men,  however,  were  charter  members  of 
the  Institute.  The  men  who  became  char- 
ter members  were  those  who  attended  the 
preliminary  meeting  held  in  response  to 
the  call  issued  by  the  original  signers. 
Among  the  charter  members  still  living 
are  the  following:  Alexander  Graham 
Bell,  Adam  Bosch,  Charles  F.  Brush, 
Charles  L.  Clarke,  C.  R.  Cross,  Joseph  P. 
Davis,  Patrick  Bernard  Delany,  E.  N. 
Dickerson,  Thomas  A.  Edison,  George  A. 
Hamilton,  Nathaniel  S.  Keith,  Thomas 
D.  Lockwood,  C.  O.  Mailloux,  T.  Com- 
merford  Martin,  Jesse  M.  Smith,  Edward 
P.  Thompson,  Elihu  Thomson,  Elmer  A. 
Sperry,  Theodore  N.  Vail,  William  B.  Van- 
size,  Edward  Weston. 

A  second  meeting  was  held  on  May  13, 

1884,  at  which  a  permanent  organization 
was  effected,  to  be  known  as  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  Insti- 
tute, for  the  presentation  and  discussion 
of  professional  papers,  was  held  during 
the  International  Electrical  Exhibition  in 
Philadelphia  on  October  7  and  8,  1884. 
After  holding  two  annual  meetings  in  New 
York,  the  experiment  of  monthly  meetings 
was  begun,  in  accordance  with  suggestions 
made  at  the  Annual  Meeting  in  May, 

1885,  and  these  monthly  meetings   have 
been  continued  to  the  present  day,  except- 
ing during  the  summer  months. 

Having  become  fairly  well  established 
as  the  national  electrical  organization  of 


America,  it  was  felt  that,  as  a  next  step 
to  its  development,  the  Institute  should 
take  active  steps  toward  identifying  itself 
with  international  work,  thereby  securing 
proper  recognition  for  the  important  re- 
searches of  Americans  who  were  hitherto 
largely  ignored  because  no  organized 
body  representing  this  country  had  par- 
ticipated in  the  international  congresses  of 
Europe.  Such  a  Congress  was  held  in 
Paris  in  1889,  in  connection  with  the  In- 
ternational Exposition,  and  a  delegation 
from  the  Institute  attended  and  partici- 
pated in  the  Congress,  their  presence  be- 
ing recorded  in  the  official  proceedings. 
In  1891  the  Institute  received  and  accepted 
an  invitation  to  appoint  delegates  to  at- 
tend the  Frankfort  International  Electri- 
cal Congress  and  to  take  part  in  its  delib- 
erations. The  Institute  was  ably  repre- 
sented by  five  prominent  members.  The 
Frankfort  Congress  adjourned  to  meet  in 
Chicago  in  1893,  at  the  World's  Colum- 
bian Exposition,  and  the  Institute  on  that 
occasion  undertook  and  carried  through 
to  a  successful  issue  the  organization  of 
the  World's  Electrical  Congress.  The 
Institute's  participation  in  these  three  Con- 
gresses proved  a  potent  factor  in  win- 
ning recognition  abroad  both  for  the  In- 
stitute and  for  American  electrical  engi- 
neers. 

Its  subsequent  history  is  well  known. 
From  a  small  body  of  a  few  hundred  men 
struggling  for  recognition,  it  has  grown 
into  a  great  engineering  organization  with 
a  membership  of  approximately  ten  thou- 
sand, numbering  among  its  members  many 
of  the  leading  engineers  of  the  United 
States  and  foreign  countries.  Its  members 
have  organized  local  Sections  in  thirty-four 
of  the  principal  electrical  centers  of  the 
United  States,  Canada,  Mexico,  and  Pan- 
ama; and  Student  Branches  have  been  es- 
tablished by  faculty  members  who  are 
also  members  of  the  Institute  in  fifty-eight 
institutions  of  learning  throughout  the 
United  States. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  attempt  to 
enumerate  the  specific  achievements  of  the 
Institute.  Its  activities  cover  every  branch 
of  electrical  engineering,  and  practically  all 
of  the  advances  in  electrical  matters  have 
been  made  by  men  who  are  members  of 
the  Institute.  Through  its  work  It  has 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


309 


come  to  be  recognized  by  State  and  Na- 
tional authorities  as  the  representative 
body  of  electrical  engineers  in  this  coun- 
try, and  it  has  frequently  been  called  upon 
to  take  action  in  matters  of  public  impor- 
tance in  various  States  and  by  the  National 
Government  itself. 

Its  Proceedings,  published  monthly  in 
two  sections,  contain  news  and  notices  of 
interest  to  members,  as  well  as  technical 
papers,  reports  of  committees,  and  other 
matters  of  an  engineering  character. 

Its  Transactions,  published  annually, 
contain  selected  technical  papers,  discus- 
sions and  reports,  forming  a  permanent 
record  of  the  progress  of  electricity. 

Since  its  organization,  the  Institute  has 
had  its  headquarters  in  New  York.  It 
occupied  various  down-town  locations  un- 
til 1907,  when  the  Institute  found  a  final 
home  for  its  executive  officers  in  the  build- 
ing 25-33  West  Thirty-ninth  Street,  New 
York.  The  building  is  the  gift  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Carnegie  to  the  engineers  of  Am- 
erica as  represented  by  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers, 
and  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers. These  four  societies  have  an  equal 
interest  in  its  ownership  and  administra- 
tion. 

The  presidents  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  from  its  or- 
ganization have  been,  *Norvin  Green, 
1884-6;  *Franklin  L.  Pope,  1886-7;  T- 
Commerford  Martin,  1887-8,  Edward 
Weston,  1888-9;  Elihu  Thomson,  1889- 
90;  *William  A.  Anthony,  1890-1;  Alex- 
ander Graham  Bell,  1891-92;  Frank  Ju- 
lian Sprague,  1892-3;  *Edwin  J.  Houston, 
1893-5;  *Louis  Duncan,  1895-7;  Francis 
Bacon  Crocker,  1897-8;  A.  E.  Kennelly, 
1898-1900;  Carl  Hering,  1900-1;  Charles 
P.  Steinmetz,  1901-2;  Charles  F.  Scott, 
1902-3;  Bion  J.  Arnold,  1903-4;  John  W. 
Lieb,  1904-5;  Schuyler  Skaats  Wheeler, 
1905-6;  Samuel  Sheldon,  1906-7;  *Henry 
G.  Stott,  1907-8;  Louis  A.  Ferguson, 
1908-9;  Lewis  B.  Stillwell,  1909-10; 
Dugald  G.  Jackson,  1910-11 ;  Gano  Dunn, 
1911-12;  Ralph  D.  Mershon,  1912-13; 
C.  O.  Mailloux,  1913-14;  Paul  M.  Lin- 
coln, 1914-15  ;  John  J.  Carty,  191 5-16  ;H. 


'Deceased. 


W.  Buck,  1916-17;  E.  W.  Rice,  Jr.,  1917- 
18;  Comfort  A.  Adams,  1918-19. 

The  secretaries  of  the  Institute,  from 
its  origin,  have  been,  N.  S.  Keith,  1884-5; 
T.  Commerford  Martin  (Acting  Secre- 
tary), 1884-5;  RalPh  W.  Pope,  1885- 
1911;  F.  L.  Hutchinson,  since  1912  to 
date. 

THE    NATIONAL    ELECTRIC    LIGHT 
ASSOCIATION 

The  National  Electric  Light  Associ- 
ation was  organized  to  foster  and  promote 
the  effectiveness  of  the  service  furnished 
by  electric  central  station  corporations  en- 
gaged in  the  production,  transmission  and 
distribution  of  electricity,  in  supplying  the 
public  with  light,  heat,  power  and  other 
forms  of  service.  It  was  believed  that  the 
highest  economies  and  efficiencies  could 
be  reached  only  through  the  effective  co- 
operation of  all  of  the  factors  engaged  in 
the  industry,  to  which  end  the  Association 
was  founded  in  1885  in  Chicago. 
Throughout  the  thirty-three  years  follow- 
ing its  inception,  it  has  not  only  fulfilled 
its  original  object,  but  has  taken  on  many 
newer  and  broader  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities. The  Association  is  in  itself  a 
concrete  expression  of  the  social  and  polit- 
ical belief  that  it  is  economically  unwise 
for  governmental  authorities  of  whatever 
degree  to  engage  in  the  ownership  and  con- 
duct of  industrial  enterprises.  It  has  also 
demonstrated  that  centralization  of  effort 
and  production,  with  the  greatest  possible 
volume  of  output,  are  essential  for  the  fur- 
thest economy  and  efficiency  and  to  provide 
the  maximum  expansion,  the  highest  stand- 
ards of  service,  and  the  lowest  rates  to  the 
public.  It  has  lent  its  support  to  the  great 
movement  for  the  conservation  of  energy 
and  of  natural  resources.  It  has  favored 
and  promoted  reasonable  State  regulation 
by  Commission  rather  than  wasteful  com- 
petition, as  a  means  of  assuring  reasonable 
rates  for  service.  It  holds  that  no  instance 
exists  where  public  utility  competition  has 
not  finally  been  at  the  expense  of  the  com- 
munity served,  and  that  a  regulated  mon- 
opoly is  the  essential  condition  for  best 
service. 

The  Association  is  constructed  on  an  un- 
usually broad  basis  of  membership.  Full 


310 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


membership  is  limited  to  operating  public 
utility  electric  light  and  power  companies, 
which  are  designated  Class  A  members. 
This  is  followed  by  four  classes  of  asso- 
ciate members :  Class  B  membership  com- 
prises individual  officers  and  employees  of 
Class  A  members.  Class  C  membership 
includes  teachers  in  institutions  of  learning, 
consulting  engineers,  officials  of  Public 
Service  Commissions,  and  others  inter- 
ested in  the  scientific  development  of  ap- 
plied electricity.  Class  D  membership 
provides  for  manufacturers  of  electrical 
apparatus  and  mechanical  appliances  used 
in  connection  with  electrical  supply  and 
service;  and  Class  E  is  composed  of  officers 
and  employees  of  Class  D  members.  There 
is  also  a  growing  class  of  Foreign  Mem- 
bers, corporate  and  individual,  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  to  whom  the  useful  ac- 
tivities of  the  Association  make  a  strong 
appeal,  and  by  whom  its  publications  are 
eagerly  sought.  In  a  special  class  of  hon- 
orary members  will  be  found,  without  dis- 
tinction of  nationality,  the  names  of  great 
living  inventors  and  creative  contributors 
to  the  art  of  applied  electricity  and  many 
who  have  sought  to  shape  it  for  the  best 
service  of  mankind.  These  classes  now 
represent  a  total  of  more  han  1 2,000  mem- 
bers. 

The  Association  has  a  governing  organ- 
ization of  peculiarly  flexible  character  in- 
suring progressive  development  and  initia- 
tive, its  Executive  Committee  being  com- 
posed of  the  President — holding  office  for 
one  year  only — four  Vice-Presidents,  nine 
Class  A  or  B  members,  elected  by  the  an- 
nual convention  to  the  number  of  three 
each  year,  the  Treasurer,  the  retiring  Presi- 
dent, and  the  Chairmen  of  the  National 
Special  Sections.  To  these  recurring  an- 
nually are  added  the  new  Presidents  or 
Chairmen  of  the  Geographic  and  State 
Sections  elected  from  the  various  sections 
of  the  country  affiliated  with  the  National 
body. 

The  engineering  and  attendant  scientific 
and  educational  work  of  the  Association, 
is  carried  on  through  appropriate  subdi- 
visions of  the  National  organization  known 
as  the  Technical  and  Hydro-Electric  Sec- 
tion, the  Commercial  Section,  the  Account- 
ing Section,  and  the  Electric  Vehicle  Sec- 
tion. No  person  is  eligible  for  member- 


ship in  any  of  these  or  in  any  other  Na- 
tional Special  Section  who  is  not  a  member 
of  the  Association  itself.  By  far  the  largest 
specialized  group  of  this  kind  within  the 
Association  is  the  Technical  and  Hydro 
Electric  Section. 

The  effective  working  and  the  continu- 
ous usefulness  of  the  Association  depend 
not  more  upon  the  administration  at  head- 
quarters and  the  guidance  of  the  Executive 
Committee  than  upon  the  vigilant  assist- 
ance of  the  numerous  standing  and  special 
committees  of  the  Association  and  its  Na- 
tional Special  Sections.  Of  these  commit- 
tees there  are  now  about  70  with  some  500 
leading  experts  in  their  membership.  If 
to  these  are  added  the  corresponding  and 
kindred  committees  in  the  Geographic 
Sections,  a  total  is  reached  of  at  least  1000 
men  in  the  industry  who,  without  compen- 
sation, are  devoting  their  best  thought, 
through  the  Association,  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  art  and  the  consequent  benefit 
to  the  public.  Not  only  does  this  service 
find  expression  in  valuable  annual  reports 
that  are  the  landmarks  of  progress,  but  in 
quick  and  prompt  assistance  given  to  mem- 
bers in  the  solution  of  pressing  problems 
of  the  hour,  as  well  as  in  several  hand- 
books which  are  permanently  valuable  con- 
tributions to  the  literature  of  electricity, 
and  have  received  very  wide  appreciation 
not  only  from  public  utility  companies  and 
their  employees,  but  from  college  pro- 
fessors and  college  students  engaged  in 
the  engineering  courses  of  colleges  and 
technical  schools.  This  literature  is  fur- 
nished without  charge  to  120  universi- 
ties and  colleges  with  engineering  courses. 

The  work  of  the  Association  is  pro- 
moted primarily  and  principally  by  edu- 
cational methods.  By  far  the  largest  part 
of  its  income  in  dues  is  returned  to  its  mem- 
bership in  the  form  of  educational  publi- 
cations, including  the  Proceedings  and  the 
monthly  Bulletin  in  magazine  form. 

For  several  years  the  Association  has 
been  developing  through  Company  Sec- 
tions and  with  the  aid  of  its  National  Spe- 
cial Sections  a  plan  of  educational  work 
for  the  higher  training  and  improved  effi- 
ciency of  the  men  engaged  in  the  industry. 
These  educational  efforts  are  strikingly 
exemplified  in  the  successful  courses  of  the 
Commercial  Section  in  Electrical  Engi- 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


311 


neering  and  Salesmanship,  and  in  those  of 
the  Accounting  Section;  but  they  are  also 
brilliantly  illustrated  by  the  vocational 
work  undertaken  in  several  cities  by  mem- 
ber companies  dealing  with  their  employ- 
ees at  first  hand  in  the  endeavor  to  make 
them  not  only  more  effective  men,  but,  on 
the  whole,  better  citizens.  The  Associa- 
tion now  has  over  50  Company  Sections 
in  existence,  many  of  them  with  their  own 
monthly  Bulletins,  all  holding  regular 
meetings,  for  the  dissemination  of  knowl- 
edge and  all  inculcating  ideals  of  personal 
efficiency,  enhanced  ability  to  serve,  and 
higher  standards  of  public  service.  The 
Association  maintains,  free  of  cost  to 
Company  Sections,  a  Lecture  Bureau  to 
which  leaders  in  the  art  contribute  each 
year.  The  Bureau  is  a  very  active  center 
each  winter  in  the  circulation  of  these  lec- 
tures with  the  aid  of  "movies"  and  thou- 
sands of  lantern  slides.  To  a  great  many 
of  these  meetings  the  public  has  the  "open 
door." 

At  a  very  early  stage  the  Association 
took  part  in  the  now  universal  "Safety 
First"  movement,  and  is  at  present  coop- 
erating with  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Standards 
to  develop  and  perfect  a  National  Electri- 
cal Safety  Code.  One  of  its  most  notable 
efforts  in  this  direction  was  its  creation  of  a 
National  medical  commission  for  the  study 
of  resuscitation  from  electrical  shock, 
Sustaining  entirely  the  expenses  of  this 
body,  which  included  the  most  distin- 
guished medical  experts  in  the  country,  it 
formulated  and  published  broadcast  a 
brief  set  of  rules  and  recommendations  on 
this  subject.  These  have  been  adopted  by 
the  U.  S.  Governmental  departments,  State 
bureaus,  great  railroad  systems,  and  lead- 
ing industrialists,  have  been  published  by  a 
great  number  of  newspapers,  and  have 
been  translated  into  many  languages  and 
adopted  by  several  foreign  authorities. 
The  Association  is  now  taking  up  this  sub- 
ject anew  and  has  reorganized  forces  for 
its  consideration  in  the  light  of  the  latest 
scientific  investigations. 

It  may  be  mentioned  as  an  evidence  of 
the  patriotic  spirit  pervading  the  Associa- 
tion that  early  in  1918,  its  members  com- 
panies were  represented  by  no  fewer  than 
14,135  duly  recorded  officers  and  men  in 
the  U.  S.  Army,  Navy  and  Signal  Corps ;  by 


over  $43,000,000  in  subscriptions  to  the 
three  Liberty  Loans;  by  $1,588,000  given 
to  the  American  Red  Cross;  and  by  War 
Savings  Stamp  sales  to  the  amount  of 
$667,000. 

The  presidents  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  have  been   as   follows, 
those  deceased  being  indicated  by  an  aste- 
risk: 
*James  F.  Morrison  of  Baltimore. 

Samuel  A.  Duncan  of  Pittsburgh. 

Edwin  R.  Weeks  of  Kansas  City. 

Marsden  J.  Perry  of  Providence. 

Charles  R.  Huntley  of  Buffalo. 
*James  I.  Ayer  of  St.  Louis. 

Edward  A.  Armstrong  of  Camden,  N.  J. 
*M.  Judson  Francisco  of  Rutland. 
*C.  H.  Wilmerding  of  Chicago. 

Frederic  Nicholls  of  Toronto. 

Samuel  Insull  of  Chicago. 
*Alden  M.  Young  of  Waterbury,  Conn. 

Samuel  T.  Carnes  of  Memphis. 
*James  Blake  Cahoon  of  New  York. 

Henry  L.  Doherty  of  Denver. 

Louis  A.  Ferguson  of  Chicago. 

Charles  L.  Edgar  of  Boston. 

Ernest  H.  Davis  of  Williamsport,  Pa. 

William  H.  Blood,  Jr.  of  Boston. 

Arthur  Williams  of  New  York. 

Dudley  Farrand  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

William  C.  L.  Eglin  of  Phila. 

Frank  W.  Frueauff  of  Denver. 

W.  W.  Freeman  of  Brooklyn. 

John  F.  Gilchrist  of  Chicago. 

Frank  M.  Tait  of  Dayton,  O. 

Joseph  B.  McCall  of  Phila. 

Holton  H.  Scott  of  New  York. 

Edward  W.  Lloyd  of  Chicago. 

Herbert  A.  Wagner  of  Baltimore. 

John  W.  Lieb  of  New  York. 

Walter  F.  Wells  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

The  Secretary  is  Mr.  T.  C.  Martin.  As 
assistant  secretary,  Miss  Harriet  K.  Bil- 
lings served  actively  for  2o  years  until 
1909,  a  record  that  is  probably  unique  of 
its  kind.  The  offices  have  been  for  many 
years  in  the  splendid  building  of  the  United 
Engineering  Societies,  29  West  Thirty- 
Ninth  Street,  New  York  City. 

ASSOCIATION  OF  EDISON  ILLUMINATING 
COMPANIES 

In  1885,  James  S.  Humbird,  general 
agent  of  the  Edison  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany for  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  sent 


312 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


out  a  circular  letter  requesting  the  various 
Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Companies  to 
hold  a  conference  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  on 
April  15,  1885,  and  that  meeting  was  at- 
tended by  H.  K.  Wood  of  Piqua,  Ohio; 
Westley  Auten  and  Frank  S.  Marr,  of  Sun- 
bury,  Pa.;  William  Schwenk  and  T.  M. 
Righter,  of  Mt.  Carmel,  Pa. ;  F.  S.  Hast- 
ings and  Samuel  Insull  of  New  York; 
James  S.  Humbird  of  Cumberland,  Md. ; 
H.  M.  Doubleday,  and  Francis  R.  Upton. 

The  object  of  the  meeting,  as  stated  by 
Mr.  Humbird,  was  to  effect  an  interchange 
of  opinions  among  those  who  were  inter- 
ested in  the  business,  in  order  to  elicit  all 
the  information  possible  for  the  purpose 
of  advancing  their  mutual  interests.  At 
this  meeting  "The  Association  of  Edison 
Illuminating  Companies"  was  organized 
and  its  first  officers  elected  as  follows: 
James  S.  Humbird,  President;  H.  K. 
Wood,  Vice-President;  Westley  Auten, 
Treasurer;  and  Frank  S.  Marr,  Secretary. 

From  its  organization  the  Association 
has  been  active  in  the  prosecution  of  its  ob- 
jects as  stated  at  the  outset,  and  for  the 
past  eight  years  its  headquarters  have  been 
in  the  Engineering  Building  in  New  York. 

Its  Presidents  in  succession  have  been 
James  S.  Humbird,  1885;  John  I.  Beggs, 
1886-93;  C.  L.  Edgar,  1893-6;  Samuel  In- 
sull, 1896-8;  R.  R.  Bowker,  1898-9;  John 
W.  Lieb,  Jr.,  1899-1901;  L.  A.  Ferguson, 
1901-3;  Joseph  B.  McCall,  1903-6;  Alex- 
ander Dow,  1906-8;  W.  W.  Freeman, 
1908-9;  Thomas  E.  Murray,  1909-11; 
General  George  H.  Harries,  1911-12; 
Arthur  Williams,  1912-14;  Walter  F. 
Wells,  1914-16;  Peter  Junkersfeld,  1916- 
7;  L.  L.  Elden,  1917-18. 

Its  Secretaries  have  been:  Frank  S. 
Marr,  1885;  J.  H.  Vail,  1886;  W.  J. 
Jenks,  1890-2;  W.  S.  Barstow,  1893-8; 
Wilson  S,  Howell,  Newark,  N.  J.,  1898- 
1901;  Walter  H.  Johnson,  1901-3;  Wil- 
liam S.  Barstow,  1903-4;  E.  A.  Leslie, 
1904-5;  George  R.  Stetson,  1905-6;  Er- 
nest H.  Davis,  1906-7;  W.  W.  Freeman, 
1907-8;  D.  L.  Huntington,  1908-9;  N.  T. 
Wilcox,  1909-11;  H.  T.  Edgar,  1911-12; 
and  from  1912  to  1917  George  C.  Hol- 
berton,  to  whom  succeeded  E.  A.  Edkins. 

THE  ELECTRIC  CLUB  OF  NEW  YORK 

The  Electric  Club  was  organized  in  New 
York  in  the  year  1886.  Several  gentle- 


men prominent  in  electrical  circles  of  those 
days  met  in  the  office  of  the  Electrical  Re- 
view by  invitation  of  George  Worthington, 
editor,  and  a  temporary  organization  was 
effected.  The  first  meetings  were  held  at 
the  Hotel  Dam,  Union  Square,  and  head- 
quarters were  established  there  in  a  room 
rented  for  that  purpose.  A  number  of  ad- 
dresses on  electrical  problems  of  the  day 
were  delivered  and  discussed,  the  first  one 
by  Dr.  Geo.  H.  Benjamin  outlining  the 
need  of  placing  all  electric  wires  under- 
ground. This  view  provoked  much  dis- 
cussion in  opposition,  but  soon  subsequently 
the  wires  were  all  buried  and  the  poles  and 
network  of  wires  and  the  few  cables  of  the 
day  disappeared  from  the  streets  and 
housetops  of  New  York,  thus  establishing 
Dr.  Benjamin's  right  as  a  prophet.  An- 
other address  was  by  the  late  Commodore 
Charles  A.  Cheever  on  the  Phelps  induc- 
tion telegraph  which  was  just  then  attract- 
ing attention. 

In  1887,  the  Club  having  grown  and 
prospered,  took  an  entire  building  at  17 
East  2  ist  Street,  where  it  remained  until 
it  disbanded  in  1892. 

The  officers  included  in  the  group  of 
portraits  herewith,  were  elected  in  1887 
and  were,  with  a  few  changes,  the  same 
that  were  elected  at  the  time  of  the  organ- 
ization the  previous  year.  One  error  ap- 
pears in  the  list  of  photographs — the  face 
of  Mr.  James  English  of  New  Haven, 
Conn,  appearing  over  the  name  of  Mr.  J. 
N.  Keller  of  Boston.  No  photograph  of 
Mr.  Keller  being  obtainable  in  time  for 
the  opening  of  the  Club  House,  the  enter- 
prising Secretary  filled  the  gap  with  the 
handiest  and  handsomest  photograph 
available,  hence  the  grouping  which  is  now 
corrected  for  the  truth  of  history. 

The  Club,  which  supplied  complete  ser- 
vice of  rooms  and  meals,  was  for  several 
years  the  general  meeting  place  of  men 
interested  in  all  branches  of  electrical  de- 
velopment from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  a  number  of  interesting  and  timely  ad- 
dresses were  delivered.  Among  those 
readily  recalled  were  addresses  by  Prof. 
Henry  A.  Rowland,  of  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  Dr.  Otto  A.  Moses,  E.  T.  Gil- 
liland,  Dr.  Louis  Duncan  and  E.  N.  Dick- 
erson.  The  Club  installed  its  own  lighting 
plant  largely  donated  by  the  liberal  manu- 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


313 


COMMITTEE    ON    MEMBERS*!*!! 


ELECTIVE  Or FICERS  *  **E  ELECTRIC  CLUB,  1887- 8. 


314 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


facturers  of  that  period.  A  complete  stor- 
age battery  plant  was  donated  and  in- 
stalled by  the  predecessor  of  the  well 
known  Electric  Storage  Battery  Company. 
Among  the  generous  contributions  for  the 
equipment  and  maintainance  of  the  Club 
was  one  of  $2,500  by  the  Metropolitan 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company — now 
the  New  York  Telephone  Company. 

The  list  of  Presidents  of  the  Electric 
Club  included  Henry  C.  Davis,  E.  T. 
Gilliland,  O.  E.  Madden  and  Samuel  In- 
sull.  The  membership  included  resident 
and  non-resident  and  numbered  several 
hundreds. 

In  1892  interest  in  the  Club  gradually 
decreased  due  to  the  departure  of  mem- 
bers to  other  electrical  organizations  and 
to  more  social  clubs,  and  its  doors  were 
finally  closed.  It  can  be  said  that  the 
Electric  Club  served  a  most  useful  pur- 
pose in  affording  an  opportunity  for  the 
enthusiastic  workers  in  the  new  science  and 
practice  of  electricity  to  become  personally 
acquainted  and  to  benefit  by  discussion  and 
experience,  and  find  a  common  meeting 
ground  where  rivalries  of  invention  and 
business  did  not  intrude.  The  Club  un- 
doubtedly was  the  means  of  advancing  elec- 
trical development  during  those  early  days 
full  of  problems  and  doubts  to  the  elec- 
trical man.  When  the  Club  dissolved 
many  of  its  members  found  a  natural  home 
in  the  Engineers  Club,  to  which  also  its 
steward  went,  while  another  large  con- 
tingent reinforced  the  ranks  of  the  Lotos 
Club. 

SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROMOTION  OF  ENGI- 
NEERING EDUCATION 

The  engineering  professions  have  had 
in  the  past  quarter  of  a  century  a  growth 
in  number  of  practitioners  larger  than  in 
all  the  centuries  before.  It  has  been  the 
Age  of  the  Engineer,  with  a  demand  for 
technical  and  practical  engineering  service 
which  has  outrun  the  supply.  The  elec- 
trical discoveries,  with  their  manifold  ap- 
plications, have  made  that  branch  of  engi- 
neering increasingly  important,  and  have 
made  a  considerable  technical  knowledge 
of  electricity  important  for  all  engineers. 
The  curricula  of  the  engineering  and  tech- 
nical schools  have  therefore  been  broad- 
ened so  that  the  exacting  requirements  of 


advanced  learning  for  the  modern  engi- 
neer are  met  by  a  teaching  body  which  has 
kept  pace  with  engineering  progress.  That 
this  is  so,  is  largely  due  to  the  efforts  and 
achievements  of  the  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Engineering  Education. 

This  Society  was  the  outgrowth  of  the 
meetings  of  Division  E  of  the  World's 
Engineering  Congress,  held  in  Chicago 
from  July  31  to  August  5,  1893,  in  con- 
nection with  the  World's  Columbian  Ex- 
position. Division  E  was  suggested  by 
Professor  Ira  O.  Baker  of  the  Civil  Engi- 
neering Department  of  the  University  of 
Illinois.  Judge  C.  C.  Bonney,  president  of 
the  Congress  Auxiliary  of  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition,  thought  that  the 
meeting  of  the  teachers  of  Engineering 
should  be  held  as  a  part  of  the  Educa- 
tion Congress,  but  Professor  Baker  in- 
duced him  to  arrange  it  as  Division  E  of 
the  Engineering  Congress.  The  World's 
Auxiliary  appointed  a  special  committee  to 
arrange  for  a  meeting  of  Division  E,  but 
the  entire  work  of  arranging  a  programme 
and  working  out  the  details  of  the  meet- 
ing fell  to  Professor  Baker. 

The  attendance  at  the  meetings  was 
very  large,  and  deep  interest  was  aroused. 
The  proposal  to  form  a  permanent  organi- 
zation was  enthusiastically  adopted,  and 
the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engi- 
neering Education  was  organized.  Pro- 
fessor De  Volson  Wood,  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Mechanical  Engineering,  Stevens 
Institute  of  Technology,  was  elected  presi- 
dent, and  Professor  J.  B.  Johnson,  of  the 
Department  of  Civil  Engineering,  Wash- 
ington University,  St.  Louis,  was  elected 
secretary.  The  Society  was  the  first  organi- 
zation and  apparently,  after  twenty-five 
years,  is  the  only  one  in  the  world  of  its 
kind.  After  its  first  year  it  had  156  mem- 
bers; it  now  has  more  than  fifteen  hun- 
dred, among  whom  are  included  the  lead- 
ing educators  in  engineering  education  in 
this  country  and  many  from  abroad.  It 
has  helped  to  raise  the  standards  of  engi- 
neering education  in  this  country  beyond 
those  of  many  other  professions,  and  it 
provides  a  means  by  which  the  different 
studies,  such  as  mathematics,  physics, 
chemistry,  mechanics,  etc.,  constituting  an 
engineering  curriculum,  can  be  coordinated 
and  correlated. 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


315 


Its  Proceedings,  published  annually 
since  1894,  reveal  the  complete  develop- 
ment of  engineering  education  as  it  exists 
in  this  country.  There  is  also  a  Bulletin, 
issued  monthly  from  September  to  June, 
and  various  special  publications.  The  liv- 
ing past  presidents  of  the  Society  are: 
G.  F.  Swain,  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  Mansfield 
Merriman,  New  York;  H.  T.  Eddy,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn.;  T.  C.  Mendenhall,  Ra- 
venna, O. ;  Ira  O.  Baker,  Urbana,  111.; 
Robert  Fletcher,  Hanover,  N.  H. ;  C. 
Frank,  Boston,  Mass.;  F.  W.  McNair, 
Houghton,  Mich. ;  D.  C.  Jackson,  Boston, 
Mass. ;  Charles  S.  Howe,  Cleveland,  Ohio; 

F.  E.  Turneaure,  Madison,  Wis.;  H.  S. 
Munroe,  Litchfield,  Conn. ;  A.  N.  Talbot, 
Urbana,  111. ;  W.  G.  Raymond,  Iowa  City, 
Iowa;  W.  T.  Magruder,  Columbus,  Ohio; 

G.  C.   Anthony,   Tufts    College,     Mass.; 
Anson  Marston,   Ames,   Iowa;  Henry  S. 
Jacoby,   Ithaca,  N.  Y. ;  G.   R.   Chatburn, 
Lincoln,  Nebr.,   and    Milo    S.    Ketchum, 
Boulder,  Colo. 

The  present  officers  are:  John  F.  Hay- 
ford,  Evanston,  111.,  president;  John  T. 
Faig,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  E.  R.  Maurer, 
Madison,  Wis.,  vice-presidents;  F.  L. 
Bishop,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  secretary;  and 
Wiliam  O.  Wiley,  New  York,  treasurer. 


The  Railway  Signaling  Club  was  organ- 
ized March  n,  1895,  by  G.  M.  Basford, 
W.  H.  Elliott,  H.  D.  Miles,  W.  B.  Tur- 
ner, W.  J.  Gillingham,  Jr.,  and  V.  K. 
Spicer,  at  Chicago,  and  Mr.  Gillingham 
was  its  first  president  and  Mr.  Basford  its 
first  secretary.  The  name  was  changed  to 
"Railway  Signal  Association"  on  Novem- 
ber 10,  1903.  Its  purpose  from  the  first  has 
been  the  advancement  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning the  design,  construction,  mainten- 
ance and  operation  of  railway  signalling 
appliances,  and  this  has  been  so  faithfully 
adhered  to  that  the  Recommended  Prac- 
tice and  Standards  adopted  by  the  Associa- 
tion are  in  very  general  use  on  railroads 
throughout  the  country.  The  headquar- 
ters of  the  Association  were  at  Chicago 
from  1895  to  1898;  at  Milwaukee  from 
1899  to  1902;  at  New  York  City  in  1903 
and  1904,  and  since  1905  at  Bethlehem, 
Pa. 

The  present  officers  are:  R.  E.  Trout, 


Frisco  System,  Springfield,  Mo.,  president; 
C.  J.  Kellonay,  of  Wilmington,  N.  C., 
and  F.  W.  Pfleging,  Omaha,  Neb.,  vice- 
presidents,  and  H.  S.  Balliet,  secretary- 
treasurer. 

OHIO  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  ASSOCIATION 

Mr.  Samuel  Scovil,  president  of  The 
Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Co.,  in 
February,  1895,  addressed  to  each  of  the 
electric  light  companies  in  Ohio,  a  letter 
favoring  cooperation  in  the  industry  in  that 
State.  At  a  preliminary  meeting  were  pres- 
ent D.  L.  Davis,  of  Salem;  J.  H.  Miller,  of 
Springfield;  J.  Gwynn,  of  Steubenville ; 
Jerome  Penn,  of  Washington  C.  H. ;  B.  P. 
Holmes,  of  Youngstown;  John  I.  Beggs, 
of  Cincinnati;  W.  C.  Hedges,  of  Mans- 
field; E.  H.  McKnight,  of  Bowling 
Green;  H.  M.  Lyman,  of  Canton;  A.  W. 
Field,  of  Columbus,  and  Samuel  Scovil, 
of  Cleveland.  On  May  31,  1895,  tne  or" 
ganization  was  perfected,  with  A.  W. 
Field  president  and  Samuel  Scovil  secre- 
tary. 

The  objects  stated  in  the  constitution  of 
the  association  and  steadily  adhered  to, 
are  to  foster  and  promote  the  common  in- 
terests of  its  members  and  to  advance 
scientific  and  practical  knowledge  in  all 
matters  relating  to  electric  light  and  power 
companies;  to  establish  cordial  and  bene- 
ficial relations  with  kindred  associations, 
and  also  to  render  such  assistance  and  ad- 
vice to  its  members  as  may  not  be  incon- 
sistent with  these  purposes.  From  that 
small  original  organization  in  1895  it  has 
grown  to  be  the  largest  State  electrical  as- 
sociation in  the  United  States.  It  publishes 
its  own  Monthly,  which  not  only  abstracts 
the  Utility  Commission's  reports  of  Ohio, 
and  court  decisions  affecting  electric  light 
and  power  companies,  but  is  a  means  of 
communication  between  the  association  and 
its  standing  committees.  Stated  meetings 
are  held  in  different  parts  of  Ohio  through- 
out the  year  in  which  one  day  is  set  apart 
to  the  consideration  of  subjects  entirely  de- 
voted to  the  work  of  that  standing  com- 
mittee and  all  employees  of  companies  con- 
cerned in  that  particular  branch  of  work 
are  invited  to  participate,  with  results  in 
the  betterment  of  employees  and  a  general 
raising  of  the  standard  of  service.  Be- 
sides the  Executive  Committee,  Advisory 


316 


THE  STORY  OF  ELECTRICITY 


Committee  and  Finance  Committee,  the 
Standing  Committees  include  an  Illumi- 
nation Committee,  Meter  Committee, 
Transmission  and  Distribution  Committee, 
New  Business  Cooperation  Committee, 
Standardization  of  Voltages  Committee, 
Insurance  Committee,  Advertising  Com- 
mittee and  Station  Operating  Committee. 
The  present  officers  are :  I.  L.  Oppen- 
heimer,  president,  of  Pomeroy,  Ohio;  C. 
H.  Howell,  vice-president,  of  Coshocton, 
Ohio,  and  D.  L.  Gaskill,  of  Greenville, 
Ohio.  Samuel  Scovil  was  secretary,  1895- 
99,  with  headquarters  at  Cleveland;  J.  H. 
Perkins  was  secretary  1899-1900,  with 
headquarters  at  Youngstown,  and  D.  L. 
Gaskill  has  been  secretary  since  that  time 
with  headquarters  at  Greenville. 

THE   SOUTHWESTERN   ELECTRICAL   AND 
GAS  ASSOCIATION 

Early  in  1895  seventeen  of  the  most 
prominent  gas  and  electric  light  men  of 
Texas  joined  in  a  call  for  a  meeting  which 
assembled  at  Houston,  May  22,  1895,  and 
organized  the  Texas  Gas  and  Electric 
Light  Association,  with  Homer  Starr,  of 
Gonzales,  Texas,  as  secretary.  Annual 
meetings  were  held  at  Dallas  in  1896,  and 
at  San  Antonio  in  1897. 

On  January,  16,  1898,  a  jointly  called 
meeting  of  the  Texas  Gas  and.  Electric 
Light  Association  and  the  Texas  Street 
Railway  Association  was  held  at  Austin, 
and  arranged  for  a  joint  international 
meeting,  which  convened  at  Laredo, 
Texas,  March  9  to  12,  1898,  of  these 
two  associations  and  representatives  of 
the  gas,  electric  light,  street  railway 
and  power  interests  of  Mexico,  at  which 
the  association  consolidated  under  the 
name  of  the  Southwestern  Gas,  Elec- 
trical and  Street  Railway  Association,  of 
which  Carl  Drake  was  elected  president 
and  E.  L.  Wells,  Jr.,  secretary.  The  first 
annual  meeting  of  this  consolidated-organi- 
zation was  held  at  Austin,  Texas,  May  17 
to  19,  1899,  at  which  Thomas  D.  Miller 
was  elected  president,  and  T.  H.  Stuart, 
secretary.  A  memorable  incident  of  this 
gathering  was  a  side  meeting  of  forty-four 
of  its  members  who  organized,  as  its  char- 
ter members,  the  now  celebrated  "Order  of 
the  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove,"  formulat- 
ing the  "ritual"  still  in  use  by  that  now 
numerous  and  prosperous  order. 


J.  F.  Strickland  was  elected  president 
at  the  second  annual  meeting  held  at  Waco, 
Texas,  1900,  and  H.  F.  Magregor  at  the 
third  annual  meeting  at  Houston,  1901, 
T.  H.  Stuart  being  continued  as  secretary. 
At  the  fourth  annual  meeting  in  San  An- 
tonio, 1902,  E.  H.  Jenkins  was  elected 
president  and  Frank  Scovill  as  secretary. 
The  death  of  the  president  and  the  re- 
moval from  the  State  of  the  secretary 
brought  about  a  temporary  disorganiza- 
tion, so  that  no  annual  meeting  was  held 
in  1903,  though  the  executive  committee 
selected  A.  E.  Judge  of  Tyler,  Texas,  as 
president  and  Frank  Scovill  as  secretary. 
Meanwhile  another  association  was  organ- 
ized in  Oklahoma  under  the  name  of  the 
Southwestern  Electrical  Association,  and  a 
joint  meeting  was  arranged  which,  con- 
vening at  Dallas,  Texas,  April  25  to  27, 
1904,  under  the  presidency  of  A.  E.  Judge 
consolidated  the  two  organizations  into  one 
under  the  present  name  of  The  South- 
western Electrical  and  Gas  Association. 
Conventions  have  since  been  held  annually, 
and  the  association  has  well  fulfilled  its 
object  to  promote  the  common  interests  of 
its  members  and  to  advance  scientific  and 
practical  knowledge  in  all  matters  pertain- 
ing to  electric  light,  electric  power,  electric 
railways,  telegraph,  telephone  and  gas  com- 
panies. 

The  presidents  of  the  associations  have 
been:  A.  E.  Judge,  Tyler,  Texas,  1903-4; 
J.  F.  Strickland,  Dallas,  1904-5;  V.  M. 
Phinney,  Dallas,  1905-6;  H.  S.  Cooper, 
Galveston,  1906-7;  H.  L.  Edgar,  Fort 
Worth,  1907-8;  R.  B.  Stichter,  Dallas, 
1908-9;  W.  B.  Head,  Stephensville,  Texas, 
1909-10;  W.  B.  Tuttle,  San  Antonio, 
1910-1 1 ;  Joe  E.  Carroll,  Beaumont,  1911- 
12;  Fred  M.  Lege,  Jr.,  Galveston,  1912- 
13;  George  H.  Clifford,  Fort  Worth,  1913- 
14;  Dan.  G.  Fisher,  Dallas,  1914-15; 
David  Daly,  Houston,  1915-16;  F.  R. 
Slater,  Dallas,  1916-17;  W.  A.  Sulli- 
van, Shreveport,  1917-18.  The  decision  of 
the  convention  of  1913  to  establish  a  per- 
manent headquarters  for  the  association  at 
Dallas,  with  a  permanent  secretary,  gave 
greatly  increased  strength  to  the  organ- 
ization, and  greatly  added  to  its  efficiency 
as  an  agency  for  the  welfare  of  the  united 
electrical  and  gas  interests  of  Texas.  H. 


317 


S.  Cooper  has  been  secretary  of  the  associ- 
ation since  1913. 

THE  JOVIAN  ORDER 

According  to  the  excellent  official 
manual,  the  Jovian  Order  owes  its  exist- 
ence to  three  men,  Charles  W.  Hobson, 
Charles  A.  Newning  and  Sam  A.  Hobson, 
who  today  are  known  respectively,  upon 
Jovian  records  as  Potentials  One,  Two  and 
Three,  and  each  of  whom  in  the  first  strug- 
gling years  of  the  Order's  existence  guided 
its  destiny  as  Jupiter.  To  the  first  named 
is  due  the  suggestion  of  the  necessity  for 
and  possibilities  in  an  organization  to  pro- 
mote the  success  of  Texas  electrical  con- 
ventions ;  to  the  second,  the  expansion  of 
that  idea  and  the  authorship  of  the  "Basis 
and  Plan"  and  "Ritual"  of  the  Order;  to 
the  third,  the  practical  adaptation  of 
the  Plan  and  the  Ritual;  to  all  three 
and  many  others  of  the  early  members 
of  the  Order,  the  labor  incident  to  its 
propagation  for  many  years  thereafter. 
The  original  plans  were  brought  to  a  defi- 
nite conclusion,  after  much  discussion  and 
several  changes  in  the  working  of  the 
idea  at  first  conceived,  at  a  meeting  in 
Austin,  Texas,  on  May  20,  1899,  at  which 
Charles  W.  Hobson  presided  and  Charles 
A.  Newning  acted  as  secretary.  Secretary 
Newning  presented  as  his  work,  the  "Greek 
Mythological  Basis  and  Plan  of  the  Order 
of  Rejuvenated  Sons  of  Jove,"  under  which 
a  permanent  organization  was  thereby 
effected. 

The  first  Rejuvenation  was  held  at 
Waco,  Texas,  on  April  14,  1900,  nearly 
one  year  after  the  birth  of  the  Order,  with 
twelve  initiates;  the  second  at  Houston, 
Texas,  April  19,  1901,  with  ten  candidates; 
the  third  and  fourth  during  1912,  repre- 
senting thirty-seven  new  members  and  the 
first  year  in  which  more  than  one  initiation 
was  held. 

Due  to  the  fact  that  the  mission  of  the 
Order  was  viewed  as  principally  that  of 
supplying  the  major  entertainment  feature 
for  the  annual  conventions  of  the  South- 
western Gas,  Electric  and  Street  Railway 
Association,  but  little  effort  was  expended 
toward  increasing  the  Order's  membership 
other  than  that  evident  at  those  conven- 
tions. This  is  emphasized  by  the  small  num- 
ber of  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight,  the 


total  membership  at  the  end  of  eight  years. 
During  the  ninth  year  of  its  existence  the 
Order  showed  its  first  material  member- 
ship increase,  amounting  to  a  gain  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty,  bringing  the  total  to 
eleven  hundred  and  twenty-eight. 

The  initiation  fee  as  first  established 
amounted  to  ten  dollars  (this  has  never 
been  changed)  ;  the  annual  dues  were  one 
dollar,  amply  sufficing  to  carry  the  expense, 
representing  little  more  than  that  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Southwestern  Convention  Re- 
juvenations. 

Official  records  of  the  Order  prior  to  the 
tenth  administration  (the  fourteenth  Jo- 
vian year)  are  either  entirely  missing  or 
exceeding  meager,  but,  as  nearly  as  it  is  now 
possible  to  establish  the  facts,  increased 
membership  and  activity  along  some  chan- 
nels other  than  convention  entertainment, 
soon  brought  a  need  for  strengthening  the 
Order's  finances.  The  necessity  for  ad- 
ditional funds  becoming  imperative  during 
the  Jovian  year  of  1907  and  1908,  an  at- 
tempt was  made  to  meet  the  need  by  offer- 
ing to  members  life  membership  upon  pay- 
ment of  twenty-five  dollars.  The  life  mem- 
bership plan  proved  inadequate,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year  during  which  it  was  origi- 
nated, Jovian  annual  dues  were  increased 
to  two  dollars.  The  figure  decided  upon 
was  insufficient,  as  each  succeeding  Jupiter 
found  either  a  deficit  at  the  close  of  his 
administration,  or,  much  useful  work  neg- 
lected because  of  lack  of  funds,  or,  both 
of  those  conditions.  This  situation  was 
further  aggravated,  particularly  prior  to 
the  tenth  administration,  by  an  extraordi- 
narily large  number  of  members  delinquent 
in  payment  of  Jovian  dues. 

There  had  been  apparent  for  many  years 
the  desire  for  a  more  serious  note  and  a  de- 
mand for  constructive  labor  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Order,  its  members  and  the  elec- 
trical industry.  This  increased  in  force  and 
took  tangible  form  at  the  Ninth  Annual 
Convention  in  Denver.  At  that  meeting 
the  office  of  "Assistant  to  Jupiter,"  the  title 
held  previously,  for  a  period  of  four  years, 
by  the  salaried  employe  in  charge  of  the 
central  office,  was  abolished.  Mercury  be- 
came an  employe  as  well  as  an  elective  of- 
ficer, and  was  placed  in  direct  charge  of 
the  central  office,  acting  in  the  capacity  of 
secretary,  treasurer  and  general  manager. 


318 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


A  number  of  other  changes,  afterwards 
proving  efficacious,  were  authorized  at  the 
Denver  meeting,  including  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Past  Jupiters'  Association  En- 
dowment Fund,  the  decision  to  solicit  ad- 
vertising patronage  actively  for  "The  Jo- 
vian" magazine,  and  the  working  out  of 
plans  given  in  a  "Suggestion  Report"  sub- 
mitted to  the  convention.  Immediately 
following  the  Denver  meeting,  the  Jovian 
central  office  was  officially  transferred  from 
Chicago  to  St.  Louis,  and  there  ensued  a 
period  of  intensive  development  that  has 
never  from  that  moment  relaxed. 

A  careful  analysis  of  Jovian  member- 
ship statistics  made  during  1916,  showed 
that  nearly  sixty  per  cent  of  Jovians  were 
holding  executive  positions  in  the  electrical 
and  allied  industries.  Among  the  active 
membership  of  16,000  Jovians  were  2,- 
168  presidents  and  owners  of  business  en- 
terprises, 531  general  managers,  507  vice- 
presidents,  793  secretaries  and  treasurers, 
4,419  department  heads,  sales  managers 
and  purchasing  agents,  1,102  engineers, 
and  men  holding  a  great  variety  of  other 
positions  of  importance.  Included  among 
Jovians  are  men  representing  every  branch 
of  every  division  of  the  electrical  field, — 
Municipal,  State  and  Government  offices; 
Telegraph  and  Telephone  companies ;  Elec- 
tric Railway  companies;  Central  stations; 
Manufacturers;  Jobbers;  Contractors; 
Dealers;  Engineers;  Journalists  and  Ed- 
ucators. 

If  the  electrical  industry  failed  in  every 
other  particular  to  give  The  Jovian  Order 
credit  for  the  wonderful  development  work 
it  has  accomplished,  it  could  not  deny  it 
the  glory  of  having  inspired  the  electrical 
league  idea,  and  of  being  almost  solely 
responsible  for  its  success. 

This  period  includes  the  conception  of 
the  "Degree  of  Jovian  Merit"  plan,  and 
its  application  as  a  reward  for  efficient 
officers.  Other  constructive  measures 
adopted  at  that  time  included  the  fixing 
of  a  certain  day  each  year  as  "Jovian 
Day,"  on  which,  regardless  of  other  ac- 
complishments, each  local  officer  is  required 
to  call  his  members  together  for  some 
form  of  useful  entertainment. 

The  name  of  "The  Order  of  Rejuve- 
nated Sons  of  Jove,"  which  the  Order  had 
borne  since  its  inception,  was  found  un- 


wieldy and,  upon  recommendation  by  the 
central  office,  was  changed,  at  the  tenth  an- 
nual convention  at  Pittsburgh,  to  "The  Jo- 
vian Order."  At  the  same  time  an  emblem, 
embodying  the  classic  head  of  Jupiter  and 
the  words  "Co-operation" — "The  Jovian 
Order,"  was  advocated  and  adopted  to  be 
used  by  those  members  who  objected  to  the 
Lucifer  design  first  in  effect. 

During  the  eleventh  administration  (the 
fifteenth  Jovian  year)  the  central  office 
originated  and  was  successful  in  having 
accepted  by  the  eleventh  annual  conven- 
tion, what  is  probably  the  most  important 
single  development  plan  the  Order  has  ever 
undertaken.  This  was  the  authorization 
of  a  Jovian  "Commercial  Division"  in  con- 
nection with  the  central  office,  with  the  ex- 
pense restricted  to  an  amount  not  to  ex- 
ceed $2,250  per  year.  The  purpose  of  the 
"Commercial  Division"  is  to  actively  pro- 
mote the  practical,  commercially  valuable 
possibilities  in  the  Order,  keeping  them 
distinct  and  separate  from  the  fraternal 
and  social  features,  without  minimizing  the 
importance  of  the  latter.  Since  its 
establishment  this  Division,  despite  the 
small  expenditure  it  involved,  has  accom- 
plished more  than  any  other  one  element  in 
bringing  the  Order  to  be  recognized  as  an 
essential,  constructive  factor  in  the  elec- 
trical industry. 

Other  excellent  plans  developed  during 
the  eleventh  administration  and  officially 
adopted  at  its  close,  are:  The  "Com- 
mittee of  Jovian  Goodfellowship"  ap- 
pointed and  financed  for  the  relief  of 
worthy,  distressed  Jovians;  the  establish- 
ment of  a  "Stentor  Degree"  for  those  capa- 
ble of  assisting  in  the  entertainment  of 
Jovian  gatherings ;  and  a  provision  ad- 
mitting to  membership,  on  a  deferred  pay- 
ment plan,  students  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing under  the  age  of  twenty-one. 

The  twelfth  administration  brought 
about  a  redistricting  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada  with  the  number  of  districts 
and  Congressmen  increased  to  fifteen,  in 
addition  to  Jupiter  and  Mercury,  who 
were  given  jurisdiction  over  all.  The  title 
of  "Statesmen"  was  taken  from  local  of- 
ficers, who  were  then  designated  as  "First 
Tribunes"  and  "Second  Tribunes,"  and 
given  to  a  new  class  of  officers  each  hav- 
ing authority  over  one  State  or  Province. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


319 


These  changes  placed  the  Order  on  a 
much  better  working  basis. 

The  twelfth  administration  marked  the 
first  work  of  the  "Commercial  Division" 
resulting  in:  the  plan  for  a  Free  employ- 
ment Bureau  for  Jovians — one  that  is  de- 
livering a  needed  and  valuable  service,  and 
is  making  many  stanch  friends  for  the 
Order;  the  gathering  of  useful  information 
relating  to  and  promotion  of  electrical 
shows;  the  preparation  for  and  utilization 
by  Jovians  of  correspondence  courses  in 
electrical  engineering,  mathematics  and 
salesmanship ;  the  securing  of  a  vast  amount 
of  desirable  daily  press  publicity  in  the 
interest  of  the  electrical  industry;  the 
stimulation  of  local  leagues  to  engage  in 
civic  activity,  with  the  object  of  holding 
the  interest  of  their  members,  and  bringing 
their  organizations  and  their  industry  into 
favorable  prominence  with  the  public;  the 
inception  of  an  "Efficiency"  campaign 
which  will  eventually  be  placed  on  a  par 
with  the  "Safety  First"  plan.  This  has 
resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  slogan 
"Efficiency  Wins!";  a  Jovian  emblem  em- 
bodying those  words  and  now  used  on  the 
letterheads  and  printed  matter  of  scores  of 
firms;  prize  contest  in  "The  Jovian,"  the 
official  organ,  for  articles  on  efficiency;  and 
the  propagation  of  the  idea  in  many  other 
forms. 

The  thirteenth  administration  (the 
seventeenth  Jovian  year)  included  success- 
ful development  of  all  the  plans  that  had 
previously  been  justified  by  results,  and  the 
addition  of  the  "Jovian  Hotel"  project. 
This  secures  a  hotel  discount,  to  Jovians, 
of  ten  per  cent,  and  has  been  extended  to 
include  hotels  in  more  than  seventy  cities. 

The  fourteenth  administration  was  not 
only  prolific  of  results  along  well-tried 
lines,  but  established  specifically  and  incon- 
testably  the  value  of  the  work  of  the  Order 
in  fostering  and  federalizing  local  leagues. 
The  proof  was  furnished  in  the  exceedingly 
effective  work  accomplished  by  Jovian 
local  organizations  in  tying  in  with,  and 
capitalizing  into  sales,  the  nation-wide  pro- 
paganda of  The  Society  for  Electrical  De- 
velopment relating  to  "Electrical  Pros- 
perity Week." 

This  period  also  resulted  in  putting  in- 
to the  concrete  form  of  a  revised  Jovian 
Constitution  a  number  of  highly  construc- 


tive reforms  in  Jovian  procedure,  the  need 
for  which  had  been  positively  established 
by  several  years  of  investigation  and  analy- 
sis. In  addition  to  the  earnest  and  con- 
scientious effort  given  the  Constitution  by 
the  Committee  and  other  members,  when 
presented  for  action  of  the  Fourteenth  An- 
nual Convention  at  Indianapolis,  it  was  con- 
sidered in  open  meeting,  clause  by  clause, 
and  passed  only  after  nine  hours  of  dissec- 
tion and  debate.  The  more  important 
changes  included  in  the  new  Constitution 
are:  creation  of  two  classes  of  Jovian 
membership — "League"  and  "Non- 
League";  chartering  and  federalizing  of 
Jovian  leagues;  authorization  of  a  substi- 
tute form  for  the  Jovian  Ritual;  increase 
in  Jovian  dues;  nomination  of  elective  of- 
ficers by  a  committee,  and  by  petition. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  all  the  Jupiters 
of  the  Order  and  the  secretaries  (Mer- 
cury) who  served  with  them: 

JUPITER 


ist  administration, 

2nd  administration, 

3rd  administration, 

4th  administration, 

5th  administration, 

6th  administration, 

yth  administration, 

8th  administration, 

9th  administration, 

loth  administration, 

i  ith  administration, 

1 2th  administration, 

1 3th  administration, 

1 4th  administration, 

1 5th  administration, 

1 6th  administration, 


Chas.  W.  Hobson, 
H.  F.  MacGregor, 
S.  A.  Hobson, 
C.  A.  Newning, 
H.  B.  Kirkland, 
W.  E.  Robertson, 
J.  Robert  Grouse, 
Oscar  C.  Turner, 
J.  F.  Dostal, 
Robert  L.  Jaynes, 
Frank  E.  Watts, 
W.  N.  Matthews, 
Homer  E.  Niesz, 
Thomas  A.  Wynne, 
Henry  L.  Doherty, 
J.  F.  Strickland. 


MERCURY 

ist,  2nd  and  3rd  Administrations,  C.  A. 
Newning. 

4th  to  yth  Administrations,  C.  B.  Roulet. 

8th  and  9th  Administrations,  R.  M.  Van 
Vleet. 

roth  to  1 6th  Administrations,  Ell  C.  Ben- 
nett. 

OHIO  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL,  ELEC- 
TRICAL AND  STEAM  ENGINEERS 

A  call  was  addressed  in  1901  "To  En- 
gineers, Steam,  Mechanical  and  Electrical, 
Shop  Superintendents  and  Managers: 


THE   STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


Come  and  hear  some  practical  talks  by 
practical  men,  along  the  lines  of  advance- 
ment in  the  power  plant  and  factory  in 
general."  It  resulted  in  a  meeting  at  the 
City  Hall,  Akron,  Ohio,  at  which  the  Ohio 
Society  of  Mechanical,  Electrical  and 
Steam  Engineers  was  organized.  The 
objects  of  the  Society  are  to  promote 
the  practice  and  theory  of  an  economic 
operation  and  management  of  steam 
power  plants  and  allied  sciences  con- 
nected with  engineering  both  in  con- 
struction and  operation,  by  means  of 
meetings  for  social  intercourse  and  the 
reading  and  discussion  of  papers  pertain- 
ing to  mechanical,  electrical  and  steam  en- 
gineering. Beginning  with  November, 
1908,  volume  i,  No.  i,  the  Society  has 
published  its  transactions  in  magazine 
form,  thus  giving  permanent  record  to  its 
papers  and  proceedings. 

It  has  helped  in  legislation  in  -the  State 
along  the  line  of  Industrial  Education,  the 
establishing  of  an  Experimental  Station  at 
The  Ohio  State  University,  Inspection  of 
Boilers  by  the  State,  and  securing  more 
adequate  appropriations  for  the  State  Uni- 
versity for  engineering  work. 

The  presidents  have  been:  Elmer  E. 
Miller,  1901-3;  R.  Hastings  Probert, 
1903-5;  William  T.  Magruder,  1905-7; 
Fred  W.  Ballard,  1907-9;  Oscar  F.  Rabbe, 
1909-11;  Ed.  M.  Adams,  1911  to  April, 
1913  (when  he  died,  the  remainder  of  his 
term,  April  to  November,  1913,  being 
filled  out  by  H.  L.  Patterson)  ;  William  C. 
McCracken,  1913-15;  Joseph  L.  Skeldon, 
1915-16;  William  E.  Haswell,  1916.  The 
secretaries  have  been:  Corwin  J.  Miller, 
1901-6;  Fred  W.  Ballard,  1906-7;  W.  A. 
Rowe,  1907-8;  David  Gaehr,  1908-9;  and 
from  1909  Frank  E.  Sanborn  of  The  O'hio 
State  University  has  been  secretary-treas- 
urer, Columbus,  Ohio. 

VERMONT  ELECTRICAL  ASSOCIATION 

The  objects  of  the  State  association,  or- 
ganized July  9,  1902,  are  to  foster  and 
protect  the  interests  of  those  engaged  in 
the  commercial  production  of  electricity 
and  to  advance  a  good  feeling  and  better 
acquaintance  spirit  among  its  members. 

The  presidents  of  the  association  have 
been,  successively,  Harry  Bottomley,  Bel- 
lows Falls;  M.  Patterson,  Fair  Haven; 


E.  D.  Blackwell,  Brandon;  E.  E.  Gage, 
St.  Johnsbury;  Geo.  S.  Haley,  Rutland;  E. 
E.  Larrabee,  Bennington;  F.  H.  Parker, 
Burlington;  J.  E.  Davidson,  Montpelier; 
C.  E.  Parker,  Vergennes;  F.  Barney,  Jr., 
Springfield;  C.  C.  Wells,  Middlebury;  W. 
H.  Vorce,  St.  Albans;  Wilfred  Smith, 
Woodstock;  H.  D.  Larrabee,  Montpelier; 
I.  M.  Frost,  Rutland;  C.  C.  Wells,  Mid- 
dlebury. 

The  successive  secretaries  have  been: 
C.  C.  Wells,  Middlebury;  A.  B.  Marsden, 
Manchester;  C.  H.  West,  Rutland;  A.  B. 
Marsden,  Rutland,  present  secretary. 

THE  EMPIRE  STATE  GAS  AND  ELECTRIC 
ASSOCIATION 

This  is  an  organization  of  men  identified 
with  the  commercial  production  of  gas  and 
electric  light  and  power  in  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  State  of  New  York,  formed 
on  February  9,  1905,  and  since  then  pursu- 
ing its  objects  of  mutual  welfare,  the  in- 
terchange of  ideas,  and  united  action  for 
the  benefit  of  the  common  interests  of  its 
members  in  the  progress  and  advancement 
of  its  gas  and  electric  industries. 

The  late  W.  W.  Cole  was  the  first  presi- 
dent of  the  association,  and  his  successors 
in  that  office  have  been,  consecutively: 
E.  H.  Palmer,  W.  R.  Addicks,  M.  J.  Bray- 
ton,  R.  M.  Searle,  C.  G.  M.  Thomas, 
J.  T.  Hutchings,  J.  C.  De  Long,  and  the 
present  incumbent,  Stuart  Wilder,  of  Mt. 
Vernon,  N.  Y. 

T.  R.  Beal  was  the  first  secretary,  who 
was  succeeded  by  R.  A.  Davidson,  and  he 
by  C.  H.  B.  Chapin,  now  secretary  of  the 
association,  with  offices  at  29  West  Thirty- 
ninth  Street,  New  York  City. 

WESTERN  ASSOCIATION  OF  ELECTRICAL 
INSPECTION 

In  connection  with  the  administrative 
and  operative  side  of  the  electric  light  and 
power  industry  there  is  no  greater  need 
than  reliable  and  uniform  inspection  ser- 
vice to  reduce  to  certainty  the  protection 
afforded  against  fires  due  to  imperfect  wir- 
ing and  installation  of  electric  service.  The 
Western  Association  of  Electrical  Inspec- 
tors was  organized  June  i,  1905,  those 
signing  the  call  being  Ed.  B.  Ellicott, 
then  City  Electrician  of  Chicago;  Frank 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


321 


V.  Sackett,  then  Electrical  Inspector  Chi- 
cago   Underwriters'    Association;    F.    D. 
Varnam,    Electrical    Inspector,    St.    Paul, 
Minn. ;  Waldemar  Michaelsen,  then  City 
Electrician  of  Omaha,  Nebraska ;  and  Wil- 
liam S.  Boyd,  then  electrical  inspector  of 
the    Electrical    Bureau    of    the    National 
Board  of  Fire  Underwriters.    All  of  these 
gentlemen     are      still     living,      although 
Mesrs.  Varnam    and  Boyd   are   the   only 
ones  still  in  the  electrical  inspection  field. 
The  Association  has  wrought  valuable 
achievements  in  securing  greater  uniform- 
ity in  the  interpretation  of  the  National 
Electrical  Code.      It  proposed  the  estab- 
lishment of  special  rules  governing  theatre 
wiring;  proposed  special  rules  regulating 
the  wiring  of  electric  cranes;  proposed  the 
adoption  of  more  uniform  and  practical 
rules  relating  to  overhead  wiring;  stimu- 
lated the  grounding  of  transformer  secon- 
daries   in    the    Central    West;    proposed 
special   rules    relating  to   the   construction 
and   installation   of   electric   signs;    stimu- 
lated the  use  of  steel  conduit  for  enclosing 
wires  within  the  fire  limits;  restricted  the 
use  of  wood  molding;  extended  the  use  of 
cabinets  for  enclosing  fusible  cutouts;  as- 
sisted in  the  removal  of  sub-standard  rub- 
ber-covered   wire    in    the    Central    West; 
operated  to  bring  electrical  wiring  ordi- 
nances up-to-date,  and  has  broadened  the 
views  of  electrical  inspectors  included  in 
its  membership,  which  covers  the  principal 
cities  in  the  Central  Western  region  of  the 
United   States.      The   Association   started 
agitation  in  behalf  of  public  safety  by  ap- 
pointing a  committee  on  that  subject,  the 
chairman  of  which  ultimately  took  charge 
of  this  branch  of  the  work  for  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Standards.     The  head- 
quarters  of  the  Association  have  always 
been  in  Chicago. 

The  presidents,  consecutively,  have  been 

F.  D.    Varnam,    Waldemar    Michaelsen, 
E.  R.  Townsend,  George  D.  Bayle,  Fred 

G.  Dustin,  V.  H.  Tousley,  W.  J.  Canada, 
James    Bennett,    Ben   W.    Clark,    H.    M. 
Maxwell,   F.  H.  Moore    and    Emil    An- 
derson. 

William  S.  Boyd,  of  Chicago,  has  been 
the  Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Asso- 
ciation from  its  organization. 


ILLUMINATING  ENGINEERING  SOCIETY 

Messrs.  L.  B.  Marks,  E.  L.  Elliott  and 
Van  Rensselear  Lansingh,  on  December 
13,  1905,  addressed  a  joint  letter  to  a  list 
of  gentlemen  known  to  be  interested  in 
the  subject  of  illumination,  suggesting  a 
meeting  for  December  21,  to  consider  the 
formation  of  a  society  to  represent  the 
science  and  art  of  illumination.  Twenty- 
five  attended  that  meeting  and  selected  a 
Committee  on  Organization  composed  of 
L.  B.  Marks,  chairman,  and  E.  C.  Brown, 
E.  L.  Elliott,  Wilson  H.  Howell,  W.  S. 
Kellogg,  V.  R.  Lansingh  and  W.  D.  Wea- 
ver, to  report  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  Janu- 
ary 10,  1906.  At  this  latter  meeting  the 
Society  was  organized  by  electing  L.  B. 
Marks,  President;  A.  A.  Pope  and  C.  H. 
Sharp,  Vice-Presidents;  A.  H.  Elliott, 
W.  S.  Kellogg,  E.  C.  Brown,  F.  N.  Olcott, 
W.  D'A.  Ryan,  and  W.  D.  Weaver,  Man- 
agers; E.  L.  Elliott,  Secretary,  and  V.  R. 
Lansingh,  Treasurer  (all  still  living). 

The  first  regular  meeting  of  the  Society 
was  held  February  13,  1906,  and  about 
1 80  members  enrolled  prior  to  that  date 
were  designated  charter  members. 

The  publications  and  researches  of  the 
Society  have  contributed  in  a  valuable  de- 
gree to  the  knowledge  of,  and  improve- 
ment in  the  lighting  field.  The  Society 
covers  this  field  from  a  broad  standpoint 
so  as  to  include  not  only  all  methods  of 
light  generation,  but  also  all  applications 
of  light  and  illumination.  It  treats  of  the 
artistic,  utilitarian  and  ophthalmological 
phases  of  lighting. 

Its  Transactions,  periodically  published, 
print  papers  and  discussions  on  these 
phases,  and  the  Society  also  publishes  spe- 
cial pamphlets  dealing  with  important 
special  topics,  such  as:  "Light:  Its  Use 
and  Misuse;  "Code  of  Lighting  Factories, 
Mills  and  Other  Work  Places,"  and  vari- 
ous reports  of  committees  of  the  Society. 
Special  investigations  are  made  by  the 
technical  committees  of  the  Society  such 
as  those  on  Nomenclature  and  Standards, 
Research,  Lighting  Legislation,  Education. 
A  series  of  lectures  (1910)  on  illumi- 
nating engineering,  jointly  conducted  by  the 
Society  and  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
have  been  published;  and  a  similar  volume 
has  recently  been  published  dealing  with 
lectures  on  the  same  subject  jointly  con- 


322 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


ducted    (1916)    by    the    Society    and    the 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  Society's  Committee  on  Lighting 
Legislation,  after  careful  research,  pre- 
pared a  code  which  has  been  made  the 
basis  of  regulation  of  industrial  lighting  by 
several  States. 

In  1915  the  Society,  through  its  Com- 
mittee on  Education,  proposed  outlines  of 
college  instruction  in  illuminating  engineer- 
ing consisting  of  (a)  Complete  curriculum 
for  a  four-year  undergraduate  course; 
(b)  Curriculum  for  a  one-year  adjunct 
course;  and  (c)  Curriculum  for  a  one-year 
post-graduate  course. 

Reports  recently  made  or  in  prepara- 
tion by  committees  include  these  subjects: 

Automobile  Headlamps;  Railway  Ve- 
hicle Headlamps;  Street  Lighting;  Diffus- 
ing Media;  School  Lighting;  and  Lectures 
to  Architectural  Students ;  and  another 
committee  prepared  popular  lectures  on 
Store,  Protective  and  Residence  Lighting 
with  accompanying  lantern  slides,  which 
are  designed  for  circulation  among  those 
who  wish  to  present  them  before  organi- 
zations interested  in  this  phase  of  lighting. 

During  its  first  year  the  Society  held  its 
meetings  in  an  auditorium  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company,  but  since  1907  it 
has  had  its  headquarters  in  the  United 
Engineering  Societies  Building  in  New 
York.  Its  growth  has  led  to  the  organiza- 
tion of  five  sections  of  the  Society  each  of 
which  holds  regular  monthly  meetings  open 
to  all  members  of  the  Society,  resident  or 
visiting;  the  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh,  New  England,  and  Chicago 
Sections. 

The  presidents  of  the  Society  have  been 
consecutively:  L.  B.  Marks,  1906;  C.  H. 
Sharp,  1907;  Louis  Bell,  1908;  W.  H. 
Gartley,  1909;  E.  P.  Hyde,  1910;  A.  E. 
Kennelly,  1911;  V.  R.  Lansingh,  1912; 
Preston  S.  Millar,  1913.  After  that,  the 
fiscal  year  being  changed  to  October,  the 
presidents  were :  C.  O.  Bond,  1913-1914; 
A.  S.  McAllister,  1914-1915 ;  C.  P.  Stein- 
metz,  1915-1916;  William  J.  Serrill,  1916- 
1917,  and  G.  H.  Stickney,  1917-1918. 

The  general  secretaries  have  been  A.  H. 
Elliott,  1906;  V.  R.  Lansingh,  1907-1908; 
Preston  S.  Millar,  1909-1912;  J.  D.  Is- 
rael, 1913;  C.  A.  Littlefield,  1914-1916; 


G.  H.  Stickney,   1916-1917;    Clarence    L. 
Law,  1916-1918. 

WISCONSIN  ELECTRICAL  ASSOCIATION 

The  Wisconsin  Electrical  Association  is 
a  consolidation  formed  in  1909  of  two 
previously  existing  societies — the  Wiscon- 
sin Electric  and  Interurban  Railway  Asso- 
ciation and  the  Northwestern  Electrical 
Association,  the  latter  representing  elec- 
tric light  and  power  interests. 

The  Wisconsin  Electric  and  Interurban 
Railway  Association  was  organized  Octo- 
ber 29,  1906,  by  Clement  C.  Smith,  of 
Milwaukee,  F.  W.  Montgomery  of  Madi- 
son, Ernest  Gonzenbach  of  Sheboygan, 
and  N.  C.  Draper  of  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis., 
all  of  whom  are  still  living.  Henry  D. 
Smith  of  Appleton  was  the  first  president 
of  the  Association  (1906)  ;  B.  L.  Parker 
of  Green  Bay,  1908  ;  and  Clement  C.  Smith 
of  Milwaukee,  1909.  In  the  latter  year 
a  joint  meeting  held  June  28  and  29 
merged  the  two  associations  as  the  Wiscon- 
sin Electrical  Association  which  has  since 
been  an  active  organization  in  behalf  of  the 
electric  railway,  electric  power,  and  electric 
light  interests  of  Wisconsin.  The  presi- 
dents successively  have  been  Ernest  Gon- 
zenbach, Sheboygan,  Wis.;  Clement  C. 
Smith,  Milwaukee;  George  B.  Wheeler, 
Chippewa  Falls;  Irving  P.  Lord,  Wau- 
paca;  William  H.  Winslow,  Superior; 
P.  H.  Korst,  Janesville;  M.  C.  Ewing, 
Wausau;  W.  E.  Haseltine,  Ripon;  B.  F. 
Lyons,  Beloit,  and  John  St.  John,  Mad- 
ison. 

Clement  C.  Smith  was  the  first  Secretary. 
He  was  succeeded  by  J.  S.  Allen,  George 
Allison,  and  he  by  J.  P.  Palliam,  the  pres- 
ent secretary  arid  treasurer.  The  Associa- 
tion is  affiliated  with  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association. 


Many  of  the  ramifications  of  electrical 
engineering  present  highly  specialized 
problems  of  technical  treatment  and  prac- 
tice the  solution  of  which  can  be  aided  and 
simplified  through  discussion  and  research 
by  organization  of  those  directly  interested 
in  that  special  field. 

Such  an  organization  is  the  Association 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


323 


of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers, 
organized  in  1907  by  J.  F.  Chapman,  Pal- 
mer Collins,  H.  A.  Cox,  R.  B.  Davenport, 
James  Farrington,  J.  F.  Jelley,  D.  J.  Jones 
(now  deceased),  O.  R.  Jones,  F.  R.  Kitt- 
redge,  A.  T.  Koehler,  H.  M.  Latham, 
H.  A.  Lewis,  G.  E.  McFeaters,  R.  W. 
McGarvey,  F.  W.  McKee,  L.  R.  Palmer, 
A.  Patterson,  J.  R.  Reed,  G.  W.  Richard- 
son, R.  R.  Shepherd,  W.  M.  Snyder,  F.  W. 
Stevens  (now  deceased),  G.  W.  Sturgess, 
James  Watters,  G.  R.  Winslow,  F.  H. 
Woodhull,  A.  J.  Woodworth  and  E.  W. 
Yearsley. 

The  object  of  the  organization  was  the 
advancement  of  the  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  the  iron  and  steel  or  allied  indus- 
tries by  the  co-operation  of  its  members, 
by  means  of  periodical  meetings  for  the 
written  presentation  of  professional  pa- 
pers, the  discussion  of  pertinent  subjects 
and  the  publication  of  such  papers  and 
discussions  as  may  seem  expedient.  The 
wide-spread  national  propaganda  known 
as  the  Safety  First  or  Accident  Prevention 
movement  had,  it  is  said,  its  inception  with 
this  Association.  The  Association  has 
aimed  to  co-operate  with  State  authorities 
in  efforts  to  cope  with  industrial  hazards, 
giving  endorsement  to  beneficial  legislation 
and  presenting  intelligent  and  authoritative 
opposition  to  vicious  legislation  as  it  ap- 
plies to  iron  and  steel  and  allied  industries. 
It  plans  to  co-operate  with  manufacturers 
in  the  safety  features  of  design  or  equip- 
ment, and  to  co-ordinate  the  efforts  of  the 
members  toward  safe  installation  and 
operation. 

It  has  done  excellent  work  in  the  stand- 
ardization of  equipment  of  different  manu- 
facturers, one  with  another  and  to  secure 
uniformity  of  design  and  practice;  and  it 
is  active  in  fostering  the  training  of  ap- 
prentices and  industrial  training  in  general. 

The  permanent  headquarters  of  the  As- 
sociation are  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  James 
Farrington  was  its  first  president,  1907-8; 
followed  by  J.  C.  Reed,  1909  ;  F.  P.  Town- 
send,  1910;  L.  R.  Palmer,  1911;  B.  R. 
Shover,  1912;  C.  W.  Parkhurst,  1913; 
E.  Friedlaender,  1914,  C.  R.  Jones,  1915; 
W.  T.  Snyder,  1916;  F.  D.  Egan,  1917; 
C.  A.  Menk,  1918;  D.  M.  Petty,  1919. 
The  first  secretary  was  E.  W.  Yearsley, 
1907;  then  G.  H.  Winslow,  1908;  James 


Farrington,  1909-1913;  W.  T.  Snyder, 
1914-1915;  W.  O.  Ochsmann,  1916,  and 
John  F.  Kelly,  1917  to  date. 

MISSOURI  ASSOCIATION  OF  PUBLIC 
UTILITIES 

J.  P.  Casey,  then  of  the  Commercial 
Electric  Supply  Company  of  St.  Louis, 
but  now  of  the  Western  Electric  Company 
of  St.  Louis,  addressed  in  1907  a  letter  to 
various  representatives  of  electrical  and 
other  public  utility  interests  in  Missouri 
suggesting  organization  for  promoting 
mutual  interests  and  progress.  On  October 
21,  1907,  fourteen  persons,  representing  as 
many  Missouri  cities,  answered  the  call  and 
organized  the  Missouri  Electric  Light, 
Gas  and  Street  Railway  Association,  since 
changed  to  Missouri  Association  of  Public 
Utilities.  The  Association  has  devoted  its 
efforts  to  the  education  of  its  members 
relative  to  the  delivery  of  service  to  the 
public  by  the  utilities,  to  which  has  been 
added,  in  recent  years  the  familiarizing  of 
members  with  the  laws  and  rulings  of  the 
Public  Service  Commission.  The  head- 
quarters of  the  Association  are  at  St. 
Louis. 

Dr.  D.  J.  Porterfield  of  Cape  Girardeau 
was  the  first  president,  1907-1908.  His 
successors  have  been  W.  B.  Hays,  Poplar 
Bluff,  Mo.,  1908-1909;  W.  A.  Bixby, 
Springfield,  Mo.,  1909-1910;  R.  J.  Irvine, 
Marshall,  Mo.,  1910-191 1 ;  J.  E.  Murray, 
Louisiana,  Mo.;  1911-1912;  P.  A.  Ber- 
trand,  Jefferson  City,  1912-1913;  J.  E. 
Harsh,  Sedalia,  1913-1914;  A.  C.  Ein- 
stein, St.  Louis,  1914-1915;  G.  E.  Hayler, 
Joplin,  1915-1916;  H.  Wurdack,  1916- 
1917;  Bruce  Cameron,  1917-1918;  J.  H. 
Van  Brunt,  1918-1919.  The  Secretaries 
have  been  C.  Z.  Pierson,  St.  Charles, 
1907-1908;  C.  L.  Clary,  Sikeston,  1908- 
1910;  N.  J.  Cunningham,  Springfield, 
Mo.,  1910-1912;  P.  W.  Markham,  Brook- 
field,  1912-1913;  and  since  1913  F.  D. 
Beardslee  has  been  Secretary  and  Treas- 
urer of  the  Association. 

INDIANA  ELECTRIC  LIGHT  ASSOCIATION 

The  Indiana  Electric  Light  Association 
was  formed  in  1908  "for  promoting  the 
welfare  and  improvement  of  electric  light 
and  power  service  and  co-operation  of  its 


324 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


members  in  securing  more  complete  knowl- 
edge, both  scientific  and  practical,  relating 
to  electric  light  and  power  service."  The 
headquarters  of  the  Association  have  been 
at  the  office  of  its  Secretary,  first  at  Mun- 
cie,  Ind.,  where  Fred  C.  Leslie,  the  first 
secretary  resided.  He  died  and  J.  V.  Zart- 
man  of  Indianapolis  became  his  successor 
until  1914,  when  Thomas  Donohue  of 
Lafayette,  Ind.,  (the  present  incumbent), 
became  Secretary,  the  office  being  located 
there  ever  since. 

The  first  President  was  T.  C.  McRey- 
nolds  of  Kokomo  and  his  successors,  con- 
secutively, have  been  C.  C.  Perry  of  In- 
dianapolis; F.  A.  Bryan  of  South  Bend; 
J.  W.  Robb  of  Clinton;  T.  F.  English  of 
Muncie;  T.  F.  Grover  of  Terre  Haute; 
E.  J.  Condon  of  Angola ;  S.  W.  Greenland 
of  Fort  Wayne,  and  the  present  president, 
J.  A.  Wynne,  of  Indianapolis. 

PENNSYLVANIA    ELECTRIC    ASSOCIATION 

The  Pennsylvania  Electric  Association, 
which  was  organized  at  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
January  15,  1908,  is  the  State  Branch  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association. 
It  was  formed  to  foster  and  promote  the 
common  interests  of  its  members,  and  to 
advance  scientific  and  practical  knowledge 
in  all  matters  relating  to  electric  light  and 
power  companies;  also  to  establish  cordial 
and  beneficial  relations  with  kindred  asso- 
ciations and  between  manufacturers  of 
electrical  machinery  and  appliances  and 
the  members  of  the  Association.  The 
first  officers  of  the  Association  were  L.  H. 
Conklin  (of  Scranton),  President,  1908- 
1909;  E.  F.  McCabe,  Vice-President; 
W.  P.  Powers,  Secretary-Treasurer,  and 
E.  H.  Davis  and  A.  P.  Granger,  members 
of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Mr.  Conklin's  successors  in  the  office  of 
President  have  been:  E.  L.  Smith,  To- 
wanda,  1910;  A.  R.  Granger,  Chester, 
1911;  R.  S.  Orr,  Pittsburgh,  1912  (de- 
ceased) ;  Van  Dusen  Rickert,  Pottsville, 
1913;  Duncan  T.  Campbell,  Scranton, 
1914;  Walter  E.  Long,  Philadelphia, 
1915;  Stephen  C.  Pohe,  Bloomsburg, 
1916;  and  George  B.  Tripp,  Harrisburg, 
1917;  H.  N.  Muller,  1918,  and  Thomas 
Sproule,  1919. 

The  offices  of  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
were  combined  until  1915,  Mr.  W.  P. 


Powers    serving   in    1908;    E. 
1909;    Van    Dusen    Rickert, 
Walter  E.  Long,   1912-1913; 
Pohe,    1914;  H.   N.   Muller, 
1915.      Henry    M.    Stine   of 
has  been  Secretary  from  1916. 


L.  Smith, 
1910-1911 ; 
Stephen  C. 
Pittsburgh, 
Harrisburg 


THE  ELECTRIC  POWER  CLUB 

Mr.  S.  L.  Nicholson,  traveling  over  the 
country  as  representative  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, and  meeting  many  manufacturers 
and  others  interested  in  the  electrical  in- 
dustry, became  impressed  with  the  need  for 
standardization  of  usage  and  practice  in 
the  electrical  power  industry,  and  of  an 
organization  of  motor  manufacturers  to 
achieve  that  end,  and  found  on  consulting 
several  of  them  that  such  an  organization 
could  be  effected. 

At  his  suggestion  a  preliminary  gather- 
ing met  in  New  York  City  in  March,  1908, 
at  which  Anson  W.  Burchard,  A.  L.  Dore- 
mus,  F.  S.  Hartman,  Charles  W.  Holtzer, 
C.  F.  McGilvary,  S.  L.  Nicholson  and 
L.  A.  Osborne  were  present.  From  this 
gathering  there  resulted  a  meeting  at  Hot 
Springs,  Virginia,  on  June  i,  1908,  at 
which  representatives  from  twenty-five 
manufacturing  companies  were  present, 
and  on  June  2  the  constitution  and  by-laws 
were  adopted  and  an  organization  formed 
under  the  name  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion of  Electric  Motor  Manufacturers, 
with  S.  L.  Nicholson,  President;  C.  F.  Mc- 
Gilvary, R.  J.  Russell,  and  F.  S.  Hunting, 
Vice-Presidents;  J.  C.  McQuiston,  tempo- 
rary Secretary  and  Treasurer  and  James 
Burke,  A.  L.  Doremus,  J.  W.  Ham,  J.  C. 
Hobart,  Charles  W.  Holtzer,  B.  C.  Ken- 
yon,  W.  A.  Layman,  C.  H.  Roth,  and  A. 
H.  Whiteside,  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee.  The  Association  held  meet- 
ings in  St.  Louis,  November,  1909;  Hot 
Springs,  Va.,  May,  1910,  and  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  October,  1910. 

During  the  winter  of  1910-1911  two  of 
the  important  company  members  of  the 
Association  withdrew  from  the  Associa- 
tion and  with  it  a  considerable  financial 
support  which  was  vitally  necessary  for 
work  that  was  being  done,  and  many  of 
the  other  members  felt  that  the  good  work 
being  done  might  be  entirely  lost.  There- 
fore a  call  was  made  for  a  meeting  to  be 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


325 


held  in  Chicago,  November  2,  1910,  to 
consider  ways  and  means  of  continuing  the 
Association.  At  that  meeting  a  new  form 
of  organization  was  adopted  under  which 
"The  Electric  Power  Club"  was  formed, 
with  J.  C.  Hobart,  President;  W.  A.  Lay- 
man, Vice-President;  E.  R.  Harding, 
Treasurer,  and  C.  H.  Roth,  Secretary. 
Mr.  Hobart  continued  as  president  1910- 
1913,  succeeded  by  Professor  F.  B.  Crock- 
er, 1913-1915,  E.  R.  Harding,  1915-1917, 
and  C.  L.  Collens,  2nd.  C.  H.  Roth  has 
been  the  Secretary-Treasurer  of  the  Club 
from  its  organization.  The  Secretary's 
office  is  at  1410  West  Adams  Street, 
Chicago.  Meetings  have  been  held  in  the 
spring  and  fall  of  each  year,  the  annual 
meeting  being  held  in  May  or  June. 

The  principal  achievement  of  the  Elec- 
tric Power  Club  is  the  creation  of  Stand- 
ardization Rules  which  represent  the 
adopted  practice  of  many  manufacturers, 
and  especially  the  standard  speed  ratings 
which  are  used  to  a  great  extent  by  most 
motor  manufacturers.  The  Club  has 
brought  together  the  principal  executives 
and  engineers  of  the  electrical  apparatus 
manufacturers  and  given  them  a  chance  to 
find  out  that  their  competitors  (to  use  the 
expression  of  a  member)  "do  not  have 
horns."  These  acquaintances  promote  fair- 
ness of  commercial  practice,  and  have  fur- 
nished the  basis  for  a  vast  amount  of  en- 
gineering, manufacturing  and  commercial 
information  which  has  had  favorable  effect 
on  the  growth  of  the  electrical  apparatus 
industry. 

Since  its  organization  the  Electric 
Power  Club  has  grown  from  sixteen  mem- 
ber companies  to  fifty-five.  It  has  been 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  close  work- 
ing co-operation  between  the  various  asso- 
ciations that  represent  the  great  electrical 
industry.  By  means  of  the  Electrical 
Manufacturers  Council  and  the  Committee 
for  Co-operation  on  Technical  Subjects 
(in  the  formation  of  which  The  Electric 
Power  Club  took  an  important  part) ,  the 
electrical  industry  is  furnished  with  a  bond 
which  will  allow  its  members  to  work  to- 
gether as  a  unit  whenever  the  occasion 
demands  it. 

The  Club  issues  standardization  book- 
lets and  various  bulletins  on  subjects  of 


interest  to  those  identified  with  the  manu- 
facture of  electrical  apparatus. 

ARKANSAS  ASSOCIATION  OF  PUBLIC 
UTILITY  OPERATORS 

On  September  17,  1908,  Messrs.  W.  C. 
McGuire  of  Arkadelphia;  D.  L.  Ellis  of 
Camden;  C.  J.  Griffith  and  D.  A.  Hegarty 
of  Little  Rock;  J.  W.  Hewitt  of  Mari- 
anna;  and  B.  C.  Fowles  of  Pine  Bluff  met 
and  organized  the  Arkansas  Association  of 
Public  Utility  Operators,  for  the  purpose 
of  advancement  of  the  interests  of  its 
members  and  the  public  utility  business  in 
the  State  of  Arkansas.  Its  membership 
includes  the  corporations  engaged  in  the 
generation  and  distribution  of  electric  light 
and  power  for  domestic  and  industrial  use, 
electric  traction  companies,  and  gas  manu- 
facturing corporations,  in  that  State. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Association  have 
been  D.  A.  Hegarty,  1908-1909;  B.  C. 
Fowles,  1909-1911;  J.  M.  Hewitt,  1911- 
1912;  J.  W.  McClendon,  1912-1913; 
J.  W.  Gillette,  1913-1914;  C.  J.  Griffith, 
1914-1915;  H.  C.  Couch,  1915-1916; 
W.  J.  O'Brien,  1916-1917.  The  Secre- 
taries have  been  J.  E.  Cowles,  1908-1910; 
W.  J.  Tharp,  1910-1915;  and  R.  B. 
Fowles,  1915-1916;  and  W.  J.  Tharp 
since  1916. 

ALABAMA  LIGHT  AND  TRACTION 
ASSOCIATION 

A  preliminary  meeting  was  held  on  Oc- 
tober 23,  1908,  and  a  permanent  organi- 
zation was  effected  on  November  23, 
1908,  of  the  Alabama  Light  and  Traction 
Association.  The  purposes  of  the  organi- 
zation are  expressed  as  being  the  establish- 
ment of  a  spirit  of  co-operation  among 
members;  the  encouragement  of  friendly 
relations  between  the  companies  and  the 
public;  the  discussion  and  recommendation 
of  methods  of  construction,  management 
and  operation  of  gas  and  electric  lighting 
plants,  and  street  and  interurban  railways, 
and  of  safeguarding  their  interests. 

The  successive  Presidents  of  the  Asso- 
ciation have  been  A.  H.  Ford,  Birming- 
ham, 1908-1909;  J.  H.  Wilson,  Mobile, 
1909-1910;  R.  L.  Rand,  Anniston,  1910- 
1911;  C.  E.  White,  Montgomery,  1911- 
1912;  C.  C.  Henderson,  Greenville,  1912- 


326 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


1913;  R.  L.  Ellis,  Selma,  1913-1914;}.  P. 
H.  de  Windt,  Birmingham,  1914-1915; 
F.  H.  Chamberlain,  Birmingham,  1915- 
1916;  C.  C.  Henderson,  Greenville,  1916- 
1917. 

The  Secretaries  of  the  Association  have 
been  Lloyd  Lyons,  1908-1910;  George  S. 
Emery,  1910-1912;  H.  O.  Hanson,  1912- 
1915;  all  of  Mobile,  and  J.  P.  Ross  of 
Birmingham  since  1915. 

PUBLIC  SERVICE  ASSOCIATION  OF 
VIRGINIA 

The  Public  Service  Association  of  Vir- 
ginia, composed  of  electric  railways,  light 
and  power,  water  and  gas  companies,  do- 
ing business  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  was 
organized  in  the  City  of  Richmond  on  De- 
cember 8,  1908.  The  original  officers 
were  E.  C.  Hathaway,  President;  Henry 
W.  Anderson,  R.  D.  Apperson  and  J.  F. 
Rison,  vice-presidents;  H.  M.  Darnall, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer.  The  objects 
named  in  the  constitution,  toward  which 
the  Association  has  continuously  worked, 
are:  The  promotion  and  advancement  of 
knowledge,  both  scientific  and  practical,  in 
all  matters  relating  to  the  business  interests 
of  the  members;  the  creation  and  promul- 
gation of  a  friendly  interest  in  each  other's 
welfare;  the  protection  by  all  reasonable 
and  fair  means  of  the  interests  of  the  As- 
sociation; to  foster  and  encourage  more 
friendly  and  cordial  relations  between  its 
members,  patrons,  and  the  various  city 
and  county  authorities  from  whom  the 
franchise  rights  of  its  members  are  ob- 
tained; and  to  encourage  and  promote, 
among  its  members,  a  determination  to 
constantly  improve  the  service  of  the  vari- 
ous companies. 

E.  C.  Hathaway  served  as  President 
until  July,  1912;  J.  W.  Hancock  from 
July,  1912,  to  August,  1915;  E.  M.  Funk- 
houser  from  August,  1915,  to  August, 
1916,  when  J.  N.  Shannahan  succeeded  to 
the  presidency  of  the  Association. 

H.  W.  Darnell  served  as  Secretary  until 
September,  1911;  F.  Von  Schilling  from 
September,  1911,  to  June  i,  1912;  and 
since  July  I,  1912,  W.  J.  Kehl  has  been 
Secretary. 

RADIO  CLUB  OF  AMERICA 

The  "Junior  Wireless  Club"  was  found- 
ed in  New  York  City,  January,  1909.  The 


members  at  that  time  were  men  actually 
engaged  in  amateur  wireless  activity.  The 
object  of  that  club  was  to  stimulate  activity 
and  organization  in  amateur  circles  and  to 
take  a  firm  stand  against  unfair  and  hasty 
legislation.  The  Club  was  and  still  is 
active  in  the  endeavor  to  protect  amateur 
wireless  work  from  becoming  extinct 
through  the  over-zeal  of  lawmakers. 

In  October,  1911,  the  name  of  the  body 
was  changed  to  the  Radio  Club  of  Amer- 
ica. Meetings  were  held  monthly  when 
members  would  read  more  or  less  informal 
papers  on  new  and  interesting  tests  or  ad- 
vancements in  the  art.  Occasionally  an 
outsider  would  address  the  Club.  For 
three  years  or  more  the  monthly  meetings 
have  been  held  in  Columbia  University. 
The  papers  read  have  been  those  calcu- 
lated to  interest  all  radio  men  without 
going  into  the  commercial  side  of  the  sub- 
ject. Beginning  in  1910  the  "Proceed- 
ings" have  been  published  monthly  and  dis- 
tributed to  members;  and  they  also  appear 
in  the  magazine  "QsT."  The  Club  has  also 
prepared  a  book  on  the  latest  advances  in 
radio,  which  amounts  practically  to  an  ad- 
vanced textbook. 

The  Presidents  to  date  have  been:  W. 
E.  D.  Stokes,  1909  to  1911;  Frank  King, 
1912-1914;  George  J.  Eltz,  Jr.,  1915; 
Edwin  H.  Armstrong,  1916-1918. 

The  Secretaries  have  been:  Frank  King, 
1909-1911;  George  Burghard,  1912- 
1913;  David  S.  Brown,  1914-1916; 
Thomas  J.  Styles  since  1917. 

ELECTRIC  VEHICLE  ASSOCIATION  OF 
AMERICA 

What  was  formerly  the  Electric  Vehicle 
Association  has  been,  since  March,  1916, 
the  Electric  Vehicle  Section  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  but  a 
brief  statement  of  the  former  association 
serves  to  explain  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  activities  that  continue  uninter- 
ruptedly under  the  new  organization. 

On  May  6,  1910,  Mr.  Arthur  Williams 
invited  to  his  office  several  electric  vehicle 
men,  stating  that  the  purpose  of  the  meet- 
ing was  to  discuss  the  desirability  of  form- 
ing an  association  for  the  object  of  co-op- 
eration in  the  endeavor  to  help  the  public 
to  a  better  understanding  of  the  improved 
electric  car.  The  original  proposition  was 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


327 


to  form  an  association  that  should  be  local 
only,  but  when  the  subject  came  up  for 
discussion  at  the  annual  convention  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association  it  was 
decided  to  make  the  organization  national 
in  scope,  with  the  Electric  Vehicle  and  the 
Central  Station  Association  as  a  local 
branch,  and  that  there  should  be  provision 
made  for  formation  of  other  local 
branches  in  other  centers  of  activity.  At 
a  larger  meeting  in  Mr.  Williams'  office 
on  June  8,  1910,  it  was  decided  to  form 
the  Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  Amer- 
ica. The  Association  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  New  York  on  August  28, 
and  formally  organized  on  September  I, 
1910,  by  the  election  of  William  H.  Blood, 
Jr.,  as  President;  Arthur  Williams,  Vice- 
President;  C.  E.  Firestone,  Secretary,  and 
Harvey  Robinson,  Treasurer  and  Assist- 
ant Secretary.  At  the  first  convention, 
October  18,  1910,  there  were  present 
nearly  three  hundred  delegates  and  repre- 
sentatives from  central  stations,  electric 
vehicle,  storage  battery  and  allied  interests. 
The  actual  membership  at  that  date  was 
about  fifty.  In  November,  1910,  the  New 
England  Section  was  added. 

The  Association  launched  into  a  very 
vigorous  and  fruitful  advertising  of  the 
merits  of  the  electric  vehicle  for  com- 
mercial and  passenger  purposes.  An  offi- 
cial paper,  "The  Central  Station,"  was 
adopted.  The  annual  meetings  grew  in 
interest,  the  membership  enlarged  until  it 
numbered  twelve  hundred,  and  the  efforts 
of  the  Association  brought  large  returns 
in  the  growing  appreciation  of  the  electric 
vehicle.  Finally  it  was  decided  to  become 
an  integral  part  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association.  Local  sections  had 
meanwhile  been  established  in  Chicago, 
Philadelphia,  Washington,  Cincinnati,  San 
Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  Pittsburgh,  New 
York,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Toronto,  Den- 
ver and  St.  Louis,  Kansas  City,  Portland, 
Ore.,  and  Western  New  York. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Association  were 
William  H.  Blood,  Jr.,  1910-1912;  Arthur 
Williams,  1912-1913;  Frank  W.  Smith, 
1913-1914;  John  F.  Gilchrist,  1914-1915; 
W.  H.  Johnson,  1915-1916.  E.  S.  Mans- 
field became  chairman  of  the  Electrical 
Vehicle  Section  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association. 


The  Secretaries  were  C.  E.  Firestone, 
1910-1912;  Frank  W.  Smith,  1912-1913; 
Harvey  Robinson,  1913-1914;  A.  Jackson 
Marshall,  1914-1916,  and  Mr.  Marshall 
continued  as  Secretary  of  the  organization 
transformed  into  the  Electric  Vehicle  Sec- 
tion of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation. 

THE    TRI-STATE    WATER    AND    LIGHT 

ASSOCIATION  OF  THE  CAROLINAS 

AND,  GEORGIA 

This  Association  was  organized  on  June 
28,  1911,  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina, 
the  promoters  being  W.  F.  Stieglitz  and 
F.  C.  Wyse  of  Columbia;  A.  J.  Sproles  of 
Greenwood,  S.  C.,  and  J.  W.  Neave  of 
Salisbury,  N.  C.  These  gentlemen  served 
the  Association  as  President  in  the  order 
named,  Mr.  Neave  being  succeeded  in 
1916  by  E.  M.  Anderson  of  Abbeville, 
S.  C.,  and  he  by  J.  E.  Guilford  of  Macon, 
Ga.,  in  1917.  The  secretaries  consecu- 
tively have  been,  J.  W.  Neave  of  Salis- 
bury, S.  C. ;  J.  G.  Barnwell  of  Rock  Hill, 
S.  C. ;  F.  C.  Wyse  of  Columbia,  S.  C. ;  and 
W.  F.  Stieglitz  of  Columbia,  the  present 
incumbent. 

The  organization  has  served  a  useful 
purpose  in  promoting  efficiency  in  public 
utility  service.  The  annual  meetings  have 
proved  to  be  of  much  benefit  to  the  mem- 
bers and  to  the  communities  they  represent. 
The  electric  developments  and  improve- 
ments receive  attention  each  year  and 
prominent  displays  are  made  by  manufac- 
turers of  electrical  supplies. 

OKLAHOMA  UTILITIES  ASSOCIATION 

In  1911  five  Oklahoma  engineers  organ- 
ized the  Gas,  Electric  and  Street  Railway 
Association  of  Oklahoma. 

The  Presidents  consecutively  have  been : 
Noel  R.  Gascho,  1911;  Fred  Caldwell, 
1912;  F.  E.  Bowman,  1913;  Geo.  W. 
Knox,  1914;  W.  J.  Dibbens,  1915;  C.  H. 
Kretz  (Okmulgee),  1916;  F.  D.  Shaffer, 
1917.  H.  V.  Bozell  was  Secretary  1911- 
15,  and  L.  W.  W.  Morrow  1916-1917. 

During  the  summer  of  1918  the  Gas, 
Electric  and  Street  Railway  Association 
and  the  Oklahoma  Utilities  Bureau  were 
merged  into  the  Oklahoma  Utilities  Asso- 
ciation with  the  same  officers  as  the  former 
Association. 


328 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


The  Oklahoma  Utilities  Association  is 
composed  of  seven  bureaus,  namely,  those 
dealing  with  gas,  electricity,  water,  street 
railways,  telephones,  pipe  lines,  manufac- 
tures and  supplies. 

The  President  is  J.  F.  Owens,  Manager 
of  Oklahoma  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  Okla- 
homa City,  and  H.  A.  Lane,  Oklahoma 
City,  is  Secretary. 

The  Association  has  attracted  to  its 
membership  the  executives  and  representa- 
tives of  the  public  utilities  of  Oklahoma; 
has  unified  the  legislative  policies  of  Okla- 
homa utilities  and  brought  its  influence  to 
bear  in  securing  the  passage  of  just  and 
equitable  utility  legislation;  and  has  fur- 
nished data  for  various  state  legislative 
and  tax  boards.  It  has  also  been  the  clear- 
ing house  for  the  ideas  and  problems  of 
utility  operators  in  Oklahoma. 

THE   INSTITUTE   OF   RADIO   ENGINEERS 
(INCORPORATED) 

The  only  society  representing  the  radio 
engineering  profession  is  The  Institute  of 
Radio  Engineers.  Previous  to  its  organi- 
zation, two  of  the  most  influential  organ- 
izations in  the  radio  field  were  the  Society 
of  Wireless  Telegraph  Engineers,  of  Bos- 
ton (established  1907),  with  43  members 
on  January  i,  1912,  and  the  Wireless  In- 
stitute of  New  York  (established  1909), 
with  27  members  on  that  date.  It  was 
determined  to  consolidate  these  two  and 
on  May  13,  1912,  The  Institute  of  Radio 
Engineers  was  formally  established  with 
a  membership  of  45.  Its  membership  has 
steadily  increased  until  it  now  numbers 
over  one  thousand. 

The  Institute  has  succeeded  in  drawing 
up  Standardization  Specifications  and  defi- 
nitions of  terms  which  have  been  accepted, 
practically  universally,  in  the  radio  field, 
even  abroad.  Much  of  the  growth  on  the 
engineering  side  of  the  subject  is  due  to  the 
Institute,  inasmuch  as  the  only  engineering 
publication  in  the  English  language  on  the 
subject  is  the  "Proceedings  of  the 
Institute  of  Radio  Engineers,"  issued 
bi-monthly  and  containing  valuable  papers 
and  discussions  of  the  problems  and  prog- 
ress of  radio  engineering.  This  publica- 
tion as  well  as  the  Year  Book  and  various 
reports  of  value  to  the  profession,  are 
edited  with  skill  and  scientific  accuracy  by 


Professor  Alfred  M.  Goldsmith,  Ph.D., 
of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
Meetings  of  the  Institute  are  held  monthly 
in  New  York,  except  during  July  and 
August  of  each  year.  At  these  meetings, 
scientific,  engineering  and  other  papers 
relative  to  the  art  of  radio  communication 
are  presented  by  members  of  the  Institute, 
specially  qualified  to  treat  the  subject.  The 
presentation  of  the  papers  is  followed  by 
an  open  discussion.  Sections  of  the  Insti- 
tute have  been  established  in  January, 
1914,  in  Washington,  D.  C. ;  at  Boston, 
Mass.,  in  November,  1914;  at  Seattle, 
Washington,  February,  1915,  and  at  San 
Francisco  in  1916.  These  sections  also 
hold  regular  meetings  with  papers  and  dis- 
cussions, many  of  which  have  appeared  in 
the  "Proceedings."  The  annual  meeting 
of  the  Institute  is  held  at  New  York  in  the 
month  of  January. 

The  Presidents  of  the  Society  of  Wire- 
less Telegraph  Engineers  were  John  Stone 
Stone,  1907-1908;  Lee  De  Forest,  1909- 
1910;  and  Fritz  Lowenstein,  1911-1912. 
Robert  H.  Marriott  was  President  of  the 
Wireless  Institute  from  1909-1912,  and 
was  the  first  President  of  The  Institute  of 
Radio  Engineers  in  1912.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Greenleaf  W.  Pickard,  1913; 
Louis  W.  Austin,  1914;  John  Stone  Stone, 
1915;  Arthur  E.  Kennelly,  1916;  Michael 
I.  Pupin,  1917,  and  George  W.  Pierce, 
1918.  Dr.  Alfred  Goldsmith  is  Secretary 
of  the  Institute. 

THE  SOCIETY  FOR  ELECTRICAL  DEVEL- 
OPMENT, INCORPORATED 

The  Society  for  Electrical  Development 
was  a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  rapid  rise 
and  spread  of  the  electrical  industry.  New 
applications  of  electricity  multiplied  so  fast 
that  only  those  professionally  interested 
could  keep  up  with  them.  Many  valuable 
inventions  were  slow  in  attaining  popular- 
ity simply  because  those  who  needed  them 
did  not  know  about  them.  New  electric 
ways  of  doing  things  better  were  not  em- 
ployed because  those  who  were  doing  them 
in  the  old  way  did  not  know  about  the  new. 

The  need  of  educating  the  public  to  a 
greater  appreciation  of  the  advantages  of 
electricity,  and  the  education  of  the  men 
in  the  industry  to  a  greater  appreciation 
of  the  opportunities  for  more  business  and 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


329 


how  to  secure  it,  were  the  impelling  rea- 
sons for  the  organization  and  incorpora- 
tion of  The  Society  for  Electrical  Develop- 
ment, which  is  aptly  described  as  "a  corpo- 
ration for  co-operation."  The  original 
Organization  Committee  consisted  of 
Henry  L.  Doherty,  W.  H.  Johnson,  John 

F.  Gilchrist,    A.    C.    Einstein    and   J.    E. 
Montague,    representing  the  Central   Sta- 
tions;  A.   W.   Burchard,   L.   A.   Osborne, 
W.  A.  Layman,  B.  M.  Downs,  and  J.  Rob- 
ert Crouse,   representing  the  manufactur- 
ers;  W.    E.    Robertson,    Frank   S.    Price, 
W.  W.   Low,   Gerard  Swope   and  Roger 
Scudder,  for  the  jobbers;  and  Ernest  Free- 
man,   Earnest   McCleary,    J.    R.    Strong, 

G.  M.  Sanborn,  and  P.  N.  Thorpe,  for 
the  contractors,  all  of  whom  are  still  liv- 
ing, with  the  exception  of  A.  C.  Einstein 
and  Roger  Scudder.     Henry  L.  Doherty 
is    now    President    of   the    Society.     The 
first  Secretary  was  Philip  S.   Dodd,  who 
was  succeeded  by  Stephen  L.   Coles,  and 
he  by  James  Smieton,  Jr.,  the  present  in- 
cumbent.   James  M.  Wakeman  is  General 
Manager. 

One  of  the  most  important  activities  of 
the  Society  has  been  bringing  into  closer 
co-operation  the  public  utilities  in  the  elec- 
trical field  with  the  great  public  which  they 
serve,  with  a  consequence  of  higher  appre- 
ciation on  the  part  of  the  public  of  the 
services  rendered  by  central  stations  and 
others  engaged  in  the  electrical  industry. 

The  education  of  the  public  has  been 
carried  on  through  the  medium  of  the  daily 
newspapers,  popular  magazines,  trade  and 
technical  press,  motion  pictures,  lectures, 
pamphlets;  and  through  great  sales  cam- 
paigns, such  as  Electrical  Prosperity  Week 
in  1915,  America's  Electrical  Week,  in 
1916,  and  the  Annual  Spring  Housewiring 
campaigns. 

The  education  of  the  men  of  the  indus- 
try has  been  carried  on  through  a  staff  of 
experts,  addressing  electrical  conventions; 
preparing  booklets  outlining  campaigns 
and  monthly  window  display  service,  book- 
lets for  salesmen,  advertising  copy,  etc., 
and  improved  relations  between  the  public 
utilities  and  their  customers  have  been 
brought  about  through  articles  in  the  daily 
press,  and  through  the  regular  service 
established  by  the  Society,  and  rendered 
without  charge  to  a  select  list  of  news- 


papers throughout  the  country.  The  So- 
ciety has  done  a  vast  amount  of  successful 
missionary  work  from  its  permanent  text 
of  "Do  It  Electrically." 

NEW  MEXICO  ELECTRICAL  ASSOCIATION 

In  1914,  C.  M.  Einhart,  of  the  Roswell 
Gas  and  Electric  Company,  started  out  to 
get  the  Central  Station  men  of  New  Mex- 
ico together  for  mutual  benefit  and  prog- 
ress. He  secured  the  aid  of  H.  Alex.  Hib- 
bard,  of  the  Electric  Appliance  Company 
of  Chicago,  and  of  A.  F.  Van  Deisne  of 
the  Albuquerque  Gas  and  Electric  Com- 
pany. By  much  correspondence  and  per- 
sonal effort  they  secured  a  well-attended 
meeting  in  Albuquerque  in  February,  1915, 
at  which  nearly  all  the  Central  Stations  in 
the  State  were  represented  and  a  goodly 
number  of  supply  men  were  present.  The 
New  Mexico  Electrical  Association  was 
formed,  with  twenty-eight  central  stations 
and  twelve  or  more  associate  members. 
C.  M.  Einhart  was  elected  President  and 
E.  A.  Thiele  of  Roswell  became  Secretary. 

The  Association  has  been  very  success- 
ful in  creating  a  closer  affiliation  with  all 
Central  Stations  and  has  aided  materially 
in  standardizing  and  other  operating  de- 
tails. Conventions  of  the  Society  are  held 
in  Albuquerque  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year. 

Mr.  Einhart  was  succeeded  in  the  Presi- 
dency by  W.  P.  Southard  of  Albuquerque 
and  J.  R.  Smith  of  Raton.  Chas.  E.  Two- 
good  is  the  Secretary-Treasurer  of  the 
Society. 

SOUTH  DAKOTA  ELECTRIC  POWER 
ASSOCIATION 

The  South  Dakota  Electric  Power  As- 
sociation was  organized  in  February,  1916, 
along  the  lines  common  to  the  Central  Sta- 
tion associations  throughout  the  country. 
Its  first  president  was  Robert  Ferris  of 
Yankton,  South  Dakota,  and  its  first  sec- 
retary was  A.  H.  Savage  of  the  Dakota 
Light  and  Power  Company. 

The  Association  has  had  valuable  data 
presented  to  it  in  regard  to  losses  on  iron 
wire  transmission,  derived  from  observa- 
tions on  the  lines  of  the  Dakota  Light  and 
Power  Company,  gathered  and  presented 
by  Professor  W.  T.  Ryan,  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Minnesota. 


330 


ELECTRICAL  SOCIETIES 

(COMMERCIAL) 

There  are  various  organizations  con- 
nected with  commercial  relations  to  the 
electrical  industry,  such  as  credit  organi- 
zations, electrical  contractors'  associations, 
jobbers'  associations  and  associations  pro- 
ducing and  handling  products  used  in  con- 
nection with  electrical  work.  Some  of 
these  may  here  be  briefly  referred  to : 

NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  ELECTRICAL 
CONTRACTORS  AND  DEALERS 

The  National  Electrical  Contractors' 
Association  of  the  United  States  was  or- 
ganized in  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  July  17,  1901. 
Its  objects  are  the  standardization  of  every- 
thing electrical,  co-operation  among  its 
members  for  the  dissemination  of  electrical 
data  and  information  on  electrical  appli- 
ances and  material.  It  has  members  in 
every  section  of  the  United  States,  with 
several  State  associations  affiliated  with  it, 
and  has  committees  working  on  all  subjects 
of  vital  interest  to  electrical  contractors 
and  dealers. 

Its  successive  Presidents  have  been 
Charles  L.  Eidlitz,  1901-1903;  Earnest 
McCleary,  1903-1905;  James  R.  Strong, 
1905-1908;  Gerry  M.  Sanborn,  1908- 
1910;  Marshall  L.  Burnes  (now  de- 
ceased), 1910-1912;  Ernest  Freeman, 
1912-1914;  John  R.  Galloway,  1914- 
1916;  Robley  S.  Stearnes,  1916-1918.  The 
first  Secretary  was  W.  H.  Morton,  who 
held  the  office  until  September,  1913,  and 
was  succeeded  by  George  H.  Duffield,  who 
served  as  Secretary,  Business  Manager  and 
Editor  of  the  journal  of  the  Association 
until  April  i,  1917,  when  he  resigned  and 
was  succeeded  in  those  capacities  by  Harry 
C.  Brown. 

In  October,  1917,  the  name  of  the  Asso- 
ciation was  changed  to  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Electrical  Contractors  and  Deal- 
ers, and  the  constitution  so  amended  that 
the  organization  was  enabled  to  take  in  all 
classes  of  retailers  of  electrical  merchan- 
dising as  well  as  electrical  contractors. 
At  that  time  Mr.  W.  Creighton  Peet  of 
New  York  City  was  elected  National 
Chairman  and  still  holds  the  office. 

In  September,  1918,  W.  H.  Morton 
again  took  charge  of  the  activities  of  the 


organization  with  the  title  of  General 
Manager,  and  the  offices  of  the  Association 
are  now  located  in  New  York  City  at  no 
W.  40th  Street. 

Twenty-three  State  Associations  are 
now  organized  as  given  below,  with  the 
names  of  the  Chairman  and  Secretary  of 
each: 

ALABAMA 

Chairman — J.  R.  Wilcox,  112  N.  24th 
St.,  Birmingham. 

Secretary — T.  G.  Erwin,  512  Broad 
St.,  Gadsden. 

ARKANSAS 

Chairman — J.  R.  Bloom,  219  W.  2nd 
St.,  Pine  Bluff. 

Secretary — J.  C.  Dice,  112  E.  4th  St., 
Little  Rock. 

CALIFORNIA 

Chairman — E.  E.  Brown,  245  Minna 
St.,  San  Francisco. 

Secretary — J.  Redpath,  505  Rialto 
Bldg.,  San  Francisco. 

CONNECTICUT 

Chairman — E.  S.  Francis,  168  Pearl 
St.,  Hartford. 

Secretary — Geo.  M.  Chapman,  43  E. 
Main  St.,  Waterbury. 

GEORGIA 

Chairman — T.  H.  McKinney,  Peters 
Bldg.,  Atlanta. 

Secretary — Dan  Carey,  Chamber  of 
Commerce  Bldg.,  Atlanta. 

KANSAS 

Chairman — R.  M.  Sutton,  125  N.  Mar- 
ket St.,  Wichita. 

Secretary — H.  S.  Lee,  816  Kansas  Ave., 
Topeka. 

ILLINOIS 

Chairman — J.  A.  Weishar,  Rock  Island. 
Secretary — G.  A.  Engelken,  55  W.  Har- 
rison St.,  Chicago. 

INDIANA 

Chairman — A.  L.  Swanson,  404  Main 
St.,  Evansville. 

Secretary — Geo.  S.  Skillman,  29  S.  Cap- 
itol Ave.,  Indianapolis. 

IOWA 

Chairman — J.  E.  Sweeney,  25  Bridge 
St.,  Waterloo. 

Secretary — F.  Bernick,  Jr.,  Oskaloosa. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


331 


LOUISIANA 

Chairman — C.  S.  Barnes,  513  Gravier 
St.,  New  Orleans. 

Secretary — Gabe  Correjolles,  511  Poy- 
dras  St.,  New  Orleans. 

MARYLAND 

Chairman — S.  C.  Blumenthal,  505  N. 
Eutaw  St.,  Baltimore. 

Secretary — John  S.  Dobler,  Baltimore. 

MASSACHUSETTS 

Chairman — A.  J.  Hixon,  246  Broad 
St.,  Boston. 

Secretary — J.  E.  Wilson,  263  Summer 
St.,  Boston. 

MICHIGAN 

Chairman — L.  R.  Greusel,  21  Jefferson 
Ave.,  Battle  Creek. 

Secretary — Bruce  W.  Palmer,  60  Park 
PI.,  Detroit. 

MINNESOTA 

Chairman — W.  I.  Gray,  914  Mary  PL, 
Minneapolis. 

Secretary — Roy  Constantine,  Builders 
Exch.  Bldg.,  Minneapolis. 

MISSOURI 

Chairman — Fred  B.  Adam,  914  Pine 
St.,  St.  Louis. 

Secretary — W.  F.  Gerstner,  120  N.  2nd 
St.,  St.  Louis. 

NEW  JERSEY 

Chairman — C.  R.  Newman,  17^  Howe 
Ave.,  Passaic. 

NEW  YORK 

Chairman — J.  J.  O'Leary,  20  Broad- 
way, Buffalo. 

Secretary — J.  P.  Ryan,  26  Cortlandt 
St.,  New  York  City. 

OHIO 

Chairman — A.  L.  Oppenheimer,  6507 
Euclid  Ave.,  Cleveland. 

Secretary — Geo.  D.  Bury,  the  Builders 
Exch.,  Cleveland. 

OKLAHOMA 
Secretary — W.  W.  McMichaels,  Tulsa. 

OREGON 

Chairman — J.  R.  Tomlinson,  286  Oak 
St.,  Portland. 

Secretary — J.  W.  Oberender,  DeKum 
Bldg.,  Portland. 


PENNSYLVANIA 

Chairman — A.  Gentel,  1503  Columbia 
Ave.,  Philadelphia. 

Secretary — M.  G.  Sellers,  1518  Sansom 
St.,  Philadelphia. 

TENNESSEE 

Chairman — P.  W.  Curtis,  Chattanooga. 
Secretary — J.  A.  Fowler,  10  S.  Second 
St.,  Memphis. 

WASHINGTON 

Chairman — V.  S.  McKenny,  Armour 
Bldg.,  Seattle. 

Secretary — Forrest  E.  Smith,  205  Bos- 
ton Block,  Seattle. 

WISCONSIN 

Chairman — R.  J.  Nickles,  120  S.  Ham- 
ilton St.,  Madison. 

Secretary — J.  A.  Piepkorn,  1 1  Wells 
St.,  Milwaukee. 

As  a  part  of  the  State  Association,  local 
organizations  have  been  formed  in  the 
various  cities  of  the  country,  and  these  as- 
sociations are  being  rapidly  extended. 

OREGON    ASSOCIATION    OF    ELECTRICAL 
CONTRACTORS  AND  DEALERS 

This  Association  was  organized  on  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1916,  and  has  since  been  con- 
ducted along  educational  lines  and  co-op- 
erative principles,  and  has  proved  an 
important  factor  in  bettering  conditions 
electrically  in  the  State  of  Oregon.  It 
stands  for  co-operation  with  the  National 
Fire  Protective  Association  and  the  Society 
for  Electrical  Development,  and  includes 
in  its  membership  central  stations,  muni- 
cipal light  and  power  plants,  telephone 
companies  and  electric  railroad  companies, 
as  well  as  contractors  and  dealers.  F.  C. 
Green  is  President  and  J.  W.  Oberender 
Secretary  of  the  Association. 

NATIONAL  ELECTRICAL  CREDIT 
ASSOCIATION 

This  Association  was  organized  at  a 
meeting  held  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  October 
7,  1898,  under  the  name  of  the  National 
Electrical  Trades  Association  by  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Electrical  Trades  Society 
of  New  York,  Electrical  Trades  Associa- 
tion of  Philadelphia,  Electrical  Trades  As- 
sociation of  Chicago,  New  England  Elec- 
trical Trades  Association,  and  Electrical 


332 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Trades  Association  of  Cincinnati.  The 
first  President  was  R.  E.  Gallaher  of  New 
York,  and  the  first  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
of  the  Association  was  Frederic  P.  Vose, 
who  has  served  continuously  in  that  capa- 
city ever  since,  with  headquarters  in  the 
Marquette  Building,  .Chicago.  Charles  C. 
Hilles  of  San  Francisco  is  now  President 
of  the  Association. 

The  Association  was  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  Illinois,  and  later  its  name  was 
changed  to  the  National  Electrical  Credit 
Association.  The  objects  for  which  it  was 
formed  are  to  promote  a  more  cordial 
feeling  among  its  members;  to  protect 
their  mutual  interests;  to  secure  uniform- 
ity and  certainty  in  the  customs  and  usages 
of  electrical  trade  and  commerce;  to  settle 
differences  among  its  members  wherever 
possible;  to  collect  trade  information  and 
distribute  it  among  its  members  and  to 
save  them  from  making  unsatisfactory 
credits. 

The  five  local  Associations  which  joined 
in  organizing  the  National  Association 
remain  as  affiliated  members  of  the  Na- 
tional body.  These  changed  their  names 
from  "Trades"  to  "Credit"  associations. 
The  Cincinnati  Association  was  merged 
with  the  Chicago  Association  in  1904,  and 
in  1902  the  Electrical  Credit  Association 
of  the  Pacific  Coast  was  organized,  with 
headquarters  in  San  Francisco. 

The  National  Association  forms  a  cen- 
tral office  or  bureau  for  the  interchange 
and  dissemination  between  the  associations 
of  ledger  facts  and  credit  experiences  of 
the  individual  members  of  the  five  local 
associations,  and  a  Monthly  Bulletin  is 
issued  by  the  national  body,  containing  the 
names  of  delinquent  customers  reported  by 
the  individual  members  of  the  local  associa- 
tions. The  Bulletin  is  for  the  exclusive 
and  confidential  use  of  members  only. 
The  Association  also  publishes  and  dis- 
tributes to  the  six  hundred  and  more  mem- 
bers The  Viewpoint,  a  monthly  paper 
edited  by  the  Secretary. 

THE    ELECTRICAL    MANUFACTURERS' 
CLUB 

The  original  Electrical  Manufacturers' 
Club  was  organized  in  the  fall  of  1905 
"to  assist  by  discussion  and  recommenda- 
tions in  establishing  and  maintaining  har- 


monious relations  between  the  manufac- 
turers of  electrical  supplies  and  the  jobbing 
and  contracting  interests  throughout  the 
country,  and  at  meetings  of  the  Club  to  be 
called  at  various  intervals  to  exchange 
ideas,  obtain  information  with  reference 
to  the  distribution  of  goods,  the  classifica- 
tion of  freights,  or  any  other  valuable  in- 
formation, and  to  secure  these  benefits  by 
committees  working  together  for  specified 
objects  that  will  further  the  interests  of  the 
Club  as  a  whole."  These  objects  were 
largely  achieved  by  the  good  work  of  the 
initial  committee,  and  proper  relations 
were  established,  so  that  for  a  time  the 
Club  was  essentially  of  a  combined  busi- 
ness-social nature,  meeting  twice  a  year  at 
Hot  Springs  and  listening  to  addresses  but 
doing  little  formal  business. 

In  November,  1911,  the  requirement  of 
interest  representation  was  eliminated,  the 
name  of  the  Club  was  changed  from  Elec- 
trical Manufacturers'  Club  to  "The"  Elec- 
trical Manufacturers'  Club,  and  the  object 
of  the  organization,  as  stated  in  the  con- 
stitution, was  "to  gather  and  disseminate 
information  relating  to  the  broader  eco- 
nomic aspects  of  industry  in  the  United 
States."  Membership  was  based  on  the 
holding  of  an  executive  position  in  an  elec- 
trical manufacturing  company  of  recog- 
nized standing  and  on  this  basis  the  Club 
now  has  a  membership  of  120.  The  prac- 
tice of  meeting  semi-annually  at  Hot 
Springs  is  still  continued,  and  there  are  no 
intermediate  meetings.  Matters  of  general 
interest  to  the  industry  are  considered,  but 
chiefly  by  committees.  Of  the  new  organi- 
zation the  first  President  was  B.  M. 
Downs,  elected  November  4,  1911.  He 
was  succeeded  by  S.  O.  Richardson,  Jr., 
serving  until  November  4,  1914.  Walter 
Cary  then  became  President,  succeeded  on 
November  3,  1915,  by  A.  W.  Berresford, 
L.  A.  Osborne,  November  4,  1917,  and 
H.  B.  Crouse,  November  n,  1918.  Wal- 
ter Cary  was  Secretary  1911-1913;  S.  O. 
Richardson,  3d,  1913-1914;  A.  D.  Page,. 
1914-1915;  H.  B.  Crouse,  since  1915- 
1917,  and  Shiras  Morris  since  that  date. 

ELECTRICAL  SUPPLY  JOBBERS' 
ASSOCIATION 

The  Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Associa- 
tion is  the  successor  of  a  number  of  organi- 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY. 


333 


zations  that  disbanded  and  reorganized, 
beginning  about  1897.  The  present  or- 
ganization dates  from  December,  1908. 
Its  work  has  been  along  the  line  of  co-oper- 
ative effort,  such  as  attempting  to  accom- 
plish standard  forms  of  packing,  and  stan- 
dardization of  forms  and  style,  and  it  has 
to  a  considerable  degree  succeeded  in 
establishing  uniformity  of  procedure.  The 
Association  has  never  had  an  officer  known 
as  President.  The  General  Secretary  acts 
as  chairman  of  the  general  meetings.  The 
headquarters  of  the  Association  from  the 


start  have  been  and  now  are  at  411  South 
Clinton  Street,  Chicago,  and  Franklin 
Overbaugh  has  been  its  General  Secretary 
from  its  organization. 

The  Association  is  divided  into  three 
divisions  as  follows:  Atlantic  Division — 
taking  in  the  Atlantic  Seaboard  and  ad- 
joining States;  Central  Division — taking 
in  the  Middle  West  States;  and  Pacific 
Division — taking  in  the  Pacific  Coast 
States.  Each  division  looks  after  local 
affairs  only. 


334 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


GEORGE  F.  MORRISON 

Vice-President 
General   Electric  Company 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  ELECTRIC  STORAGE  BATTERY 

AN  AUXILIARY  OF  GREAT  VALUE  AND  ECONOMY 


THE  electric  storage  battery,  or  accu- 
mulator, is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  all  electrical  devices.  While  it  is 
not,  as  many  people  think,  an  original 
source  of  electric  current  nor  even  a  con- 
taining reservoir  for  electric  current  as 
such,  yet  it  performs  functions  of  the 
utmost  economy  and  efficiency  exactly 
similar  in  effect  to  those  produced  through 
the  operation  of  a  dynamo  as  a  genera- 
tor of  electricity.  Probably  the  widest 
present  use  for  the  storage  battery  is  as 
an  auxiliary  in  electric  light  and  power 
stations  to  supply  electric  current  at  times 
when  the  load  is  equal  to  or  beyond  the 
capacity  of  the  generating  plant  In 
such  cases  the  storage  battery  equipment 
is  charged  from  the  station  generators  at 
a  period  when  the  load  on  the  station  is  at 
its  lowest  point,  as,  for  instance,  between 
midnight  and  six  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
In  its  turn,  then,  the  storage  battery  sup- 
plies whatever  excess  current  is  required 
beyond  the  capacity  of  the  generators  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  station's  heaviest 
load,  as,  for  example,  between  six  o'clock 
in  the  evening  and  midnight.  Thus  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  use  of  a  storage  battery 
saves  the  cost  of  installing  steam  engines, 
boilers  and  dynamos  of  a  capacity  neces- 
sary to  furnish  current  for  the  very  great- 
est load  the  station  is  ever  called  upon  to 
carry.  By  a  simple  calculation  the  average 
load  which  probably  will  be  thrown  on  the 
station  is  determined  and  generating 
machinery  slightly  beyond  that  require- 
ment is  provided.  Then  for  the  excess 
over  the  average  or  normal  load  a  set  of 
storage  batteries  is  installed.  The  economy 


in  plant  equipment  thus  achieved  is 
apparent. 

All  electric  train  lighting  systems  are 
operated  on  this  principle.  The  dynamo 
which  is  attached  to  the  car  axle  can  supply 
current  only  when  the  train  is  in  motion 
and  at  a  speed  sufficiently  high  to  enable  it 
to  generate  current.  When  the  speed  of 
the  train  falls  below  this  limit,  or  when  the 
train  stops,  automatic  switches  operate  and 
throw  into  service  a  set  of  storage  batter- 
ies carried  in  the  baggage  car.  These  bat- 
teries previously  have  been  charged  by  the 
dynamo  while  the  train  has  been  running 
at  high  speed  during  a  period  when  the 
demand  for  current  has  been  small.  The 
same  holds  true  for  electric  lighting  sys- 
tems on  some  types  of  gasoline  auto- 
mobiles. 

Another  very  important  and  constantly 
growing  use  for  the  storage  battery  is  in 
driving  electric  automobiles.  The  batter- 
ies are  charged  in  the  garage  at  night  or 
whenever  the  automobiles  are  not  in  use. 
In  railroad  signalling,  telephone  and  tele- 
graph offices,  on  submarines  during  their 
time  of  submersion  and  in  many  other 
places  where  it  is  impossible  or  unneces- 
sary to  operate  dynamos  the  storage  bat- 
tery finds  a  welcome.  Improvements  made 
during  the  last  few  years  have  given  the 
device  a  stability  and  reliability  which  it 
lacked  in  the  early  days. 

As  Dr.  Edwin  J.  Houston  so  clearly  has 
explained,  "a  storage  battery  cannot  any 
more  properly  be  said  to  store  electricity 
than  a  music  box  can  be  said  to  store 
sound  when  mechanical  power  is  applied  to 
wind  its  driving  spring.  What  the  storage 


336 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


battery  actually  stores  is  the  energy  of  the 
charging  current.  It  acts  as  a  device  where- 
by energy  is  stored  up  by  effecting  chemical 
decomposition,  such  energy  being  trans- 
formed from  mechanical  energy  to  chemical 
potential  energy.  In  discharging  the  stor- 
age battery  this  chemical  potential  energy 
becomes  liberated  and  appears  as  electric 
energy,  just  as  it  does  in  the  voltaic  cell." 
Chemical  reactions  always  occur  when  an 
electric  current  is  passed  through  any  non- 
metallic  liquid  which  possesses  electrical 
conductivity.  This  reaction  is  called  elec- 
trolysis and  the  conducting  liquid  is  known 
as  an  electrolyte.  In  order  to  get  the  elec- 
tric current  to  pass  through  the  liquid  two 
carbon  or  metallic  conductors  are  im- 
mersed in  it.  These  are  called  poles  or 
electrodes,  the  one  connected  to  the  posi- 
tive pole  of  the  dynamo  being  called  the 
anode  and  that  one  connected  to  the  nega- 
tive pole  of  the  dynamo  being  known  as 
the  cathode.  The  course  of  the.  current 
flow  is  from  the  positive  pole  of  the 
dynamo  to  the  anode,  which  it  leaves  to 
pass  through  the  liquid,  thence  from  the 
liquid  to  the  cathode  and  back  along  the 
conductor  to  the  negative  pole  of  the 
dynamo.  All  chemical  reactions  take  place 
at  one  or  the  other,  or  both,  of  these  elec- 
trodes and  at  no  other  place  in  the  liquid, 
or  electrolyte. 

R.  L.  G.  Plante,  a  Frenchman,  is  cred- 
ited with  having  invented  the  storage  bat- 
tery in  1859.  He  used  plates  of  lead 
immersed  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  Elec- 
trolysis was  caused  by  the  passage  of  an 
electric  current  through  the  acid  and,  by 
the  process  known  as  "forming  the  plates," 
the  lead  plates  are  changed,  one  of  them 
becoming  finally  coated  with  lead  peroxide 
and  the  other  with  metallic  lead  in  a  finely 
divided  spongy  state.  The  plates  are 
"formed"  by  sending  an  electric  current 
through  the  battery  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  in  one  direction  and  then 
passing  it  through  again  in  the  opposite 
direction,  the  operation  of  changing  the 
direction  being  repeated  many  times. 
After  the  plates  have  been  formed,  if  the 
charging  current  be  stopped,  the  storage 
battery  will  act  as  an  independent  source 
of  electricity  and  will  produce  an  electric 
current  which  will  flow  in  the  opposite 
direction  to  that  of  the  current  which  was 
required  to  charge  it.  While  discharging, 


the  lead  peroxide  on  one  plate  gives 
of  its  atoms  of  oxygen  and  oxidizes  me 
metallic  lead  on  the  other  plate.  When 
such  oxidization  is  complete  both  plates 
are  found  to  be  covered  with  lead  monox- 
ide and  the  storage  battery  ceases  to  sup- 
ply electric  current.  If  the  charging  cur- 
rent is  again  sent  through  the  battery,  an 
atom  of  oxygen  is  again  transferred  from 
one  plate  to  the  other  leaving  the  first 
plate,  as  before,  covered  with  a  spongy 
coating  of  metallic  lead  and  the  other  with 
lead  peroxide.  This  process  may  be 
repeated  during  the  chemical  life  of  the 
lead  plates  or  until  the  plates  are  destroyed 
in  some  other  way.  Plante's  storage  bat- 
tery could  retain  its  charge  for  a  long  time, 
was  almost  entirely  free  from  polarization 
and  possessed  high  electromotive  force, 
low  resistance  and  large  capacity.  Yet  it 
had  three  inherent  defects.  Too  much 
time  was  required  to  form  the  plates,  the 
spongy  masses  of  metallic  lead  fell  off  the 
plate  after  a  time  for  lack  of  proper  sup- 
port, and  the  strips  of  caoutchouc  used  to 
separate  the  plates  were  short-lived. 

Another  Frenchman,  C.  A.  Faure,  in 
1 88 1,  made  a  great  improvement  by  de- 
creasing the  time  required  to  form  the 
plates.  He  did  this  by  giving  the  lead 
plates,  before  they  were  placed  in  the  bat- 
tery, a  coating  of  red  lead.  Thus  he  short- 
ened greatly  the  hitherto  slow  process  of 
the  acid  eating  into  the  metallic  lead.  At 
the  first  operation  of  charging  the  red  lead 
on  the  positive  plate  was  reduced  to  lead 
peroxide  and  that  on  the  negative  plate 
was  changed  to  spongy  metallic  lead.  In 
this  manner  one  continuous  operation  for 
a  period  of  about  sixty  hours  formed  the 
plates  as  well  as  had  been  done  by  the 
process  of  many  reversals  of  the  charging 
current.  With  the  proper  rest  at  intervals 
Faure  made  batteries  which  lasted  as  long 
as  three  months.  He  also  employed  felt  as 
a  separator  between  the  plates.  The  diffi- 
culties encountered  in  keeping  the  spongy 
mass  of  metallic  lead  and  the  peroxide 
attached  to  their  respective  plates  caused 
a  number  of  inventors  to  investigate  the 
problem.  Among  these  were  Volckmar, 
Swan,  Sellon,  Brush  and  others.  The 
result  of  their  experiments  was  that  the 
lead  plate  was  abandoned  for  a  lead  grid, 
which  is  a  lead  support  in  the  shape  of  a 
trellis,  with  holes  of  various  sizes  into 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


337 


which  the  red  lead  in  the  form  of  paste 
was  forced.  The  necessity  for  the  use  of 
felt  was  thus  obviated  and  proper  mechani- 
cal support  was  provided  for  the  spongy 
mass  of  lead.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
this  did  not  work  so  well  with  the  positive 
plate  as  the  contact  of  the  peroxide  with 
the  metallic  lead  of  the  grid,  in  combina- 
tion with  the  acid  solution  of  the  battery, 
started  a  local  action  which  eventually  de- 
stroyed the  grid.  Many  makers  of  this 
type  of  battery  were  able,  notwithstanding 
this  defect,  to  so  construct  their  plates  as  to 
defer  this  disintegration  for  a  long  time. 
A  number  of  inventors,  including  Tribe 
and  Fitzgerald,  endeavored  to  do  away 
with  the  supporting  grid  for  the  positive 
plate,  but  their  batteries  could  not  compete 
commercially  with  the  older  type. 

There  was  great  rivalry  for  many  years 
between  the  Plante  type  of  battery  and  the 
Faure,  or  "pasted,"  type,  which  has  re- 
sulted, in  modern  practice,  in  the  use  of  a 
mixed  type  which  combines  the  merits  of 
both.  There  are  on  the  market  today  a 
considerable  number  of  storage  batteries 
commercially  and  scientifically  satisfactory. 
The  prime  requisites  for  a  successful  bat- 
tery have  been  proved  by  experience  to  be 
the  choice  of  absolutely  pure  materials  and 
scrupulous  care  in  all  manufacturing  proc- 
esses. In  practice  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  the  water  used  in  the  batteries  to  re- 
place that  lost  by  evaporation  must  be  pure 
and,  therefore,  distilled  water  is  generally 
used. 

A  great,  and  very  much  to  be  desired, 
saving  in  the  weight  of  the  storage  battery 
could  be  secured  by  the  use  of  any  other 
metal  than  lead  in  its  construction.  But 
other  metals  do  not  possess  the  ability  to 
resist  the  action  of  the  acid  electrolyte  as 
does  lead.  Many  inventors  and  experi- 
menters have  endeavored  to  use  an  alkaline 
liquid  as  an  electrolyte,  but  not  with  com- 
plete commercial  success.  Among  these 
innovations  are  the  batteries  of  Lalande- 
Chaperon,  Desmazures  and  Waddell-Entz. 

The  most  successful  non-lead  storage 
battery  is  that  invented  about  1903  by  Edi- 
son and  since  improved  and  developed 
commercially  to  a  large  extent.  It  is  espe- 
cially well  adapted  by  its  small  size  and 
comparatively  light  weight  for  use  on  elec- 
tric vehicles  and  in  this  direction  has  found 
a  wide  field  of  application.  The  plates  are 


made  of  very  thin  sheets  of  steel  nickel- 
plated.  In  each  of  these  24  rectangular 
holes  are  stamped,  leaving  the  plate  in  the 
form  of  a  metal  framework.  Pockets  of 
perforated  nickel-steel  were  fitted  into  the 
holes  and  pressed  into  permanent  position. 
The  active  material  is  then  placed  in  these 
pockets.  For  the  positive  plate  the  active 
material  is  nickel  peroxide  mixed  with 
flake  graphite,  while  that  for  the  negative 
plate  is  finely  divided  iron  mixed  with 
graphite.  Special  processes  are  used  to 
prepare  both  kinds  of  active  material  and 
the  function  of  the  graphite  is  to  give  in- 
creased conductivity.  For  the  electrolyte 
a  twenty  per  cent  solution  of  caustic  potash 
is  employed.  During  the  period  of  dis- 
charge the  iron  is  oxidized  and  the  nickel  is 
reduced  to  a  lower  state  of  oxidation. 
During  the  period  of  charge  the  reverse 
action  occurs. 

Early  tests  on  the  Edison  battery 
showed  that  it  had  an  electromotive  force 
of  1.33  volts  which  grew  slightly  greater 
after  the  charge.  The  battery  can  be 
charged  and  discharged  at  any  rate  and, 
up  to  a  certain  point,  is  said  to  be  improved 
by  use.  In  one  hour's  time  the  cell  could 
be  fully  charged  and  it  would  stand  up 
under  a  discharge  rate  of  200  amperes.  A 
battery  weighing  about  twelve  and  one-half 
pounds  gave  14.6  watt-hours  per  pound  of 
battery  at  a  twenty  ampere  rate  and  13.5 
watt-hours  per  pound  at  a  sixty  ampere 
rate.  A  lowering  of  capacity  of  the  bat- 
tery was  discovered  to  be  caused  by  gas 
pressure  enlarging  the  pockets  of  the  posi- 
tive plate.  This  was  corrected  by  altering 
the  form  of  the  pockets  and  substituting 
for  the  graphite  a  metallic  conductor  in  the 
form  of  flakes. 

The  manufacturers  of  the  lead  battery 
have  not  endeavored  appreciably  to  lessen 
the  weight  of  their  cells  which  are  de- 
signed for  stationary  service  in  electric 
lighting  and  power  plants.  Also,  for  such 
purposes,  practice  has  disclosed  that  long 
life  and  reliability  are  more  important  than 
a  specific  output  per  pound  of  battery. 

The  use  of  the  lead  battery  for  operat- 
ing electric  railway  cars  has,  in  spite  of 
many  attempts,  never  been  commercially 
successful.  The  size  and  weight  of  the 
cells  required  to  deliver  the  necessary 
power  to  drive  the  car  has  precluded  any 
possibility  of  efficient  and  economical  op- 


338 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


eration.  For  electric  automobiles  special 
types  of  lead  battery  have  been  designed 
which  are  commercially  successful.  Cer- 
tain of  these  have  operated  cars  for  a  total 
of  over  3,000  miles  before  wearing  out. 
The  matters  of  vibration,  weight  and  lim- 
ited space  have  been  the  controlling  factors 
in  designing  cells  for  this  purpose.  Gen- 
erally the  plates  are  thinner  and  placed 
closer  together,  the  acid  in  the  electrolyte 
is  stronger  in  order  to  produce  a  higher 
voltage  and  ebonite  or  wood  separators  are 
placed  between  the  plates  to  prevent  the 


active  material  from  being  shaken  out  of 
the  grids.  The  necessary  requirements  for 
heavy  vehicles  are  about  fifty  watt-hours 
per  1,000  pounds  of  vehicle  per  mile. 

Ignition  batteries  for  use  on  gasoline 
automobiles,  although  of  smaller  capacity, 
are  built  along  the  same  lines  as  cells  for 
traction  purposes.  Generally  two  cells  are 
placed  in  an  ebonite  container  and  con- 
nected in  series  so  as  to  give  a  four  volt 
battery,  which  is  the  standard  to  which 
sparking  coils  are  usually  designed.  From 
twenty  to  one  hundred  ampere-hours  is  the 
usual  capacity  range. 


ONE  of  the  greatest  financial  authori- 
ties in  this  country,  Mr.  Frank  A. 
Vanderlip,  declared  in  a  speech 
made  before  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  five  years  ago,  that  "four 
hundred  millions  a  year,  eight  millions 
a  week,  of  fresh  capital  can  profit- 
ably be  used  in  the  development  of  the 
whole  broad  field  of  the  electrical  in- 
dustry in  the  United  States  during  the  next 
five  years."  The  event  has  exceeded  the 
estimate,  because  of  the  abnormal  condi- 
tions that  have  been  precipitated  upon  the 
country.  But  even  before  war  conditions 
intervened,  it  has  been  written  large  in  the 
electrical  statistics  of  the  last  quarter  cen- 
tury that  the  progress  of  electrical  indus- 
try has  been  at  a  pace  that  outruns  the  pre- 
dictions of  the  most  rosy  optimists. 

The  story  of  electrical  progress  has 
many  aspects.  From  the  scientific  side 
there  is  the  story  of  patient  research  of 
many  seekers  after  the  physical  verities, 
wresting  Nature's  secrets  from  her  bosom 
and  discovering  the  facts  and  some  of  the 
phenomena  connected  with  a  kind  of  energy 
previously  unrecognized.  On  the  side  of 
the  engineer  there  are  the  mechanical  and 
chemical  means  by  which  these  phenomena 
are  marshalled  in  obedient  order,  and  the 
mathematical  means  by  which  their  force, 
current,  capacity  and  other  measurable 
characteristics  are  calculated.  There  is  a 
manufacturing  side  in  which  the  machinery 
and  apparatus  required  for  the  production 
and  use  of  the  electrical  current  are  made; 
a  service  or  public  utility  side  through 
which  the  current  is  generated,  and  then 
distributed  by  wires  and  cables,  and  a 
commercial  side,  auxiliary  to  the  manufac- 
turing and  public  utility  activities;  selling 


their  products  and  providing  them  means 
of  support  and  continuance. 

But  intimately  associated  with  all  these 
activities,  and  essential  to  their  initiation, 
is  the  matter  of  finance.  In  the  creation  of 
any  electrical  enterprise  there  is  a  question 
of  initial  expense  which,  if  the  enterprise 
is  to  be  conducted  upon  any  important 
scale,  must  be  correspondingly  large.  For 
the  creation  of  this  initial  fund  capital 
must  be  raised  as  in  any  other  large  busi- 
ness enterprise.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter 
of  large  importance  in  connection  with  the 
future  of  the  industry  to  know  something 
about  the  standing  and  prospects  of  re- 
turns from  electrical  enterprises  as  com- 
pared with  other  investments  in  industrial 
securities. 

From  the  investment  standpoint  the  elec- 
trical industries  consist  of  two  classes,  one 
composed  of  electric  railway,  light  and 
power,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies, 
which  belong  to  the  public  utility  group, 
and  the  other  of  the  manufacturing  com- 
panies producing  the  machinery  and  ap- 
paratus for  these  electrical  applications. 
The  latter  belong  to  the  industrial  group 
and,  speaking  broadly,  are  governed  as  to 
financial  computation  and  appraisal  by  ex- 
actly the  same  general  rules  as  apply  to 
other  industrial  enterprises  requiring  capi- 
tal for  their  flotation  and  creation. 

In  the  public  utility  group  the  companies 
need  large  capital  to  create  their  plant  and 
facilities,  and  when  in  running  order  not 
only  have  to  meet  the  demands  of  their 
customers  and  at  the  same  time  endeavor 
to  make  satisfactory  returns  to  their  in- 
vestors, but  they  also  have  to  submit  to 
certain  measures  of  governmental  super- 
vision and  control,  exercised  through  com- 
missions or  some  other  media,  with  power 


340 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


over  rates  and  other  matters  which,  pri- 
marily intended  to  see  that  the  public  gets 
efficient  service  at  a  reasonable  rate,  has 
also  a  reflex  action  in  the  limitation  of  the 
maximum  return  the  investor  in  the  com- 
pany may  obtain  on  his  investment.  There 
are,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  tangible 
compensations  to  the  investor  in  connec- 
tion with  this  governmental  supervision, 
which  will  be  referred  to  later  in  this 
chapter. 

The  investor  in  stocks,  bonds  and  other 
securities  does  so  facing  considerations  of 
the  safety  of  the  investment  and  the  cer- 
tainty and  amount  of  the  return.  In  de- 
ciding upon  the  making  of  investments  in 
any  class  of  industrial  or  public  utility  cor- 
porations, it  is  important  to  know  not  only 
the  record  of  the  individual  corporation, 
if  it  is  already  a  going  concern,  but  also  the 
general  condition  of  the  industry  it  repre- 
sents and  its  prospects  for  the  future,  these 
being  especially  important  considerations 
for  one  who  is  investing  in  a  new  company. 

There  has  been  in  the  last  twenty-five 
years  an  expansion  of  public  utilities  and 
an  increase  in  public  utility  investments 
that  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  devel- 
opments of  the  age.  This  is  true  of  all 
classes  of  public  utilities,  even  those  of  old- 
established  classes,  such  as  gas  and  water- 
works, which  have  responded  to  the  ten- 
dency of  rural  populations  to  flock  to  the 
cities,  and  the  consequently  increased  needs 
for  public  service  of  this  kind  which  comes 
with  urban  growth.  But  electrical  utilities 
such  as  street,  subway  and  elevated  rail- 
ways using  electric  propulsion,  electric 
light  and  power  plants  and  telephone  sys- 
tems have  multiplied  in  number  and  in- 
creased in  size  at  a  rate  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  the  rapid  increase  of  the  popula- 
tion of  cities.  The  city  systems  of  these 
utilities  have  reached  undreamed-of  growth 
and  though,  for  instance,  the  fifty  largest 
cities  of  this  country  in  1910,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  20,402,138,  had  grown  from  a 
population  for  the  same  cities  in  1900  of 
I5>238>935>  or  33-2  Per  cent,  in  a  decade 
as  shown  by  the  United  States  census,  the 
commercial  and  municipal  central  electric 
light  stations  from  1902  to  1912  showed 
for  that  decade  the  remarkable  increases 
of  252.5  per  cent  in  income,  161.6  per  cent 
in  persons  employed,  308  per  cent  in  de- 
veloped horsepower,  323.6  per  cent  in 


kilowatt  capacity  of  dynamos,  360  per 
cent  in  output  of  station  kilowatt  hours; 
31  per  cent  in  arc  lamps  and  320.5  per 
cent  in  incandescent  lamps  wired  for  ser- 
vice, and  an  increase  of  330.9  per  cent  in 
number  and  843.1  per  cent  in  horsepower 
of  stationary  motors  served. 

These  wonderful  comparative  figures  in- 
dicated not  only  an  undreamed-of  growth 
of  electric  central  station  service  in  the 
cities  and  their  immediate  suburbs,  but  also 
a  reaching  out  into  rural  places  for  which 
such  facilities  were  regarded  as  utterly  un- 
attainable a  decade  or  so  ago. 

Until  recent  years  public  utilities,  so 
called,  were  regarded  as  strictly  urban  phe- 
nomena, but  at  the  present  time  the  char- 
acteristics of  urban  life  are  developing  into 
those  of  life  throughout  the  country.  The 
extension  to  country  places  of  the  tele- 
phone, the  trolley-line,  the  electric  light 
and  running  water  have  an  urbanizing  ef- 
fect on  rural  regions  which  makes  the  life 
of  the  villager  and  small  city  resident  one 
of  comfort  and  ease  compared  to  that  of 
his  forebears  down  to  those  of  the  last 
preceding  generation.  Even  the  farmer, 
within  a  few  miles  of  a  village,  with  tele- 
phone connection  and  central  station  ser- 
vice or  an  isolated  electric  plant  is  advan- 
taged in  the  same  modern  way,  and  with 
an  automobile  added  is  socially  as  near  to 
the  center  of  things  as  the  city  resident. 
In  fact  no  small  part  of  the  revolution 
brought  about  by  applied  electricity  is  the 
spreading  of  the  economic  and  social  ad- 
vantages of  city  life  over  the  rural  dis- 
tricts. 

This  expansion  of  telephone,  electric 
light  and  trolley-line  to  the  country  is  also 
an  enlargement  of  the  area  and  increase 
of  volume  of  investment.  Indeed,  the  in- 
vestment in  such  lines  is  usually  greater  in 
proportion  to  population  served  than  is 
required  for  strictly  urban  service. 

It  was  just  about  a  year  after  the 
last  census  of  electrical  development  was 
taken,  that  for  the  year  1912  ( that  for  the 
five-year  period  1912-1917  is  not  yet  avail- 
able) that  Mr.  Vanderlip  estimated  that 
the  progress  of  electricity  for  the  next  five 
years  would  call  for  a  new  investment  of 
"four  hundred  millions  a  year,  eight  mil- 
lions a  week."  But  the  ratio  is  greater  than 
that  and  the  expansion  is  still  going  on, 
for,  great  as  the  growth  has  been,  a  recent 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


341 


estimate  puts  the  proportion  of  our  Amer- 
ican people  who  &fr  enjoying  the  benefits 
of  electrical  service*at  30  per  cent.  So 
that  there  is  a  field  of  potential  additions 
to  electric  utility  service  of  233  per  cent 
even  if  the  population  remains  stationary 
and  the  amount  of  service  per  capita  of 
those  served  does  not  increase.  But 
neither  of  these  two  things  is  likely  to  be. 
The  population  of  the  United  States  will 
continue  to  grow,  and  the  introduction  of 
public  utilities  habituates  the  people  to 
higher  standards  of  living,  the  luxuries  of 
today  becoming  the  necessities  of  to- 
morrow. 

To  record  the  growth  of  the  volume  of 
business  of  electric  service  utilities  is  suffi- 
cient to  show  that  intrinsically  they  are  ex- 
cellent media  of  profitable  investment. 
Conservatively  capitalized,  properly  man- 
aged in  its  operating  and  commercial  de- 
partments a  central  station  company  in 
any  fairly  populous  community  may  look 
forward  to  a  constant  growth  in  business. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  other  utilities 
which,  from  their  nature,  must  be  largely 
monopolistic.  Two  telephone  systems  in 
a  city  are  a  nuisance,  and  a  telephone,  to 
a  large  number  of  users,  is  of  value  to  them 
in  proportion  to  the  extent  and  volume  of 
its  local  and  long  distance  connections. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  telephone  the 
shares  of  Bell  Telephone  stock  went  beg- 
ging. A  few  people  had  faith  enough  in 
the  future  of  the  device,  which  others 
were  designating  as  "an  interesting  but 
impractical  scientific  toy,"  not  only  to  in- 
vest in  the  stock  and  hold  on  to  it.  Theo- 
dore N.  Vail,  now  at  the  head  of  the  tele- 
phone business,  is  said  to  have  made  one 
purchase  of  stock  for  $2,400  for  which 
he  was  ultimately  offered  two  million  dol- 
lars. However,  for  the  first  ten  years  of 
the  Bell  Telephone  capital  was  inclined  to 
look  askance  at  it.  But  for  thirty  years 
it  has  had  no  difficulty.  Its  stock  is  at  a 
premium  and  its  regular  dividends  return 
8  per  cent  on  common  stock  of  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company. 

In  the  early  days  of  both  telephone  and 
telegraph  there  was  much  that  was  specu- 
lative in  company  stocks.  Rival  systems 
established  companies  operating  in  limited 
areas.  Many  companies  were  organized 
in  different  states  that  never  built  a  line. 
Speculators  bought  companies,  wrecked 


them  and  bought  them  in  again  through  re- 
^piverships  and  reorganizations  by  which 
stockholders  and  creditors  were  cheated. 

But  Government  or  State  regulation, 
whatever  criticisms  may  be  made  of  it,  has 
been  a  stabilizing  force,  and  today  the 
shares  of  the  principal  telephone  and  tele- 
graph organizations  are  regarded  as  "gilt- 
edged,"  with  extensions  always  being  made 
in  their  systems,  profits  assured,  and  divi- 
dends regularly  paid.  Governmental  su- 
pervision as  it  becomes  settled  gives  great- 
er heed  to  the  equities  of  the  various  par- 
ties, the  Company,  the  stockholders  and 
the  public.  Speculative  possibilities  are  re- 
duced, but  profits  on  a  conservatively  lib- 
eral basis  are  assured  at  a  rate  considerably 
better  than  can  be  obtained  on  a  real  estate 
mortgage  and  with  safety  of  the  invest- 
ment no  less  assured.  There  is  scarcely 
another  class  of  securities  the  returns  of 
which  carry  such  permanency  and  favor- 
able percentage. 

First  of  all,  the  electric  service  company, 
especially  if  it  serves  a  well-populated  area, 
is  doing  an  increasing  business.  A  build- 
ing or  industrial  plant  which  has  once 
adopted  electricity  rarely  discards  it,  so 
that  every  new  connection  means  a  new 
customer,  and  a  new  customer  means  a  per- 
manent addition  to  income  with  a  smaller 
comparative  augmentation  of  service  cost 
so  long  as  the  total  remains  within  the 
generative  capacity  of  the  existing  plant. 

One  of  the  most  important  items  in  the 
computation  of  the  earning  power  of  a 
corporation  is  that  of  labor  cost.  Wages 
have  been  increasing  and  the  demands  of 
labor  steadily  rise  with  the  cost  of  living. 
Therefore  the  relation  of  wage  cost  to 
total  operating  expense  and  to  gross  earn- 
ings has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  re- 
turn to  be  expected  from  the  investment. 
In  railroad  operation  wages  approximate 
35  per  cent  of  gross  earnings  and  50  per 
cent  of  the  total  operating  expense,  and 
a  recent  writer  has  shown  that  a  wage 
increase  of  10  per  cent  to  railway  workers 
would  seriously  endanger  interest  pay- 
ments. But  in  electric  light  and  power 
companies  wages  represent  about  half  as 
much,  proportionate  to  gross  earnings  and 
operating  expenses,  as  is  the  case  with  both 
electric  and  steam  railroads.  Another  ad- 
vantage is  that  the  employes  of  electric 
companies  are,  for  the  greater  part,  of  the 


342 


higher  grade  and  the  industry  is  practically 
free  from  strike  danger.  Electric  service 
properties  are  generally  less  subject  than 
other  utility  investments  to  the  difficulties 
which  deter  the  judicious  investor,  such 
as  dangers  of  municipal  interference,  de- 
preciation hazards  and  fluctuating  cost  of 
raw  materials. 

The  securities  of  the  large  electric  ser- 
vice corporations,  because  of  the  econo- 
mies which  they  are  able  to  introduce,  are 
especially  attractive  as  investments  for 
trust  funds,  savings  banks  and  other  in- 
vestors of  the  more  conservative  classes. 
This  is  especially  true  with  reference  to 
the  operating  economy  effected  by  the  con- 
centration of  central  stations  which  entails 
only  a  single  management  but  admits  of 
many  fields.  About  three  years  ago  the 
London  County  Council  (which  is  an  ex- 
emplar of  a  municipal  service  corporation 
of  the  highest  type)  abandoned  an  invest- 
ment of  £8,000,000  because  it  represented 
a  multiplicity  of  inadequate  stations.  Be- 
cause of  the  great  technical  operating  ad- 
vantages of  large  electric  light  and  power 
companies,  their  securities  are  highly  fa- 
vored as  investments  by  many  discerning 
capitalists  of  strongly  conservative  tenden- 
cies. 

The  trend  of  the  electric  light  and  pow- 
er service  corporations  is  toward  union 
of  contiguous  operative  areas  under  one 
management.  This  is  strongly  shown  in 
the  report  of  the  census  of  commercial  and 
municipal  central  electric  stations  in  1912 
as  compared  with  that  in  1902.  In  the 
older  report  the  3,620  "stations"  listed 
were  the  actual  stations  without  reference 
to  their  management;  but  in  1912  the  sta- 
tion unit  was  that  of  operative  manage- 
ment, and  two  or  more  stations  under  iden- 
tical direction  were  listed  as  a  single  sta- 
tion. Therefore  while  the  number  of 
"stations"  listed  in  1912  was  only  5,221, 
an  apparent  increase  of  only  44.2  per  cent, 
the  output  in  kilowatt  hours  increased  360 
per  cent,  the  kilowatt  capacity  323.6  per 
cent  and  the  income  252.5  per  cent. 

Many  of  the  advantages  which  inhere  in 
the  large  electric  corporation  are  carried 
to  the  electric  service  companies  of  the 
smaller  cities  as  the  result  of  the  work  of 
banking-engineering  firms  and  organiza- 
tions devoting  their  energies  to  buying, 
financing,  improving  and  operating  public 


utilities.  By  specializing  along  these  lines, 
with  all  the  advantages  in  buying  and  se- 
lecting machinery,  apparatus  and  supplies 
that  the  largest  city  companies  enjoy,  by 
the  maintenance  of  engineering  organiza- 
tions which  carry  on  the  technical  part  of 
construction,  operation  and  maintenance 
with  all  the  advantage  that  experience  and 
ability  can  command,  these  large  firms  have 
carried  the  benefits  of  electric  service  of 
the  highest  efficiency  to  many  of  the  smaller 
cities  and  towns  of  the  country.  The  work 
is  done  largely  by  the  organization  of  local 
corporations  closely  allied  to  the  general 
"holding,"  managing  and  operating  firm 
or  corporation.  There  is  an  increasing 
tendency  to  encourage  the  investment  of 
local  capital  in  these  local  service  corpora- 
tions, thereby  increasing  "home  interest." 
All  utility  corporations  engaged  in  public 
service  have  a  vital  interest  in  the  growth 
of  the  region  which  they  serve.  If  a  town 
grows  rapidly  rails  are  laid,  pipes  extended 
or  wires  strung  in  that  direction.  If  popu- 
lation decreases  in  one  direction  fewer  cars 
are  run  and  less  service  is  required  in  that 
direction.  But  in  the  shifting  of  popula- 
tion from  one  part  of  a  city  to  another 
part  the  electric  service  corporations  have 
an  advantage  over  other  utility  enterprises 
in  that  it  is  much  more  expensive  to  take 
up  rails  or  pipes  than  it  is  to  transfer 
wires.  And  the  telephone  and  other  elec- 
tric service  corporation  has  the  advantage 
that  a  large  portion  of  its  property  can  be 
economically  shifted  to  meet  varying  pub- 
lic needs  within  the  given  area. 

While  many  of  the  reasons  and  grounds 
for  investment  in  electric  service  corpora- 
tions engaged  in  providing  light  and  power 
apply  with  equal  force  to  electric  railroads, 
there  are  some  points  of  difference.  The 
railroad  is  per  se  a  monopoly  of  public 
service  in  the  territory  it  serves.  In  cer- 
tain cases  the  electric  railway  may  be  in 
competition  with  a  rival  line  which  paral- 
lels it  too  closely,  but  in  cities  at  least  the 
modern  policy  places  the  entire  surface 
railway  franchise  for  the  city  or  at  least 
some  large  portion  of  it  in  the  hands  of  a 
single  company,  and  in  that  case  usually 
makes  transfer  privileges  a  condition  of 
the  charter.  The  urban  and  suburban 
electric  railway  systems  have  a  great  ad- 
vantage over  other  utility  corporations  in 
that  they  are  largely  the  creators  of  their 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


343 


own  prosperity.  A  new  electric  line,  giv- 
ing rapid  transit  from  a  city  center  to  some 
section  of  a  city  or  nearly  suburb  which 
has  previously  been  without  such  facilities, 
immediately  increases  the  residential  value 
of  the  places  to  which  it  introduces  the 
benefits  of  rapid  transit.  Such  rail  exten- 
sions give  to  regions  served  an  increased 
share  of  the  economic  advantages  of  city 
life  and  lessen  or  remove  the  handicaps 
under  which  a  region  badly  served  for 
transportation  must  be.  Delos  F.  Wilcox, 
in  a  recent  paper  read  before  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
said: 

"It  is  readily  observed  that  the  larger 
an  urban  community  becomes,  the  more 
dependent  are  its  inhabitants  upon  public 
utility  services.  Furthermore,  in  the  case 
of  the  leading  utility,  transportation,  along 
with  this  necessary  dependence  goes  the 
necessity  of  a  larger  quantity  of  service 
per  capita.  This  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
development  of  urban  transit  in  New  York. 
Over  a  period  of  fifty  years  the  number 
of  street  railway  fares  annually  paid  per 
capita  increased  from  43  in  1860  to  321  in 
1910.  Even  after  the  electric  trolley  sys- 
tem had  been  fully  developed,  the  increase 
for  the  decade  from  1900  to  1910  was  75 
rides  per  capita,  or  more  than  30  per  cent. 
Moreover,  in  a  rapidly  growing  communi- 
ty, public  utility  investments  tend  to  lag 
behind  the  demand  for  them,  and,  there- 
fore, even  if  a  city's  growth  slackens  or 
stops  entirely,  the  demand  for  public  utility 
expansion  continues  until  the  community 
has  spread  itself  out,  provided  itself  with 
all  the  necessary  conveniences  of  modern 
life  and  settled  down  into  a  static  condi- 
tion. Just  as  long  as  the  population  of  a 
city  continues  to  press  out  into  outlying 
districts,  or  to  shift  from  one  district  to 
another,  even  though  there  may  be  no  ac- 
tual increase  in  the  aggregate  number  of 
people  or  the  quality  of  utility  service  re- 
quired, new  investments  will  be  necessary, 
since  existing  investments  in  pipes,  wires, 
tracks  and  other  street  fixtures  cannot 
readily  be  moved  from  one  place  to 
another  to  follow  the  shifting  population." 

The  electric  railway,  and  especially  the 
trolley  system,  has  had  a  vast  influence 
upon  the  rapid  growth  in  the  country's  ma- 
terial welfare.  The  comparatively  small 
cost  of  construction  of  a  trolley  road  as 


compared  with  any  other  has  made  it  pos- 
sible to  connect  town  with  town  and  vil- 
lage with  village  by  rapid  transit,  in  a  way 
that  has  revolutionized  the  organization  of 
social  and  industrial  life.  Interurban  rela- 
tions have  been  made  more  intimate. 
Manufacturing  enterprises  in  small  cities 
furnish  employment  to  labor  not  only  with- 
in their  own  urban  lines  but  also  to  sur- 
,  rounding  villages  accessible  by  trolley 
lines.  The  "slums"  of  large  cities  are 
largely  losing  or  at  least  diminishing  their 
worst  features  of  congestion,  those  that 
remain  being  largely  peopled  by  unassimi- 
lated  immigrant  populations  whose  de- 
scendants are  becoming  Americanized.  Ac- 
cessibility of  labor  to  the  factory,  which 
formerly  implied  congestion  of  population 
to  an  unsanitary  degree,  is  greatly  increas- 
ing, while  many  industries  are,  because  of 
the  application  of  electricity  to  industry, 
made  possible  near  the  source  of  their  raw 
material  instead  of  being  located  in  great 
cities  where  such  materials,  as  well  as  the 
coal  for  the  supply  of  heat  and  steam,  had 
to  be  brought  to  the  big  city  in  order  to 
find  the  labor  necessary  to  keep  the  wheels 
of  industry  moving.  Not  only  are  the  elec- 
trical industries  promotive  of  the  supply 
of  labor  and  the  comfort  of  the  laborer 
by  the  vast  improvement  in  transportation, 
but  in  themselves  they  are  the  most  valu- 
able contributions  to  industry  that  modern 
progress  has  brought.  Besides  the  armies 
of  laboring  people  and  mechanics  who  are 
directly  employed  by  the  electric  railway, 
light,  power,  telephone  and  telegraph  com- 
panies, and  the  manufacture  of  electrical 
machinery,  apparatus,  and  accessories  of 
every  kind,  electrical  science  has  created 
industries  in  manifold  ways.  By  the  con- 
centration of  intense  heat  only  made  com- 
mercially possible  by  the  invention  of  the 
electric  furnace,  the  manufacture  of  car- 
borundum, of  aluminum,  calcium  carbide 
and  many  other  materials  of  great  value 
have  been  made  commercially  possible.  By 
it  the  adequate  use  of  water  power  has 
been  accomplished,  and  by  conversion  into 
electric  energy  the  power  of  the  cataract 
is  distributed,  with  little  loss  in  transmis- 
sion, to  great  distances.  Mines  which  were 
not  worth  working  by  old  methods  and 
processes  have  been  made  valuable.  Coal- 
mining has  been  revolutionized  through  its 
adoption  of  electric  light  and  power.  The 


344 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


automobile  has  been  greatly  benefited  by 
the  applications  of  electricity  that  have 
been  made  to  it  not  only  for  propulsion  but 
also  for  lighting,  starting,  etc.,  on  cars 
using  other  motive  power.  All  of  these 
applications  mean  not  only  new  avenues  of 
opportunity  for  labor,  but  also  new  open- 
ings for  capital. 

Electrical  manufacturing  companies 
have  been  developed  along  lines  that  have 
brought  to  them  growth  and  present  prom- 
inence found  in  few  other  lines  of  industry. 
There  are  still  various  companies  confining 
their  attention  exclusively  to  some  small 
department  of  the  electrical  industry  and 
in  some  cases  making  much  success  in  their 
special  lines,  but  in  the  light  of  general  in- 
vestment media  the  thought  of  the  average 
investor  as  to  electrical  manufacturing 
concerns  naturally  reverts  to  those  large 
companies  which  cover  complete  lines  of 
equipment  for  electrical  railway,  light, 
heat,  power  and  industrial  plants. 

Founded  in  the  first  place  upon  the 
ownership  of  basic  patents  for  various 
electrical  machines  and  apparatus  these 
great  companies  have  been  continually  ex- 
panding their  operations  and  organization 
until  they  have  a  business  that  is  world 
embracing  in  scope  and  are  the  leading 
enterprises  of  their  kind  in  existence.  The 
progress  in  the  electric  field  has  been  in 
very  large  measure  their  work,  which  has 
been  in  the  very  broadest  sense  educational 
as  well  as  industrial.  Many  of  the  great- 
est of  our  electrical  engineers  received 
much  of  their  training  in  the  testing  rooms 
and  other  departments  of  these  companies. 
In  creating,  by  the  supply  of  improved  ma- 
chines and  the  invention  of  new  applica- 
tions of  electricity,  the  bases  for  many  ser- 
vice companies,  these  manufacturing  cor- 
porations have  themselves  reached  a  most 
enviable  position  in  the  favor  of  the  in- 
vesting public.  Thus  if  we  scan  the  finan- 
cial market  reports  from  week  to  week  we 
find  the  stock  of  these  corporations  con- 
tinuously quoted  at  a  substantial  premium 
and  their  other  securities  at  par  or  better. 

Strongly  organized,  completely  equipped 
and  ably  managed,  the  securities  of  these 
companies  have  long  been  on  a  conserva- 
tive investment  basis,  with  dividends  regu- 
lar and  no  tendency  toward  any  sensational 
fluctuation.  Unlike  the  service  companies 
they  are  not  under  any  governmental  regu- 


lation that  does  not  apply  to  other  indus- 
trial investment,  but  they  have  all  the 
qualities  of  the  best  of  them,  having  in  ad- 
dition to  present  sound  financial  basis,  com- 
plete facilities  and  excellent  management 
the  further  quality,  not  applicable  to  many 
other  industrials  in  equal  degree,  that  they 
are  manufacturing  lines  of  machines  and 
apparatus  which  are  and  must  continue  to 
be  for  many  years  in  constantly  expanding 
demand;  that  with  their  excellent  labora- 
tory advantages  and  their  technical  staff 
, of  scientists  and  engineers  they  are  con- 
stantly adding  new  and  valuable  features 
to  the  resources  of  electrical  science  and 
are,  in  short,  producers  of  articles  for 
which  the  demand  keeps  up  with  capacity 
and  which  increases  with  the  number  of 
people  and  places  that  adopt  for  them- 
selves the  advantages  of  applied  electricity. 

Speaker  Thomas  B.  Reed  used  to  de- 
scribe himself  as  a  man  who  was  always 
a  "bull"  on  American  progress.  So  far 
as  that  progress  is  expressed  in  material 
physical  improvement  it  is  synonymous 
with  increasing  electrical  equipment.  In 
this  electric  age  when  inventive  genius,  sci- 
entific research  and  productive  industry 
are  so  largely  centered  on  electrical  objects, 
it  is  timely  for  money  and  capital  to  be 
focussed  in  the  same  direction.  It  is  al- 
ready largely  so,  and  while  there  may  be 
greater  ephemeral  gains  in  other  fields  for 
the  clever  speculator  who  knows  how  to 
get  out  as  well  as  how  to  get  in,  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  an  arena  which  better 
represents  to  the  investor  safety,  steadi- 
ness and  substantial  profit  combined  to  a 
more  complete  degree  than  the  electrical 
field. 

By  the  census  of  manufactures  of  1914 
it  was  shown  that  the  total  value  of  the 
manufactures  of  electrical  machinery,  ap- 
paratus and  supplies  for  the  calendar  year 
1914  aggregated  $359»432>I55»  as  against 
$240,034,155  in  1909,  and  $159,551,402 
in  1904  and  $105,831,863  in  1899.  The 
year  1914  happened  to  be  a  year,  too,  in 
which  there  was  less  than  normal  activity 
in  most  industrial  lines,  partly  because  of 
uncertainty  of  legislation  in  the  early  part 
of  the  year  and  partly  because  the  last  five 
months  were  those  of  the  beginning  of  the 
world  war.  Yet  without  regard  to  this 
temporary  slacking  of  industry  in  that  year 
the  output  showed  an  increase  of  49.74  per 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


345 


cent  in  five  years,  125.28  per  cent  in  ten 
years  and  239.63  per  cent  in  fifteen  years 
in  the  value  of  the  product  for  twelve 
months.  With  the  speeding  up  of  elec- 
trical industries  which  has  come  with  the 
great  increase  of  electrical  equipment  in 
factories  of  all  kinds  in  the  past  three 
years  there  is  no  question  that  the  increase 
of  the  electrical  machinery  and  apparatus 
industry  has  been  at  a  pace  considerably 
above  any  antecedent  normal. 

During  the  five-year  period  1909-1914 
the  most  rapidly  increasing  item  in  the 
manufacture  of  electrical  apparatus  was 
in  the  production  of  devices  connected  with 
automobile  and  motor  car  equipment  and 
propulsion.  During  the  three  years  and 
a  half  of  the  world  war  to  this  present 
time  the  manufacture  of  electrical  appara- 
tus in  connection  with  military  and  naval 
requirements  has  been,  of  course,  a  most 
prominent  feature. 

It  is  only  in  recent  years  that  water 
power  has  become  an  important  element  in 
the  electrical  industry.  Conservation  of 
water  resources  has,  during  the  past  ten 
or  twelve  years,  become  an  important 
economic  problem,  largely  looked  upon 
as  one  in  which  the  Federal  or  State  gov- 
ernments were  the  principal  parties  in  in- 
terest, or,  in  the  case  of  Niagara,  one  in 
which  international  arrangements  were  im- 
portant. But,  although  this  is  true  from 
the  legal  aspect,  it  is  in  a  still  more  vital 
degree  an  urban  problem. 

There  are  not  many  great  water  powers 
where,  as  at  Niagara,  important  urban 
populations  are  near  at  hand  and  the 
water  power  problem  is  largely  one  of  how 
to  bring  to  people  in  urban  communities 
the  resources  which  Nature  has  stored  in 
the  wilderness.  Vast  powers  reside  in  the 
water  resources  toward  the  head-waters  of 
our  river  systems,  which  are  either  unused 
or  only  very  inadequately  used  at  the 
water's  edge.  Great  progress  in  industry 
waits  on  the  completion  of  transmission 
enterprises  which  shall  convert  these  pow- 
ers (many  of  them  without  impairing  their 
value  for  irrigation  and  other  purposes), 
into  electrical  energy  to  be  transmitted  to 
manufacturing  centers  as  motive  power  for 
the  wheels  of  industry.  Here,  as  at  Ni- 
agara is  opportunity  for  the  profitable  in- 
vestment of  capital  in  enterprises  of  con- 
tinuous earning  power  which  shall  at  the 


same  time  spread  over  wider  and  wider 
areas  as  the  advantages  of  applied  elec- 
tricity become  more  generally  appreciated. 
For  several  years  past  there  have  been  few 
additions  to  the  developed  water  powers, 
not  because  there  is  not  need  and  demand 
for  them,  but  because  Government  restric- 
tions made  them  unattractive  to  capital. 
A  more  liberal  policy,  which  contemplates 
a  fifty-year  lease  and  a  great  liberalization 
of  conditions,  is  now  being  adopted  and 
doubtless  there  will  be  a  large  develop- 
ment of  hydro-electric  operations  which 
will  give  profitable  returns  on  the  invest- 
ments made  in  them.  While  the  original 
cost  is  heavy,  the  well-placed  hydro-electric 
plant  generates  current  at  a  much  lower 
operating  cost  than  is  possible  to  a  steam- 
driven  plant.  The  rule  is  almost  universal 
that  such  enterprises,  while  paying  small 
dividends  during  the  initial  years,  soon 
reach  a  much  higher  level  of  dividend  dis- 
tribution. 

Electrical  utility  securities  for  a  number 
of  years  following  the  panic  year  of  1907 
showed  a  general  and  quite  remarkable  in- 
crease in  both  gross  and  net  earnings, 
quarterly  dividends  of  2  and  2^2  per  cent 
becoming  the  rule  among  the  stronger 
companies,  while  a  strong  annual  increase 
in  the  demand  for  electric  service  caused 
constant  activity  in  new  construction.  In 
many  cases  the  dividends  would  have  been 
larger  except  for  the  restraint  put  upon 
them  by  public  service  commissions.  Their 
great  stability  made  the  stocks  and  bonds 
of  electric  light  and  power  companies  a 
favored  investment  for  conservative 
people.  But  in  1917  the  list  of  electric 
utility  stocks  and  securities  showed  a  con- 
siderable decline  in  prices.  It  was  not  be- 
cause of  a  decline  in  the  use  of  these  pub- 
lic utilities,  for,  as  a  fact,  the  activities  of 
the  companies  showed  a  greater  growth 
than  ever.  The  demand  for  additional 
power  on  the  average  central  station  in  in- 
dustrial communities  outran  the  ability  of 
the  station  to  supply.  Great  as  the  annual 
increase  in  gross  earnings  has  been  for 
several  years,  it  was  far  larger  in  1917 
than  in  any  previous  year.  At  the  same 
time  the  operating  expenses  and  every 
commodity  cost  entering  into  the  opera- 
tion or  betterment  of  public  utilities  in- 
creased in  much  higher  ratio,  and  wages 
were  increased  to  meet  the  higher  cost  of 


346 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


living.  As  a  consequence  the  net  earnings 
declined,  out  of  which  the  interest  and  divi- 
dends must  be  paid.  This  was  true  not 
only  of  electrical  but  also  of  every  other 
public  utility. 

The  only  way  to  get  near  to  normal  net 
income  was  to  secure  increase  of  rates,  but 
in  almost  every  case  some  commission  or 
board  has  to  be  consulted  about  that,  and 
these  are  usually  very  hard  to  convince. 
In  some  sections  increased  rates  were  ob- 
tained, but  in  others  there  has  been  much 
delay  in  securing  permission  to  raise  rates, 
while  supplies  needed  by  the  electric  com- 
panies increased,  as  compared  with  the 
prices  of  1915:  copper  wire  180  per  cent, 
copper  150  per  cent,  brass  goods  300  per 
cent,  tool  steel  400  per  cent.  Cast  iron 
pipe  and  forgings  doubled,  car  axles  and 
die-plates  trebled,  and  coal  was  often  al- 
most impossible  to  get,  even  at  more  than 
three  times  its  ordinary  price.  These 
facts  are  such  strong  evidence  of  the  just- 
ness of  the  contention  of  the  utility  com- 
panies for  the  right  to  increase  their  rates, 
and  that  right  is  being  allowed  in  an  in- 
creasing number  of  cases. 

Mr.  W.  B.  Jackson,  of  the  Bond  De- 
partment of  H.  L.  Doherty  &  Co.,  in  a 
recent  article  on  the  Utility  Securities 


Market,  calling  attention  to  these  condi- 
tions in  connection  with  the  ever  more  in- 
sistent demand  of  manufacturers  for  power 
to  an  extent  far  greater  than  within  the 
ability  of  the  companies  to  supply  under 
present  conditions  of  material  and  labor, 
says: 

"What  this  means  to  the  holder  of  cen- 
tral station  securities  may  easily  be  seen. 
The  investor,  buying  these  securities  at 
their  present  prices,  has  only  to  wait  a 
few  years  to  be  astonished  at  the  enhance- 
ment he  will  see  in  their  market  and  in- 
trinsic value  and  in  their  earning  power." 

The  securities  of  electrical  manufactur- 
ing companies  have  a  history  of  the  most 
wonderful  development.  Their  record  of 
expansion  and  dividend  paying  is  equal  to 
that  of  the  most  prosperous  of  the  great 
enterprises  of  the  country.  The  early  and 
persevering  investor  in  the  great  electrical 
industries,  such  as  the  General  Electric, 
Western  Electric,  Bell  Telephone,  and  the 
electric  light  companies  in  the  larger  cities, 
has  realized  most  substantial  returns. 

The  reason  is  that  he  has  invested  in 
an  industry  that  is  still  growing  all  the 
time,  with  greater  growth  to  follow  until 
all  the  world  is  electrically  equipped. 


A  Partial  View  of  the  General  Electric  Company's  Plant  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind. 


JAMES      MITCHELL 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


347 


JAMES  MITCHELL 


The  latest  among  many  interesting  chap- 
ters in  the  life  of  James  Mitchell  concerns 
what  he  calls  his  "principal"  occupation, 
namely,  directing  the  destinies  of  the  Ala- 
bama Power  Company  with  its  200,000 
H.P.  installed  generating  capacity,  and  one 
thousand  and  odd  miles  of  transmission 
line.  Such  an  important  addition  to  the 
hydro-electric  resources  of  the  South  brings 
the  stimulation  of  industry  that  is  so  vital 
a  condition  to  future  progress  and  reflects 
a  corresponding  measure  of  credit  upon  the 
organizer  and  developer.  Under  his  super- 
vision the  company  has  applied  a  part  of 
its  power  to  the  manufacturing  of  high 
grade  steels  by  the  use  of  electric  furnaces 
which  have  also  been  the  medium  for  ex- 
tending the  production  of  ferro-mangan- 
ese,  which  has  developed  into  one  of  the 
largest  plants  ever  constructed  for  the  pur- 
pose, at  Anniston,  Alabama.  During  the 
war  this  plant  satisfactorily  treated  low 
grade  domestic  manganese,  thereby  releas- 
ing badly  needed  shipping  space,  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  used  to  bring 
ores  from  abroad.  James  Mitchell  is  a  man 
of  many  parts,  known  in  both  the  North 
and  South  American  continents,  associated 
with  the  leading  personalities  and  move- 
ments in  early  telephony  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  electric  street  railways,  a  much 
traveled  and  indefatigable  engineer,  in- 
ventor and  industrial  promoter.  Born  in 
Ontario  Province,  June  18,  1866,  he  pre- 
pared for  Harvard  University  in  the  Mil- 
ton High  School,  at  Milton,  Mass.,  gradu- 
ating in  1882;  but  his  ensuing  education 
was  gained  in  other  than  academic  halls, 
and  doubtless  more  to  the  edification  of  the 
young  novice,  for  he  fell  heir  to  several 
unique  experiences  in  consequence.  The 
perspicacity  of  the  head  master  at  Milton, 
as  if  he  were  a  special  instrument  of  Prov- 
idence, influenced  him  to  plunge  at  once 
into  the  workaday  world  of  science  as 
the  best  incentive  to  his  marked  scientific 
talents,  which  he  did,  entering  the  employ 
of  Stearns  &  George  (later  Charles  L. 
Ely),  37  Pearl  Street,  Boston,  who  were 
manufacturing  electricians  and  instrument 
makers  when  the  art,  as  the  saying  goes, 
was  still  in  its  infancy.  He  met  and  as- 
sisted the  inventor,  Milliken,  prominent  at 


the  time  as  a  telegraphist,   manager  and 
inventor  and  a  keen  rival  of  Bell  in  the 
controversy  waged   over  the  question   of 
whether  telephone  speech  was  effected  by 
a    wave    of   varying   current   strength   or 
whether   the    telephone    transmitter   func- 
tioned by  reason  of  an  absolute  make  and 
break  in  the  current.     Milliken  acknowl- 
edged the  breakdown  of  his  theory  after 
he  had  disproved  it  by  cutting  into  the  cir- 
cuit a  Wheatstone  Telegraph  transmitter, 
running    at    high    speed.      A    chemically 
treated  tape,   recording  the  operation  of 
the    transmitter,    showed   unmistakably   a 
current  of  varying  wave  strength  as  pat- 
ented by  Bell.     The  experimental  work  of 
Milliken    produced    numerous    types    of 
transmitters  and  receivers,  some  of  the  in-' 
struments  giving  great  satisfaction  and  be- 
ing superior  to  standard  telephone  equip- 
ment of  a  much  later  period.     On  one  oc- 
casion, in  1883,  the  two  sat,  each  in  an  ad- 
joining room  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph's Boston  offices,  and  conversed  via 
New  York  over  two  telegraph  lines  con- 
nected at  the  New  York  end.    Another  of 
Mitchell's  youthful  performances  was  the 
superintending  of  arc  lamp  installations  at 
expositions.    It  was  his  duty,  among  other 
things,  to  see  that  the  carbons  fed  prop- 
erly,   which    often    necessitated    climbing 
to  the  trusses   of  the  buildings,  where  a 
black  thread  was  run  to  the  carbon  rods  of 
the  lamps  to  assist  their  erratic  operation. 
The  next  turn  of  fortune's  wheel  put  him 
on   the   road  to   permanent  prestige   and 
power  in  the  fresh  field  of  electric  street 
railway  building.     At  that  date  the  idea 
had  just  begun  to  spread  and  a  colossal 
amount  of  construction  awaited  the  elec- 
trical  engineer.      The  Thomson-Houston 
Company  were  carrying  out  extensive  oper- 
ations of  this  sort,  so  it  was  an  auspicious 
start  that  Mr.  Mitchell  made  in  1884  at 
the  Lynn,  Mass.,  plant  of  that  company. 
The  making  of  instruments,  models,  and 
experimental  apparatus,  much  of  the  time 
under  the  direct  supervision  of  Professors 
Thomson  and  Rice,  kept  him  busy,  as  did 
the  actual  making  of  all  the  volt  and  am- 
pere meters  turned  out  at  that  early  day  in 
the  Lynn  plant.     Later,  when  promoted 
from  instrument  maker  and  toolmaker  to 


348 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


be  a  foreman  of  the  so-called  Special  De- 
partment of  the  Thomson-Houston  Com- 
pany, he  had  charge  of  their  first  manu- 
factured stationary  and  railway  motors. 
Their  railway  department  then  claimed 
his  services,  and  in  1887  he  went  to  Alle- 
gheny City  on  a  mission  of  cooperation 
with  the  Bentley-Knight  group  in  the  instal- 
lation and  operation  of  the  Observatory 
Hill  Street  Railay.  Bentley  and  Knight 
will  ever  be  remembered  as  among  the 
most  active  of  pioneer  electric  street  rail- 
way builders.  The  difficulties  encounterd 
may  be  illustrated  by  the  circumstances 
surrounding  the  adoption  of  the  carbon 
brush  for  motors.  The  prevailing  use  of 
copper  leaf  brushes  appeared  to  be  an  in- 
superable cause  of  trouble,  but  the  prof- 
fered remedial  suggestion  in  favor  of  car- 
bon was  thought  impracticable,  believing 
that  it  would  offer  too  high  a  resistance 
and  badly  wear  the  commutator.  While 
Mitchell  was  in  close  association  with 
Charles  VanDePoele  the  problem  came 
up  again.  That  scientist  had  the  clue, 
replying  to  the  objections  with  the  state- 
ment that  carbon  would  not  be  a  high 
resistance  for  a  500  volt  trolley  current, 
as  it  would  be  for  the  low  voltage  be- 
tween commutator  segments,  and  was 
therefore  the  material  for  the  ideal 
brush.  Indeed,  so  it  proved  to  be 
after  Mitchell  had  fashioned  a  set  of 
brushes  from  a  slab  of  carbon  purchased 
at  a  local  supply  store.  To  the  amaze- 
ment of  beholders,  when  they  were  applied 
the  commutator  ran  sparkless  under  every 
condition.  Mr.  Mitchell  immediately 
adopted  the  new  discovery  in  all  his  work, 
but  received  for  his  pains  a  severe  repri- 
mand from  the  company,  who,  fearing 
possibly  an  impairment  of  their  reputation, 
more  likely  because  of  the  patent  situation, 
sent  instructions  that  henceforth  copper 
brushes  should  be  ordered  as  usual  from 
the  factory.  Thereafter  they  were  duly 
ordered  and  as  duly  disposed  of  to  local 
brass  foundries.  Finally,  the  company, 
through  a  circular  letter,  informed  all  "ex- 
perts" that,  after  much  experimentation 
and  study,  the  factory  (  !)  had  developed 
a  carbon  brush  superseding  the  copper 
brush  and  that  thereafter  orders  might  be 

placed  for  catalogue  No. etc.     In 

the  months  that  followed  Mr.  Mitchell  de- 
signed and  suggested  many  improvements 


of  street  railway  equipment.  While  an  en- 
gineer at  the  Chicago  office  of  the  Thom- 
son-Houston Company  he  had  charge  of 
the  building  and  equipping  of  street  rail- 
way cars  and  trucks  at  the  Pullman  works, 
and  the  electrification  and  operation  of 
numerous  street  railways  in  the  Middle 
West.  From  there  he  was  sent,  in  1890, 
to  California  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Pa- 
cific Coast  Department,  and  later  was 
briefly  located  at  Denver,  Colo.  Then  be- 
gan the  foundation  of  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance covering  seventeen  years  with 
electric  utilities  in  Brazil.  He  had  gone 
to  Rio  de  Janeiro  to  install  equipment  for 
a  special  24  in.  gauge  mountain  line,  he 
remained  to  supervise  the  equipment  of  the 
Botanical  Garden  Street  Railway,  the  first 
electric  street  railway  in  the  southern  hem- 
isphere, and  to  aid  in  introducing  to  Brazil- 
ians the  conveniences  of  electric  light,  the 
telephone,  and  other  products  of  electric 
power.  He  was  associated,  at  the  Brazil- 
ian end,  with  Dr.  F.  S.  Pearson,  who  was 
directing  the  financing  and  construction  of 
the  Sao  Paulo  Tramway,  Light  and  Power 
Company  and  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  Tram- 
way, Light  and  Power  Company.  The  en- 
tire street  railway,  light,  power  and  tele- 
phone systems  of  these  two  cities  are  con- 
trolled by  the  two  companies  merged  under 
the  name  of  the  Brazilian  Traction  Com- 
pany. Their  present  hydro-electric  devel- 
opments utilize  about  200,000  H.P.  and 
further  water  powers  of  enormous  poten- 
tial value  are  in  reserve.  For  the  past  ten 
years  Mr.  Mitchell  has  maintained  con- 
nections with  Sperling  &  Company,  Lon- 
don bankers,  who  helped  finance  many  en- 
terprises in  Canada  and  Latin-America. 
His  New  York  offices  are  at  120  Broad- 
way. Besides  being  president  of  the  Ala- 
bama Power  Company,  he  is  a  director 
or  official  in  a  dozen  or  more  electric 
power  companies,  chiefly  in  the  South, 
and  in  foreign  countries.  Mr.  Mitchell's 
tastes  in  reference  to  club  life  are  apparent 
in  his  membership  in  the  Engineers,  Union 
League,  Automobile  of  America,  Colum- 
bia Yacht,  Downtown  Association  and 
Bankers  clubs  of  New  York;  the  Royal 
Automobile,  and  Stoke-Pogis  Golf  clubs 
of  London,  England;  the  Roebuck  Country 
Club,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama;  and  the 
Engineering  Club  of  Rio  de  Janeiro. 


JAMES    E.    McCLERNON 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


349 


JAMES  E.  McCLERNON 


James  E.  McClernon,  president  of  the 
Northwestern  Electric  Equipment  Com- 
pany, had  wide  experience  in  the  manu- 
facture and  sale  of  electrical  apparatus 
before  becoming  associated  with  the  com- 
pany of  which  he  is  now  the  executive 
head.  Mr.  McClernon,  who  is  of  Scotch- 
Irish  descent,  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  April 
21,  1879,  the  son  of  James  and  Margaret 
(Fields)  McClernon,  and  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  there.  From  the  time 
his  schooldays  ended  until  he  was  twenty 
years  of  age  he  was  associated  with  com- 
mercial lines,  and  in  1899  he  became  an 
employee  of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany. He  served  a  regular  apprenticeship 
with  this  organization,  familiarizing  him- 
self with  every  branch  of  the  business  from 
the  mechanical  end  to  the  sales  depart- 
ment. Upon  leaving  the  Western  Electric 
Company  in  1910,  to  accept  an  official  po- 
sition with  the  Northwestern  Electric 
Equipment  Company,  he  brought  to  his 
new  connection  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  and  buyers  in  the  territory 
the  Northwestern  intended  to  invade.  This 
company  had  only  been  organized  four 
months  when  Mr.  McClernon  joined  it  and 
it  was  through  his  efforts  the  first  business 
was  secured  and  the  organization  started 
on  its  successful  career.  At  that  time  the 
business  was  located  in  Brooklyn,  where 
one  small  floor  was  sufficient  for  stock  pur- 
poses and  Mr.  McClernon  and  one  sten- 
ographer constituted  the  entire  office  force. 
In  1913  the  business  had  so  increased  that 
the  office  was  removed  to  Manhattan  and 
additional  warehouse  space  secured  in 
Brooklyn.  In  a  short  time  these  increased 
facilities  were  found  inadequate  and  the 
building  at  35  Vestry  Street  was  leased. 
The  offices  were  removed  to  the  new  loca- 


tion and  the  Brooklyn  warehouse  discon- 
tinued. It  was  thought  at  this  period  that 
the  seven  floors  in  the  new  building  would 
suffice  for  the  term  of  the  lease,  but  the 
business  soon  assumed  such  large  propor- 
tions that  double  the  floor  space  is  now  re- 
quired and  a  new  building  that  will  fully 
accommodate  the  growing  trade  is  being 
sought.  From  an  office  force  of  one,  Mr. 
McClernon  now  directs  a  staff  of  fifty-five 
employees,  which  is  a  most  healthy  show- 
ing in  the  eight  years  the  company  has  been 
in  operation.  Mr.  McClernon  was  made 
vice-president  of  the  corporation  one  year 
after  he  became  associated  with  it,  and  in 
1914  was  elevated  to  the  presidency.  The 
Northwestern  Electric  Equipment  Com- 
pany operates  in  the  territory  within  a  ra- 
dius of  200  miles  of  New  York  City  and 
for  this  work  employs  a  large  and  capable 
sales  force.  The  concern  confines  its  ef- 
forts to  the  wholesale  jobbing  of  electrical 
merchandise  and  it  was  the  pioneer  house 
in  the  line  to  originate  the  system  of  whole- 
saling only  and  absolutely  refusing  to  sell 
any  goods  at  retail.  This  policy,  together 
with  other  reforms  in  sales  methods  insti- 
tuted by  Mr.  McClernon,  has  made  the 
company  most  popular  with  the  trade  and 
been  of  great  aid  in  largely  increasing  the 
annual  sales.  Mr.  McClernon  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Engineers  Club,  Transportation 
Club,  International  Millers  Club,  Crescent 
Athletic  Club  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Haworth 
Country  Club  of  New  Jersey,  president  of 
the  Electrical  Club  of  New  York,  an  or- 
ganization which  includes  in  its  member- 
ship the  entire  electrical  jobbing  trade  of 
the  city,  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Westing- 
house  Agent  Jobbers  Association,  another 
strictly  trade  organization.  He  resides  at 
1 66  Halsey  Street,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 


350 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


DONALD  McNICOL. 


Donald  McNicol,  an  electrical  engineer 
whose  specialty  is  telegraph  engineering, 
who  since  his  seventeenth  year  has  been 
actively  identified  with  the  practice  and 
progress  of  the  art  of  telegraphy,  was 
born  in  Canada,  July  23,  1875.  He  is  of 
Scottish  lineage,  and  one  of  his  ancestors 
was  one  of  the  Scottish  chiefs  who,  when 


DONALD  McNICOL 

Sir  Walter  Scott  was  a  boy,  introduced  him 
to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  Mr.  Mc- 
Nicol's  family  emigrated  from  Scotland  to 
Canada  in  1820,  and  is  still  located  there 
on  the  lands  taken  up  at  that  time  in  Lan- 
ark County  (now  in  Ontario,  but  at  that 
time  in  the  Province  of  Upper  Canada) . 

He  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Can- 
ada, and  received  his  engineering  and  tech- 
nical education  in  night  schools  and  in  spe- 
cial lecture  courses.  He  early  experienced 
a  desire  to  know  and  practically  learn  about 
electricity  in  general  and  telegraphy  in  par- 
ticular, and  at  the  age  of  twelve  received 
a  strong  inclination  in  that  direction 


through  reading  R.  M.  Ballantyne's  "The 
Battery  and  the  Boiler,"  giving  an  account 
of  the  laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  Cable. 


As  soon  as  possible  thereafter  he  procured 
employment  in  a  telegraph  office.  From 
1892  to  the  present  time  he  has  been  con- 
tinuously employed  in  telegraph  service — 
for  the  first  four  years  in  Canada,  and 
since  then  in  the  United  States.  His  serv- 
ice for  fourteen  years  was  with  various 
railway  systems  in  the  West,  and  since 
1906  he  has  been  with  the  Postal  Tele- 
graph-Cable Company,  for  which  he  came 
to  New  York  as  assistant  electrical  engi- 
neer in  1909,  in  which  position  he  con- 
tinues. 

Mr.  McNicol  has  always  been  a  student, 
deeply  interested  in  the  problems  of  teleg- 
raphy, telephony  and  radio-telegraphy,  and 
for  years  has  been  recognized  as  an  author- 
ity on  those  subjects,  and  a  foremost  con- 
tributor to  the  professional  literature  along 
those  lines.  He  has  written  more  than 
fifty  technical  papers  which  have  been  pub- 
lished dealing  principally  with  telegraphy, 
telephony  and  radio. 

In  1908,  while  located  in  the  State  of 
Utah,  he  served  as  secretary  and  as  mem- 
ber of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Utah  Society  of  Engineers,  and  in  the  same 
year  was  appointed  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Merrill, 
director  of  the  State  University  of  Utah, 
as  a  special  lecturer  in  electrical  subjects 
in  the  Utah  State  University  at  Salt  Lake 
City.  Since  coming  to  New  York  he  has 
served  as  instructor  in  The  Technology 
of  Telegraphy  and  Telephony,  1911-1912, 
in  the  evening  technical  schools  of  Colum- 
bia University;  and  in  1915  he  gave  a 
course  of  lectures  on  Telephone  Engineer- 
ing to  the  classes  at  Cooper  Union,  New 
York  City. 

Mr.  McNicol  is  a  collector  of  books 
and  papers  on  electrical  subjects,  especially 
on  the  historical  side,  showing  the  devel- 
opment of  electrical  science  and  of  the 
electrical  profession,  and  he  possesses  one 
of  the  most  complete  private  collections  of 
works  on  telegraphy  in  the  United  States. 

He  is  prominent  and  active  in  profes- 
sional societies,  is  a  member  of  the  Mag- 
netic Club  of  New  York,  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Institute 
of  Radio  Engineers  and  the  Telephone 
Pioneers  Society. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


351 


ELMER    P.    MORRIS 


Elmer  P.  Morris,  who  is  engaged  in  the 
electric  railway  and  lighting  supply  busi- 
ness at  126  Liberty  Street,  was  early  in  his 
career  associated  with  the  installation  of 
central  stations  and  the  construction  of 
electric  railways  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Charles  J. 


Van  Depoele,  "the  father  of  the  trolley," 
and  from  this  noted  electrician  and  inven- 
tor he  gained  information  that  was  of  in- 
estimable value  to  him  in  his  ensuing 
activities.  Mr.  Morris  was  born  in  But- 
lerville,  Indiana,  Friday,  June  13,  1862, 
and  this  supposed  unlucky  combination  in 


352 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


the  date  seems  to  have  brought  him  luck 
instead  of  the  proverbial  failure.  He 
graduated  from  the  Indianapolis  High 
School  in  1879,  after  which  he  went  to 
work  in  the  factory  of  E.  T.  Gilliland,  who 
manufactured  telephone  equipment.  A 
year  later  he  was  sent  to  St.  Louis  to  do 
some  repair  work  for  the  telephone  com- 
pany there.  In  one  of  the  branch  offices, 
where  they  had  a  switchboard  for  125 
services  that  took  five  girls  to  operate,  he 
rearranged  the  system  so  that  one  girl 
could  care  for  all  125  subscribers.  From 
1880  until  1882  he  was  with  the  Brush 
Electric  Company  at  Indianapolis,  and  in 
1882  he  went  to  Chicago,  where  he  be- 
came an  employee  of  Van  Depoele  and 
gained  further  practical  knowledge  of 
electricity.  He  installed  a  number  of  iso- 
lated arc  lamp  plants  in  and  around  Chi- 
cago, and  city  plants  at  Freeport,  Joliet 
and  Bloomington,  Illinois;  Lansing,  Mich- 
igan; Michigan  City,  and  Brazil,  Indiana, 
and  Waco  and  Corsicana,  Texas.  In 
June,  1886,  he  was  sent  to  Appleton,  Wis- 
consin, to  construct  the  electric  railway 
system  there.  This  was  the  first  complete 
electric  railroad  ever  built  in  the  United 
States  from  track  to  power  house.  The 
first  Edison  Central  Station  was  located 
there.  After  completing  and  starting  the 
road  he  was  sent  to  Port  Huron,  Michi- 
gan, to  instal  another  line.  His  next 
operative  point  was  Lima,  Ohio,  from 
whence  he  went  to  Binghamton,  N. 
Y.,  where  the  first  road  in  the 
State  was  built.  The  roads  in  Brooklyn 
and  Jamaica  next  received  his  attention, 
which  were  followed  by  the  lines  at  An- 
sonia,  Conn.,  and  Dayton,  Ohio.  He  had 
full  charge  of  constructing  all  these  roads, 
and  upon  their  completion  he  went  to  Bos- 
ton in  1889  as  the  representative  of  the 
Thomson-Houston  Company,  now  the 
General  Electric,  which  had  acquired  the 
Van  Depoele  traction  system  patents.  He 


spent  a  few  weeks  in  the  plant  at 
Lynn  and  was  then  put  in  charge 
of  the  construction  of  the  West  End 
Street  Railway  electrification  from  Bow- 
doin  Square,  Boston,  to  Harvard 
Square,  Cambridge.  Completing  this  work, 
he  equipped  a  road  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
spent  the  succeeding  two  years  in  selling 
railway  supplies,  being  subsequently  ap- 
pointed designing  engineer  of  construction 
material.  In  this  connection  he  organized 
the  Electric  Railway  Supply  Department 
for  the  company  and  had  charge  of  the 
same  for  two  years.  He  left  the  com- 
pany's employto  enter  business  for  himself 
and  located  at  Indianapolis.  In  1895,  two 
years  later,  he  removed  his  business  to 
New  York  City  and  has  since  added  an 
Export  Department  to  its  activities.  Mr. 
Morris  remained  with  Mr.  Van  Depoele 
until  that  great  genius  died  in  1892,  and  he 
pays  the  highest  tribute  to  that  noted  in- 
ventor, whose  death,  when  only  45  years 
of  age,  cut  short  a  career  of  more  than 
usual  brilliancy.  He  firmly  believes  the 
association  resulted  in  his  equipment  and 
subsequent  achievement  which,  in  addition 
to  installation  and  construction,  gave  him 
the  ability  to  study  problems  that  en- 
abled him  to  take  out  a  number  of  patents 
on  electric  specialties,  some  of  which  are 
standard  equipment  today.  In  connection 
with  his  long  association  with  the  industry 
Mr.  Morris  has  collected  and  prepared 
considerable  pioneer  data  pertaining  to 
early  electrical  history. 

Mr.  Morris  comes  of  an  illustrious  an- 
cestry, being  directly  descended  from  the 
Robert  Morris  family  which  figured  promi- 
nently in  the  history  of  state  and  nation. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Electri- 
cal Society,  the  Railroad  Club  and  the  Ma- 
sonic Fraternity,  being  a  32nd  Mason,  a 
Knight  Templar  and  a  Shriner.  He  re- 
sides at  41 1  William  Street,  East  Orange, 
New  Jersey. 


WILLIAM     S.    MURRAY 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


353 


WILLIAM  S.  MURRAY 


Every  traveler,  habitual  or  occasional, 
between  New  York  City  and  New  England 
has  observed  the  presence  of  electric  power 
along  the  tracks  of  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  southward 
from  New  Haven  along  the  Sound  shore. 
The  compact,  box-like  looking  locomotives, 
the  steel  spans  crossing  in  monotonous  suc- 
cession overhead  are  still  innovations 
upon  American  railroads,  though  discus- 
sion is  rife  on  the  question  of  electrifying 
the  entire  railway  system  of  the  country. 
Near  the  cities  or  in  densely  populated  sec- 
tions the  superiority  of  electric  propulsion 
has  been  decisively  proven  and  the  experi- 
ence of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford  R.R.  was  a  case  in  point.  It 
was,  in  fact,  the  first  steam  road  to  adopt 
electric  traction  and  to  apply  it  to  any  con- 
siderable portion  of  line.  The  degree  of 
confidence  inspired  by  this  successful  ex- 
periment led  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
and  the  Swiss  Government  to  accept  the 
standards  which  had  been  established.  The 
engineer,  upon  whom  fell  the  actual  task  of 
electrifying  the  New  Haven  road  was  Wil- 
liam S.  Murray.  The  outcome  placed  his 
name  among  the  foremost  of  the  world's 
great  electrical  engineers.  About  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  electric  motive  power 
was  just  beginning  to  be  adopted  for  trac- 
tion purposes.  In  the  same  period,  in  1895, 
Mr.  Murray  came  out  of  Lehigh  Univer- 
sity bearing  the  degree  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neer. He  was  then  barely  twenty-two 
years  old,  having  been  born  August  4th, 
1873,  at  Annapolis,  Maryland.  His  keen 
discernment  of  the  exacting  standards  de- 
manded by  the  profession  he  had  set  out  to 
master  was  met  by  a  wise  choice  of  means. 
The  principal  necessity  he  recognized  to  be 
the  securing  of  a  thorough  working  knowl- 
edge of  electrical  engineering  construction 
and  operation.  That  branch  of  the  science 
bearing  upon  the  transmission  of  high  volt- 
age A.C.  power  and  its  application  to  rail- 
way and  industrial  properties  even  then  ex- 
cited his  ambition.  Directly  from  the  Uni- 
versity he  went  to  another  school  of  learn- 
ing, not  so  called  but  where  instead  of  pro- 
fessors' examination  papers  he  must  meet 
the  world's  test  of  100  percent  results 
which,  alas,  for  many  college  boys,  seems 
a  cruel  standard.  With  the  Westinghouse 


Electric  &  Mfg.  Company  he  began  as  an 
apprentice  at  the  East  Pittsburgh  plant. 
Before  long  he  had  risen  to  the  position  of 
testing  room  engineer,  then  became  con- 
struction engineer  on  the  road,  progressing 
later  to  district  engineer  of  New  England, 
and  finally  to  sales  engineer.  On  the 
strength  of  such  experience  he  established 
himself  independently  in  Boston,  Mass.,  as 
a  consulting  electrical  engineer.  That  his 
abilities  were  highly  regarded  is  a  foregone 
conclusion  in  view  of  his  having  been 
sought  by  the  N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  Hartford 
R.  R.  company  to  accomplish  the  engineer- 
ing feat  already  cited.  He  remained  with 
the  railroad  as  a  consulting  engineer  after 
the  newly  electrified  road  was  in  operation. 
Later,  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
McHenry  &  Murray,  engineers,  his  atten- 
tion was  turned  to  water  power  develop- 
ments on  the  Housatonic  River  in  Connect- 
icut. These  valuable  sites  were  a  matter 
of  interest  to  the  firm.  Mr.  Murray  en- 
tered the  Housatonic  Power  Co.  as  assist- 
ant to  the  president,  afterwards  becoming 
president  himself.  Subsequently,  the  Con- 
necticut Light  &  Power  Company,  a  cor- 
poration composed  of  a  merger  of  four 
companies,  absorbed  the  properties  in 
which  McHenry  &  Murray  were  concerned 
and  after  the  dissolution  of  the  latter  firm, 
proceeded  with  the  projected  works  that 
are  now  in  process  of  evolution.  Mr. 
Murray  took  a  financial  as  well  as  profes- 
sional interest  in  the  Connecticut  Light  & 
Power  Co.  He  is  today  their  chief  engi- 
neer, but  he  is  also  known  throughout  the 
land  to  be  a  scientist  whose  opinions  are 
well  nigh  authoritative  in  those  branches  of 
electrical  practice  upon  which  he  has  spe- 
cialized. Mr.  Murray  makes  his  home  at 
Watertown,  Connecticut,  while  his  offices 
are  at  1 1 1  West  Main  Street  in  Water- 
bury.  He  is  closely  connected  with  local 
societies,  being  a  member  of  the  Water- 
bury  Club,  the  Country  Club  and  Rotary 
Club  of  that  city.  On  the  side  of  scholastic 
affairs  he  is  a  member  of  the  Graduates' 
Club  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  and  of  the 
Chi  Phi  Fraternity  of  Lehigh  University. 
His  sympathy  with  the  fraternal  organiza- 
tion of  his  profession  is  shown  by  member- 
ship in  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  and  Engineers'  Club  of  N.  Y. 


354 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


DOUGLAS  H.  McDOUGALL 


Douglas  H.  McDougall,  president  of 
the  Canadian  Electrical  Association,  the 
most  important  society  affiliated  with  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  and 
Fourth  Vice-President  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  itself,  was  born 
at  Toronto,  Ontario,  January  29,  1874. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Toronto  public 
schools  and  at  Upper  Canada  College. 
He  began  his  business  career  at  the  age 
of  1 6  in  the  service  of  the  Grand  Trunk 
Railway  Company.  After  a  year  and  a 
half  he  secured  a  position  with  the  West- 
ern Assurance  Company  and  was  sent  to 
New  York  in  1889  as  accountant  for  the 
New  York  and  New  England  branches  of 
the  Western  and  British  American  Assur- 
ance Companies.  Four  years  later  he  re- 
turned to  Toronto  as  treasurer  of  the 
Electrical  Development  Company  of  On- 
tario, Ltd.,  and  had  charge  of  the  finances 
of  this  important  organization  from  its 
inception.  The  magnificent  hydro-electric 
plant  of  this  company  at  Niagara  Falls, 
Ontario,  is  one  of  the  most  notable  power 
houses  on  the  continent. 

In  1908  the  holdings  of  the  Electrical 
Development  Company  were  leased  to  the 
Toronto  Power  Company  and  Mr.  Mc- 
Dougall was  appointed  assistant  to  the 
general  manager  of  the  latter.  In  1911 
the  Toronto  Power  Company  purchased 
the  entire  stock  of  the  Toronto  Electric 
Light  Company,  Ltd.,  and  Mr.  Mc- 
Dougall assumed  the  duties  of  assistant  to 
the  manager  of  the  still  further  enlarged 
organization.  At  present  he  handles  all 
the  detail  work  in  connection  with  the  com- 
mercial operation  of  the  Toronto  Electric 
Light  Company,  Ltd. 

In  addition  to  holding  the  above  offices 
Mr.  McDougall  is  treasurer  of  the  Elec- 
trical Development  Company,  of  the  To- 
ronto and  Niagara  Power  Company,  and 
of  the  London,  Ontario,  Electric  Com- 


pany. He  is  also  secretary  of  the  Niagara 
Falls  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Company,  of 
Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y. 

In  spite  of  his  arduous  professional 
duties  Mr.  McDougall  has  found  time  to 
be  an  integral  part  of  the  general  life  of 
his  community.  He  was  for  some  years 
the  chairman  of  the  Toronto  section  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, of  which  he  is  an  associate  mem- 
ber, and  is  a  member  also  of  the  Toronto 
Board  of  Trade,  The  Royal  Canadian 
Yacht  Club,  Canadian  Club,  Empire  Club, 
Engineers'  Club  of  Toronto,  Arts  and  Let- 
ters Club  of  Toronto  and  the  London 
Club,  of  London,  Ontario.  He  is  married 
and  has  one  son. 

It  is  but  a  few  years  since  Mr.  Mc- 
Dougall was  an  outstanding  figure  in  in- 
ternational athletics.  He  was  the  Interna- 
tional Canoe  Champion  for  both  single 
and  double  blade  contests  and  holds 
numerous  rowing  trophies  won  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  famous  Argonaut  Rowing  Club, 
of  Toronto,  and  the  Clifton  Boat  Club,  of 
Staten  Island,  N.  Y. 

Greatly  to  the  credit  of  a  man  whose 
business  obligations  are  so  numerous,  he 
has  continuously  discharged  his  duty  to  his 
country,  having  been  for  many  years  en- 
rolled on  the  roster  of  the  48th  Highland- 
ers Regiment  of  Toronto  in  which  he  now 
holds  a  captain's  certificate.  His  activities 
during  the  present  war  have  been  of  a 
notably  practical  character. 

Mr.  McDougall's  record  is  that  of  one 
who  yet  young  has,  by  the  constant  appli- 
cation of  unusual  judgment  and  ability, 
risen  to  a  notable  position  in  Canadian  af- 
fairs and  has,  by  his  manly  sincerity  and 
pleasing  personality,  won  for  himself  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  a  host  of  friends 
not  only  in  Canada  but  in  the  United 
States. 


355 


CRESCENT  ELECTRIC  AND  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 


JACOB  F.  MOTZ,  PRESIDENT 


The  Crescent  Electric  and  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  while 
having  a  most  complete  service  in  the  gen- 
eral repair  of  electrical  equipment,  special- 
izes in  the  rewinding  and  reconstruction  of 
dynamos  and  motors  of  all  systems,  as  well 
as  the  refilling  of  commutators,  general 
motor  repairs  and  wiring  for  light  manu- 


facturing purposes.  The  company  was  es- 
tablished in  1899  and  incorporated  in 
1902.  It  was  recently  completely  re-or- 
ganized under  the  management  of  J.  F. 
Motz,  president,  and  A.  L.  Dole,  secre- 
tary-treasurer, two  men  of  experience,  who 
have  largely  increased  the  business  and 
placed  it  among  the  sound  industrial  plants 


356 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


of  the  Western  Pennsylvania  City.  A 
short  time  ago  the  company  absorbed  the 
Pittsburgh  Armature  Works  by  the  pur- 
chase of  its  equipment  and  stock,  and  this 
gives  the  Crescent  Company  increased 
facilities  along  this  line  of  electrical  work 
for  extending  its  already  large  business. 


Experienced  men  are  supplied  anywhere 
in  the  Pittsburgh  district  for  any  work 
included  in  the  company's  line.  The  ex- 
perts in  the  company's  service  are  frequent- 
ly called  into  consultation  by  large  busi- 
ness interests,  and  advice  is  cheerfully 
given  on  any  problem  submitted. 


EDWARD  J.   NALLY 


Edward  J.  Nally,  President  of  the  Mar- 
coni Telegraph-Cable  Company,  Inc.,  and 
Vice-President  and  General  Manager  of 
the  Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Com- 
pany of  America,  who  has  for  years  been 
a  conspicuous  figure  in  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone work,  may  well  be  considered  a  pio- 
neer in  these  different  modes  of  communi- 
cation. He  has  risen  from  an  humble  po- 
sition by  merit  and  close  application,  and 
the  many  years  of  his  business  activity  are 
filled  with  notable  achievement. 

Mr.  Nally  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  April  n,  1859,  and  had  opportunity 
for  but  a  few  years  of  schooling,  as  he  had 
to  work  as  a  cash  boy  at  the  age  of  eight, 
on  account  of  his  father  losing  his  eye- 
sight. At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  a  mes- 
senger boy  for  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  He 
next  became  office  boy  for  Col.  Clowry, 
late  president  of  the  Western  Union,  and 
later  assistant  to  I.  McMichael,  who  was 
superintendent  for  that  company  in  St. 
Louis  and  Minneapolis.  He  remained  in 
this  position  until  October,  1890,  when  he 
was  made  assistant  general  superintendent 
for  the  Postal  Telegraph-Cable  Company, 
with  headquarters  in  Chicago,  and  two 
years  later  was  appointed  general  superin- 
tendent. In  this  position  he  had  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  telegraph  lines  and  offices  of 
twenty-two  states.  In  1906  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  New  York  City,  as  vice-presi- 
dent, and  later  elected  first  vice-president 
and  general  manager  and  a  director  of  the 
company,  continuing  as  such  until  1913, 
when  he  was  offered  the  office  of  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager  of  the  Marconi 
Wireless  Telegraph  Company.  He  is  also 
a  director  and  member  of  the  executive 
committee  of  that  company,  and  a  director 
and  member  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Marconi  Wireless  Telegraph  Com- 


pany of  Canada.  He  is  also  president  of 
the  Marconi  Institute,  the  Wireless  Press 
and  the  Pan-American  Wireless  Telegraph 
and  Telephone  Company. 

While  in  St.  Louis  Mr.  Nally  was  tem- 
porarily in  charge  of  the  first  Edison  tele- 
phone exchange,  when  the  Edison  tele- 
phone was  owned  and  operated  by  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 

In  his  official  capacity  Mr.  Nally  has 
visited  practically  every  town  and  hamlet 
in  the  United  States.  He  prepared  the 
estimates  for  the  first  telegraph  lines  to 
follow  all  of  the  transcontinental  railroad 
lines  constructed  during  the  years  1880- 
1900  and  the  opening  and  operation  of 
thousands  of  telegraph  offices  throughout 
the  land.  The  entire  system  of  the  Postal 
Telegraph-Cable  Company  in  the  middle 
and  far  West  was  built  during  Mr. 
Nally's  time  as  general  superintendent  in 
Chicago,  and  in  the  Southwest  after  his 
transfer  to  New  York. 

Since  his  association  with  the  Marconi 
Wireless  Telegraph  Company  of  America 
he  organized  the  company  for  commercial, 
service,  and  just  before  the  outbreak  of 
the  European  war  he  arranged  for  the 
first  transatlantic  wireless  telegraph  service 
between  the  United  States  and  Europe. 
In  1914,  under  his  management,  a  com- 
mercial service,  by  wireless,  was  started 
between  California  and  Hawaii,  and  in  Oc- 
tober, 1916,  the  first  wireless  commercial 
circuit  was  opened  to  the  public  between 
the  United  States  and  Japan.  At  this  time 
there  are  being  completed  similar  high- 
power  stations  in  Massachusetts  for  work 
with  Norway;  also  a  chain  of  stations  in 
Alaska  for  commercial  telegraph  business 
with  the  United  States. 

In  December,  1917,  he  organized  the 
Pan-American  Wireless  Telegraph  and 
Telephone  Company,  which  will  construct 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


357 


EDWARD  J.  NALLY 


a  chain  of  high  power  stations  which  will 
connect  up  the  United  States  with  Mexico, 
Central  and  South  America,  for  commer- 
cial wireless  communication.  This  will  be 
the  first  wireless  service  between  the  coun- 
tries of  South  America  and  the  outside 
world. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  term  pioneer 
in  connection  with  Mr.  Nally's  work  is  no 
misnomer.  The  consummation  of  his  life 


work  in  the  development  of  wireless  tele- 
graphy is  one  of  the  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  his  busy  career,  and,  in  contrast 
to  the  time  when,  as  the  only  all-night  mes- 
enger  boy  in  St.  Louis,  he  tramped  weary 
miles  in  the  delivery  of  telegrams  and 
press  reports,  it  may  well  be  considered 
marvelous. 

Mr.  Nally  is  greatly  interested  in  gar- 
dening and  the   collection   of  books   and 


358 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


prints  and  of  data  relating  to  telegraphy. 
He  is  the  possessor  of  a  very  fine  collection 
of  books,  etchings  and  engravings;  also  of 
letters,  instruments,  etc.,  including  a  com- 
plete scrapbook,  formerly  belonging  to 
Prof.  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  on  the  inven- 
tion of  the  telegraph.  He  also  devotes 
much  time  to  civic  betterment  and  every- 
thing that  tends  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  worker.  He  has  been  instrumental 
in  establishing  savings  and  investment  so- 
cieties, employees'  libraries  and  reading 
and  rest  rooms  in  various  offices  of  the 
companies  with  which  he  has  been  asso- 
ciated. 


Mr.  Nally  is  a  member  of  the  Caxton 
Club  and  of  the  Brothers  of  the  Book, 
Chicago;  the  American  Geographic  Soci- 
ety, the  National  Geographic  Society,  the 
American  Irish  Historical  Society,  the  In- 
stitute of  Radio  Engineers,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Society,  the  City  Lunch  Club,  and  is 
interested  in  several  organizations  devoted 
to  the  telegraph  and  the  welfare  of  tele- 
graph employees.  He  was  married  in 
Lexington,  Kentucky,  June  loth,  1897,  to 
Lee  Warren  Redd,  and  they  have  two 
children:  Marylee  and  Edward  Julian 
Nally,  Jr. 


LOYALL  ALLEN  OSBORNE 


The  world  moves  so  fast  in  the  direction 
of  progress  and  development  that  we  who 
live  in  this  period  accept  as  if  they  always 
had  been,  things  that  are  really  but  of  yes- 
terday and  yet  have  already  become  of  the 
warp  and  woof  of  our  daily  life. 

Cynical  old  Thomas  Carlyle,  who  al- 
ways depreciated  the  value  of  physical  im- 
provements, used  to  dismiss  the  suggestion 
that  Watt,  Stephenson,  Fulton  and  Morse 
had  brought  great  progress  to  the  world 
by  contemptuously  referring  to  their 
achievements  as  "mere  smithy  work."  But 
we,  who  live  in  the  age  of  electricity,  which 
had  scarcely  dawned  when  Carlyle  died, 
are  all  ready  enough  to  admit  that  the 
great  electrical  engineers  who  have  so 
wrought  as  to  greatly  multiply  and  expe- 
dite our  resources  in  light,  heat,  power, 
locomotion,  and  the  means  of  intercom- 
munication of  ideas  have  made  themselves 
benefactors  of  the  age  of  civilization. 

The  Story  of  Electricity  is  a  story 
of  marvels,  of  the  accomplishment  of 
what  has  passed  for  centuries  as  impossi- 
ble, and  of  great  physical  benefits  which  we 
enjoy  far  beyond  any  within  the  reach  of 
our  forefathers.  The  electrical  .engineer 
who  has  mastered  his  profession  belongs  to 
the  most  useful  class  of  producers.  Men 
like  Loyall  Allen  Osborne,  who,  fortified 
by  a  sound  technical  training,  go  out  into 
the  engineering  profession  and  win  their 
way  step  by  step  to  the  top,  are  of  a  kind 
most  useful  to  the  community,  and  are  lay- 
ing foundations  for  the  progress  that  is  to 
bless  future  ages. 


Mr.  Osborne  was  born  June  22, 
1870,  at  Newark,  New  Jersey,  the 
son  of  Frederick  Allen  and  Eliza  Jane 
(Rathbone)  Osborne.  Both  through  the 
Osborne  and  the  Rathbone  strains  of  de- 
scent, he  is  a  scion  of  old  English  families 
that  transplanted  to  American  soil  have 
developed  into  the  best  class  of  American 
citizenship. 

Mr.  Osborne  received  his  education  in 
the  high  school  of  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
and  from  there  went  to  Cornell  University, 
where  he  completed  scientific  and  technical 
courses  and  was  graduated  with  the  degree 
of  M.  E.  in  the  Class  of  1891. 

Immediately  following  his  graduation, 
Mr.  Osborne  became  a  member  of  the 
engineer  staff  of  the  Westinghouse  Elec- 
tric and  Manufacturing  Company.  That 
great  concern  was  then  developing  a 
large  and  progressing  enterprise  which  was 
introducing  new  and  valuable  improve- 
ments in  the  various  applications  of  elec- 
tricity, and  especially  with  the  alternating 
current  as  applied  to  lighting  circuits.  It 
became  and  has  remained  one  of  the  fore- 
most of  the  greater  electrical  manufactur- 
ing enterprises,  employing  engineers  of 
genius  and  skill,  whose  efforts  and  re- 
searches added  constantly  to  the  improved 
electrical  machines  and  appliances  pro- 
duced by  that  company.  Among  those  thus 
aiding  in  this  progress  none  worked  more 
effectively  than  Mr.  Osborne.  In  four 
years  he  had  advanced  to  a  position  as  as- 
sistant superintendent,  and  after  two  years 
in  that  position  he  became  assistant  to  the 


LOYALL     A.   OSBORNE 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


359 


vice-president,  in  1897.  He  became  man- 
ager of  works  in  1899,  fourth  vice-presi- 
dent in  1902,  and  in  that  office  he  was  in 
active  charge  of  the  engineering  and  manu- 
facturing branches  of  the  company's  busi- 
ness, which  had  by  that  time  enormously 
expanded.  Mr.  Osborne,  in  his  make-up 
and  experience,  possessed  and  improved 
the  capacities  that  fitted  him  for  manage- 
ment not  only  of  engineering  and  manu- 
facturing, but  also  of  the  commercial 
branch  of  the  business.  He  had  been  made 
third  vice-president  in  1904,  and  in  1906 
he  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  second 
vice-president  of  the  company,  in  which 
connection  he  had  full  charge  of  the  selling 
and  commercial  departments.  He  is  now 
in  point  of  service  the  senior  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company,  in  whose  em- 
ploy he  has  been  at  the  active  head 
of  the  various  departments  and  has 
acquired  a  complete  mastery  of  the  diver- 
sified activities  of  that  great  enterprise. 
He  has  contributed  in  an  important  degree 
to  its  upbuilding,  and  has  devoted  enthu- 
siasm and  ability  to  its  development, 
taking  a  creative  part  in  the  direction  of 
its  affairs.  He  is  identified  with  the  man- 
agement of  the  company's  subsidiaries  and 
affiliated  organizations,  and  is  known  to 
the  electrical  world  as  one  of  the  leaders  in 
the  electrical  engineering  and  manufactur- 
ing fields.  Mr.  Osborne,  aside  from  his 
duties  as  an  officer  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company,  has 
been  actively  identified  with  the  creation 
and  administration  of  the  National  Indus- 


trial Conference  Board,  being  Chairman  of 
its  Executive  Committee. 

In  connection  with  the  work  incident  to 
the  great  war,  he  has  served  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  to  the  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense,  advisory  to  that  body  on 
industrial  and  economic  subjects  arising 
out  of  its  war  program.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Industrial  Relations  Committee 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
United  States. 

He  was  one  of  the  employers  selected  to 
represent  that  group  on  the  War  Labor 
Planning  Commission  and  was  later  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  to  be  a  member 
of  the  National  War  Labor  Board,  created 
to  carry  out  the  program  recommended 
by  the  War  Labor  Commission  and  de- 
signed to  provide  a  means  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  industrial  controversies  during  the 
war. 

Mr.  Osborne  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, the  American  Electrochemical  So- 
ciety, the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  En- 
gineering Education,  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the 
National  Geographic  Society,  and  other 
scientific  societies,  the  National  Civic  Fed- 
eration and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
New  York.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Du- 
quesne  and  University  Clubs  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  the  University,  Railroad,  Cornell, 
Bankers,  Machinery  Clubs  of  New  York, 
the  Lenox  Club  of  Lenox,  Mass.,  the 
Stockbridge  Golf  Club  of  Stockbridge, 
Mass.,  and  the  Colony  and  Nyasset  Clubs 
of  Springfield,  Mass. 


MAURICE  A.  OUDIN 


Maurice  A.  Oudin  is  a  son  of  the  late 
Professor  Lucien  Oudin  and  Sophie  Jose- 
phine (Agnus)  Oudin.  He  was  born  in 
New  York  City  March  31,  1866,  and 
graduated  from  the  College  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  with  the  A.B.  degree,  in  1885. 
He  afterwards  entered  Princeton  Univer- 
sity, and  finishing  his  studies  in  1891  was 
awarded  the  degree  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neer and  Master  of  Science.  He  then 
joined  the  forces  of  the  Thomson-Hous- 
ton Company  at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  and 
continued  with  the  General  Electric  Com- 


pany, its  successor,  filling  various  positions 
until  appointed  Vice-President  of  the  In- 
ternational General  Electric  Company,  a 
subsidiary  of  the  General  Electric  Co.  He 
has  traveled  extensively  in  foreign  coun- 
tries for  the  General  Electric  Company. 
His  familiarity  with  European,  South 
American  and  Far  Eastern  conditions  has 
made  him  an  authority  on  foreign  trade 
matters  and  international  economics.  He 
has  been  instrumental  in  advancing  the 
foreign  trade  relations  of  the  country  and 
his  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs  has  caused 


360 


THE    STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


MAURICE  A.  OUDIN 


him  to  be  consulted  on  international  mat- 
ters, especially  those  relating  to  the  Far 
East.  Mr.  Oudin  was  decorated  by  the 
Emperor  of  Japan  in  1911  with  the  Order 
of  the  Rising  Sun.  He  is  a  member  and 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  National  For- 
eign Trade  Council;  of  India  House,  New 
York  City,  of  which  he  was  a  founder  and 
Governor  in  1916-19;  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  American  Man- 
ufacturers' Export  Association;  of  the 
University  Club  of  New  York;  of  the  Cen- 
tury Club  of  New  York;  Bankers'  Club  of 
America;  Electrical  Manufacturers'  Club 


of  New  York;  Mohawk  Club  and  Mohawk 
Golf  Club  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  Japan 
Society;  American  Asiatic  Association  and 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers. Mr.  Oudin  is  the  author  of  "Poly- 
phase Apparatus  and  System"  and  has  con- 
tributed many  papers  to  the  literature  on 
foreign  trade  problems.  He  was  married 
December  31,  1895,  to  Susan  Worth  Fol- 
ger,  of  Geneva,  N.  Y.,  daughter  of  the 
late  Charles  J.  Folger,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  President  Arthur,  and 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of 
New  York. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


361 


ALMON  D.  PAGE 


The  measure  of  the  abilities  of  A.  D. 
Page  and  their  result  is  not  to  be  judged  by 
the  brevity  of  this  account,  but  might  bet- 
ter be  adduced  from  the  books  of  the  Edi- 
son Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electri- 
cal Company  whose  sales  policy  he  has  di- 
rected since  1890.  His  experience  goes 
back  to  1880  and  a  connection  with  the  M. 
C.  Bullock  Company,  Western  agents  of 
the  Brush  Electric  Light.  He  afterward 
became  superintendent  of  James  P.  Marsh 
&  Company  of  Chicago,  and  was  with  the 


United  Edison  Co.,  at  65  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York,  in  1889.  Mr.  Page  is  from 
Michigan,  born  at  Litchfield,  Feb.  27, 
1860,  and  he  attended  Albion  College.  He 
is  an  associate  member  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 
and  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New  York  City. 
Mr.  Page's  offices  are  with  the  Edison 
Lamp  Works  at  Harrison,  N.  J.,  and  120 
Broadway,  New  York  City. 


362 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


RAY   PALMER 


Ray  Palmer,  president  of  the  New  York 
&  Queens  Electric  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany, which  serves  one  hundred  and  eight 
square  miles  of  territory  in  New  York 
City,  was  formerly  Commissioner  of  Gas 
and  Electricity  of  Chicago,  111.,  and  in  that 
capacity  evolved  and  completed  the  most 
nearly  perfect  system  of  municipal  lighting 
in  the  world.  In  addition  he  reorganized 
the  Departments  of  Gas  and  Electricity 


into  separately  working  divisions,  Electric 
Wiring  and  Repairs,  Operation  and  Main- 
tenance, Engineering  and  Construction, 
Lighting,  Fire  Alarm  and  Electrical  In- 
spection, which  work  resulted  in  a  large 
saving  to  the  city;  and  in  addition  Mr. 
Palmer  fought  incessantly  for  the  passage 
of  an  electrolysis  ordinance,  which  was 
opposed  by  the  street  and  elevated  rail- 
ways, but  was  finally  passed.  It  conferred 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


363 


many  benefits  and  saved  the  city  and  the 
public  utilities  large  sums  each  year.  After 
resigning  from  the  position  of  Commis- 
sioner of  Gas  and  Electricity,  Mr.  Palmer 
practiced  his  profession  in  Chicago  for  a 
short  time  when  he  was  chosen  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager  of  the  New 
York  and  Queens  Company  November  i, 
1915,  and  was  advanced  to  the  presidency 
September  19,  1916.  Mr.  Palmer  was 
born  in  Sparta,  Wis.,  March  29,  1878, 
and  graduated  from  the  University  of  that 
State  in  1901  as  an  electrical  engineer.  He 
was  for  a  time  assistant  superintendent  for 
J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  on  substation  installa- 
tion work  of  street  lighting  in  New  York 
City,  and  after  the  completion  of  this  work 
continued  on  the  firm's  engineering  staff 
in  London,  Eng.  He  was  later  appointed 
electrical  engineer  of  the  Union  Traction 
Co.  of  Chicago  but  left  that  organization 
to  start  in  the  engineering  business  as  a 
consulting  engineer  in  Chicago  and  Mil- 
waukee, and  continued  in  private  practice 
until  his  appointment  in  the  Western 
metropolis  by  Mayor  Carter  Harrison. 
Mr.  Palmer  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  a 
member  of  the  Electric  Club  of  Chicago, 
the  Engineers'  Club  of  New  York,  the  Illu- 
minating Engineering  Society  and  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society.  His  address  is 
444  Jackson  Avenue,  Long  Island  City, 
New  York. 

HAROLD  PENDER 

Dr.  Harold  Pender  is  a  native  of  Tar- 
boro,  N.  C,  where  he  was  born  January 
13,  1879.  He  was  educated  in  the  Balti- 
more public  schools,  McDonogh  School, 
McDonogh,  Md.,  and  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, from  which  he  was  graduated  A.B., 
1898,  and  Ph.D.,  1901,  and  was  assistant 
in  the  Physical  Laboratory  of  the  Univer- 
sity, 1899-1901,  instructor  at  McDonogh 
School,  1901-1902,  and  instructor  in  phy- 
sics, Syracuse  University,  1902-1903  Cen- 
tered apprenticeship  course  of  Westing- 
house  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany,  May,  1903;  given  regular  position 
on  company's  engineering  staff  in  Fall  of 
1903,  in  charge  of  testing  sheet  steel  for 
electrical  purposes.  Was  assistant,  1905- 
1909,  to  Cary  T.  Hutchinson,  consulting 
engineer  (New  York),  and  his  assistant 


when  he  was  chief  engineer  of  the  McCall 
Ferry  Power  Company,  1907-1909.  Was 
in  faculty  of  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  as  Professor  of  Theoretical  and 
Applied  Electricity,  1909-1912,  of  Elec- 
trical Engineering,  1912-1913,  and  Di- 
rector of  Research  Division  of  Electrical 
Department,  1913-1914;  since  1914  Pro- 
fessor in  Charge,  Department  of  Electrical 
Engineering,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
Valuable  contributions  to  electrical 
science  by  Dr.  Pender  include  exhaustive 
experiments  made  in  this  country  and 
France,  proving  Maxwell's  theory  that  a 
moving  charge  produces  a  magnetic  field, 
a  postulate  absolutely  fundamental  to  the 
modern  theory  of  electricity,  as  well  as 
many  experiments  and  reports  on  large 
electrical  and  related  hydraulic  and  eco- 
nomic problems,  connected  with  great  elec- 
trical undertakings. 

DAVID  M.  PETTY 

David  M.  Petty,  superintendent  of  the 
Electrical  Department  of  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Company,  was  born  March  2,  1885, 
at  Archdale,  North  Carolina.  His  father's 
and  mother's  people  are  Quaker  families 
long  resident  in  North  Carolina.  The 
Pettys  have  been  there  for  generations 
and  before  that  were  residents  of  Nan- 
tucket  Island,  where  they  were  among  the 
original  settlers.  His  mother's  people 
(Tomlinson)  settled  in  North  Carolina 
in  Colonial  days,  by  virtue  of  a  grant 
from  the  King  of  England.  Mr.  Petty 
was  graduated  B.S.  from  Guilford  Col- 
lege in  1907,  and  from  Lehigh  Uni- 
versity with  the  degree  of  E.E.  and 
election  to  Tau  Beta  Pi  in  1909.  Be- 
fore entering  Guilford  College  in  1904  he 
had  worked  a  year  in  the  hydro-electric 
plant  of  the  Fries  Manufacturing  and 
Power  Company  at  Winston-Salem,  N.  C. 
During  the  summer  vacation  periods  of 
1907  and  1908  he  worked  in  the  test-room 
of  the  Crocker-Wheeler  Company,  at  Am- 
pere, N.  J.  Being  especially  attracted  by 
steel  mill  electrical  engineering  as  a  new 
and  developing  field,  he  started  at  once 
after  graduation  as  a  repairman  with  the 
electrical  department  of  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Company.  He  advanced  in  that  ser- 
vice until  he  was  made  superintendent  of 
the  department  in  1912.  Since  that  time 


364 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


DAVID   M.    PETTY 


many  shops  have  been  built  using  indi- 
vidual drive  on  all  machine  tools,  and  roll- 
ing mills,  both  reversing  and  non-revers- 
ing, all  using  electric  drives.  The  notable 
progress  and  development  of  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Company,  the  enlargements  of 
its  operations  and  capacity,  have  been 
greatly  aided  by  the  introduction  of  elec- 
tricity to  all  the  appropriate  processes  of 
steel  making,  and  this  work  has  afforded 
excellent  opportunity  for  Mr.  Petty's  skill 
in  this  branch  of  engineering.  He  is  a 


member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  Association  of  Iron  and 
Steel  Electrical  Engineers  (first  vice-presi- 
dent, 1917-1918;  president,  1918-1919), 
and  the  Engineers  Club  of  Philadelphia. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Bethlehem 
Club,  University  Club  (president,  1917- 
1918)  and  Gahnwa  Club  (commodore, 
1917-1918),  all  of  Bethlehem,  Pa.;  also 
a  member  of  the  Bethlehem  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Knights  of  Pythias  and  is  a 
thirty-second  degree  Mason. 


MARSDEN    J.  PERRV 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


365 


MARSDEN  JASIEL  PERRY 


Among  the  earliest  towns  planted  in 
New  England  was  Rehoboth,  in  the  Ply- 
mouth Colony.  In  1641  the  land  was 
bought  from  Massasoit  by  John  Brown  and 
Edward  Winslow.  The  town  was  planted 
in  1643,  and  Anthony  Perry,  among  the 
fifty-eight  planters,  was  the  sixteenth  who 
joined  in  the  settlement.  On  the  4th  of 
March,  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of 
King  Charles  the  First,  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England  was 
given  a  charter,  and  twenty-six  men  were 
named  as  grantees.  The  fourteenth  was 
Richard  Perry,  and  the  twenty-first  was 
John  Brown.  The  descendants  of  these 
two  Englishmen  were  among  the  original 
planters  of  the  town  of  Rehoboth  and  they 
intermarried.  From  these  lines  there  came 
many  descendants.  To  one  of  them, 
Horatio  N.  Perry,  a  son  was  born  in  1850, 
in  a  small  house  standing  upon  the  land 
which  his  great-grandfather  cut  into  eight 
parts  and  divided  among  his  eight  chil- 
dren. This  house  was  the  third  built  in 
the  locality  by  Anthony  Perry  and  his  de- 
scendants, since  the  land  was  bought  from 
the  Indian  Chief.  The  child  was  given  a 
name  brought  to  New  England  by  the  very 
earliest  of  these  men,  Marsden  Jasiel 
Perry.  When  three  years  of  age  his  father 
died,  and  soon  his  mother  married  again 
and  the  child  went  to  live  with  his  grand- 
mother, Lucy  Perry.  This  grandmother, 
and  her  two  sisters,  had  been,  and  then 
were,  teachers  in  the  schools,  and  some  of 
her  five  brothers  were  preachers  among 
the  Methodists. 

Young  Marsden  must  have  been  a  child 
with  the  sense  of  observation  very  strongly 
developed.  Besides  his  natural  gift  of 
concentration  the  loneliness  of  his  life  fur- 
ther developed  this  trait,  for  it  has  strong- 
ly characterized  his  life.  In  his  twelfth 
year  the  boy  bethought  himself  that  the 
time  was  approaching  when  he  should  go 
forth  among  men,  and  himself  prepare  to 
be  a  man — "shift  his  being,"  as  Cymbe- 
line's  Queen  spoke  it.  He  went,  and 
worked,  and  at  last,  near  the  close  of  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion,  enlisted  in  a  Mas- 
sachusetts Company  and  was  sent  to  Bos- 
ton. There  he  was  detailed  to  a  position 


in  the  office  of  the  Provost  Marshal.  At 
the  State  House  the  boy  was  brought  in 
contact  with  the  great  war  Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  John  Albion  Andrew.  The 
office  of  the  Provost  Marshal  was  near 
the  room  where  the  Governor  worked  day 
and  night  for  his  country,  and  young  Perry 
soon  became  familiar  with  the  new  sur- 
roundings and  felt  himself  at  home  in  the 
long  narrow  corridor  that  led  from  the 
Council  Chamber  to  the  Governor's  room. 

The  3rd  of  July,  1863,  was  a  day  of  im- 
portance in  his  life,  as  it  was  in  the  life  of 
the  Governor.  Andrew  had  promised  to 
pass  the  Fourth  of  July  in  Salem  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Rantoul,  when  late  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  3rd  of  July  he  found 
that  he  was  expected  to  make  a  speech  the 
next  morning  at  the  dedication  of  the  statue 
of  Horace  Mann  in  the  grounds  of  the 
State  House.  To  write  this  he  needed  many 
books  of  reference  from  the  state  library, 
and  a  boy  to  bring  these  books  was  de- 
manded. Who  so  readily  to  respond  as 
the  bright-eyed  boy  from  Rehoboth,  in  the 
Provost  Marshal's  office?  All  those  long 
hours,  when  the  great  Governor  was  writ- 
ing his  famous  speech  which  was  to  ring 
throughout  the  whole  state  and  rouse  the 
friends  of  Webster  and  of  Mann  to  fresh 
controversies,  the  lad  went  back  and  forth 
from  the  Governor's  room  to  the  state 
library  bringing  books. 

In  1871  young  Perry  went  to  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  to  find  an  occupation  and  to 
live.  His  head  and  hands  were  his  only 
capital.  For  ten  years,  1871-1881,  Mr. 
Perry  worked  with  other  men.  He  then  re- 
versed the  operation,  by  leading  other  men 
to  work  with  him;  and  then  began  the 
great  business  career  which  he  has  steadily 
followed.  In  that  year  he  organized  his 
first  corporation,  became  its  President  and 
controlled  it  for  eight  years.  He  then  sold 
his  interest,  and  the  company  was  merged 
into  one  of  the  modern  consolidations.  In 
this  same  year,  1881,  Mr.  Perry  became  a 
director  in  the  Bank  of  America.  This 
bank  then  had  assets  of  $287,000.  It  is 
now  the  Union  Trust  Company,  its  home 
is  a  magnificent  twelve-story  block  and  Mr. 
Perry  is  the  chairman  of  its  Board  of 


366 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Directors.    Its  assets  are  more  than  twelve 
millions  of  dollars. 

In  these  days  of  great  industrial  and 
scientific  advance,  fortunes  come  to  him 
whose  mind  is  so  constructed  as  to  quickest 
see  the  possibility  of  the  application  of 
these  results  of  scientific  research  to  indus- 
trial methods.  It  was  the  possession  of 
this  gift  which  led  Mr.  Perry,  in  1882,  to 
acquire  control  of  the  Fall  River  Elec- 
tric Lighting  Company,  which  for  some 
years  he  held  and  then  sold  to  a  syndicate. 
So,  too,  in  1884,  he  led  two  other  men  to 
join  him  in  the  purchase  of  the  Narragan- 
sett  Electric  Lighting  Company  of  Provi- 
dence. No  sooner  did  he  get  this  plant 
into  working  order  than  he  saw  clearly  the 
future  development  of  electric  power,  and 
how  it  might  be  applied  to  a  railroad,  or 
any  other  enterprise  where  power  was 
needed.  It  was  this  gift  of  foresight  which 
led  him,  with  two  friends,  to  buy  the 
Union  Street  Railroad,  in  Providence,  his 
purpose,  as  soon  carried  out,  being  to  use 
electric  instead  of  horse-power. 

Mr.  Perry  has  been  for  twenty-five  years 
a  director  in  the  Nicholson  File  Company, 
the  largest  file  producing  company  in  the 
world,  and  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany and  many  other  corporations. 

In  1896  the  United  States  Circuit  Court 
appointed  Mr.  Perry  a  joint  receiver  with 
Senator  Platt,  of  New  York,  of  the  New 
York  and  New  England  Railroad  Com- 
pany. These  men  saved  the  road  from 
annihilation,  and  restored  it  to  the  stock- 
holders. 

Among  the  greatest  of  the  works  of  Mr. 
Perry  is  his  development  of  suburban  elec- 
tric railways  over  Rhode  Island  and  en- 
tering Massachusetts.  This  work  began 
with  the  Interstate  Railway  Company  in 
1895,  then  bankrupt  and  in  the  hands  of 
receivers.  It  is  now  a  most  important 
and  valuable  factor  in  the  communities  it 
serves. 

During  the  years  in  which  he  was  doing 
these  material  things,  Mr.  Perry  was  also 
engaged  in  collecting  a  Shakespearian 
library.  In  searching  his  grandmother's 
library  one  day,  young  Perry,  in  pulling  a 
book  from  a  shelf,  saw  behind  it  another 
book,  apparently  hidden.  Child-like,  he 
pulled  out  the  book.  It  was  the  works  of 
William  Shakespeare.  It  had  doubtless 
been  hidden,  in  dread  fear  of  contamina- 


tion, by  its  faithful  and  conscientious 
owner.  The  boy  took  Shakespeare's  Plays 
to  his  sleeping  room,  and  every  spare  mo- 
ment for  many  weeks  was  spent  in  read- 
ing them.  From  this  incident  came  one 
of  the  greatest  collections  of  Shake- 
spearian literature  now  in  existence.  Mr. 
Perry  has  also  collected  the  works  of 
Albert  Diirer,  the  father  of  the  art  of 
engraving,  who  died  in  1528,  and  the  etch- 
ings and  original  drawings  of  Rembrandt, 
and  the  writings  of  William  Morris,  the 
modern  English  poet-decorator. 

From  his  youth  a  love  of  beauty  has 
been  one  of  Mr.  Perry's  leading  character- 
istics. His  collection  of  Chinese  porcelains 
was  one  of  the  most  famous  a  few  years 
ago.  His  home,  the  John  Brown  house  on 
Power  Street,  Providence,  is  the  best  ex- 
ample of  colonial  architecture  in  the  State 
of  Rhode  Island  and  one  of  the  finest  in 
the  country.  It  contains  magnificent  col- 
lections of  Chippendale,  Sheraton  and  Col- 
onial furniture.  Mr.  Perry  is  a  member 
of  the  Walpole  Society,  an  association  of 
connoisseurs  who  have  the  pleasant  custom 
of  making  several  jaunts  each  year  to  visit 
some  famous  artistic  monument.  Twice 
within  a  few  years  the  Club  visited  Mr. 
Perry's  house  on  Power  Street,  and  these 
visits  were  pronounced  by  the  members  as 
second  to  none  in  interest.  Eleven  years 
ago  Mr.  Perry  acquired  a  Newport  estate 
on  the  Ocean  Drive  called  Bleak  House, 
occupying  one  of  the  most  coveted  sites  on 
this  famous  drive.  This  part  of  the  island 
had  been  considered  by  all  Newporters  as 
being  a  spot  impossible  to  cultivate  on  ac- 
count of  the  strong  winds  that  blow  across 
it  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  With  the  same 
sort  of  tenacity  that  has  characterized  his 
business  career  Mr.  Perry  tackled  this 
horticultural  problem,  with  the  result  that 
he  has  made  the  desert  bloom  like  a  rose. 
Not  satisfied  with  beautifying  this  unique 
summer  home  for  his  family,  Mr.  Perry, 
a  few  years  since,  became  interested  in 
The  Art  Association  of  Newport,  founded 
by  a  few  of  the  artists  and  art  lovers  of 
Newport.  To  this  group  of  workers  Mr. 
Perry  has  brought  the  same  constructive 
talent.  He  became  the  friend  of  the  Asso- 
ciation and  was  soon  elected  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Buildings  and  Grounds. 
The  Association  is  now  one  of  the  most 
important  public  institutions  of  Newport. 


ELLIS    L.  PHILLIPS 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


367 


ELLIS    LAURIMORE    PHILLIPS 


Ellis  Laurimore  Phillips,  who  has  had, 
since  his  graduation  from  Cornell  Univer- 
sity in  1895,  a  large  and  varied  experience 
in  every  phase  of  electrical  work,  was  born 
at  Naples,  N.  Y.,  March  I,  1873.  He  at- 
tended the  Naples  High  School  before 
taking  his  course  in  Electrical  Engineering 
at  Cornell  and  after  graduation  became  a 
draftsman  with  the  De  Laval  Separator 
Company,  Poughkeepsie,  New  York.  At 
different  periods  Mr.  Phillips  was  con- 
nected with  electrical  railway  construc- 
tion and  the  erection  of  a  number  of  refrig- 
erating and  electric  plants.  He  was  for 
seven  years  engineer  for  Westinghouse, 
Church,  Kerr  &  Co.,  and  during  this  period 
had  engineering  charge  of  construction  of 
the  Grand  Rapids,  Grand  Haven  &  Mus- 
kegon  Railroad,  the  Detroit,  Ypsilanti, 
Ann  Arbor  and  Jackson  Railroad,  and  the 
Lackawanna  &  Wyoming  Valley  Railroad. 
Mr.  Phillips'  ancestors  are  from  New 
England,  being  among  the  earliest  settlers 


of  the  State  of  Connecticut.  His  entry 
into  the  field  of  electric  endeavor  was  the 
result  of  natural  inclinations,  he  having 
from  boyhood  been  attracted  by  the  mys- 
tery and  possibilities  of  the  science  which 
at  that  period  was  being  developed  as  a 
commercial  proposition.  In  addition  to  the 
presidency  of  E.  L.  Phillips  &  Co.,  engi- 
neers, he  is  president  of  the  Long  Island 
Lighting  Company,  president  of  the 
Northport  Water  Works  Company  and 
vice-president  of  the  Warsaw  Gas  and 
Electric  Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Cornell  Club,  Machinery  Club,  Hunting- 
don Golf  and  Marine  Club,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  American  Society  of 
Refrigerating  Engineers  and  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science.  Mr.  Phillips'  business  address  is 
50  Church  Street.  He  resides  at  575 
Riverside  Drive. 


368 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


FRED    STARK   Pi^AKSON    (deceased) 


All  electrical  engineers  will  be  inter- 
ested in  recalling  the  life  of  Fred  Stark 
Pearson,  cut  short  at  the  zenith  of  power 
by  the  appalling  Titanic  disaster.  No  sin- 
gle accomplishment  of  his  career  is  more 
notable  historically  than  the  electrification 
of  the  New  York  street  railways.  When 
in  1894  Mr.  Pearson  was  called  to  accept 
the  position  of  chief  engineer  of  the  Metro- 
politan Street  Railway  Company,  he  had 
already  successfully  introduced  electric 
street  railway  systems  in  New  England. 
But  for  the  special  requirements  of  the 
metropolis  he  made  investigations  of  roads 


in  European  cities,  and  the  result  of  his 
studies  was  the  system  of  underground  con- 
duits, which  proved  so  eminently  practica- 
ble. Mr.  Pearson's  early  life  was  spent 
in  New  England,  where  he  was  born,  at 
Lowell,  Mass.,  in  1861.  He  acted  as  con- 
sulting engineer  to  many  railway  and 
power  companies,  both  in  the  United  States 
and  abroad,  and  represented  American  and 
foreign  syndicates  in  engineering  construc- 
tion involving  million  of  dollars.  Near 
the  close  of  his  life  he  was  president  of 
the  Pearson  Engineering  Corporation. 


CHARLES    B.  PRICE  FRANK    S.  PRICE 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


369 


PETTINGELL-ANDREWS   COMPANY 


CHARLES   B.   PRICE,   Chairman 

Charles  B.  Price,  chairman  of  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Pettingell-Andrews  Co., 
dealers  in  electric  appliances,  was  born 
October  22,  1869,  in  Salem,  Mass.  He 
was  educated  at  the  public  schools  in  the 
city  of  his  birth  and  at  a  commercial  school 
in  Boston.  He  left  high  school  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  and  entered  the  drug  business 
in  Salem.  He  retained  this  position  for 
four  years,  when,  realizing  there  was  little 
future  in  that  line,  he  went  to  Boston  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Pettingell-An- 
drews Co.,  rising  steadily  until  he  reached 
his  present  position.  In  addition  to  his  in- 
terest in  this  company,  he  is  a  director  of  the 
Phillips  Insulated  Wire  Co.,  Pawtucket, 
R.  I.;  Salem  Electric  Light  Co.,  Holyoke 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Co.,  and  the  Naum- 
keag  Trust  Co.,  all  of  Salem.  He  is  a  devo- 
tee of  golf,  hunting  and  fishing,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Algonquin  Club  and  the  Ex- 
change Club  of  Boston,  the  Eastern  Yacht 
Club,  of  Marblehead;  the  Tedesco  Coun- 
try Club,  of  Swampscott,  and  the  Meta- 
betchowan  Fishing  and  Game  Club,  of 
Canada. 

The  origin  of  the  Pettingell-Andrews 
Company,  with  which  Mr.  Price  is  con- 
nected, dates  back  to  1886,  when  F.  E. 
Pettingell  associated  with  him  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Armstrong,  and  organized  the 
firm  of  Pettingell  &  Armstrong,  as  manu- 
facturers' agents,  having  an  office  at  95 
Milk  Street,  Boston.  Mr.  Armstrong  re- 
mained less  than  a  year,  and  in  1887  the 
firm  name  was  changed  to  F.  E.  Pettingell 
&  Company. 

In  1888  Mr.  Pettingell  became  asso- 
ciated with  D.  A.  Andrews,  and  the  firm 
name  was  then  changed  to  Pettingell,  An- 
drews &  Company.  In  the  meantime  the 
firm  had  moved  to  the  corner  of  Congress 
and  Franklin  streets. 

In  1889  they  moved  to  196  Summer 
street.  Mr.  Charles  B.  Price  entered  the 
employ  of  the  firm  in  1889,  shortly  after 
they  moved  to  the  Summer  street  address. 
In  1890  Mr.  Charles  B.  Price  was  ad- 
mitted as  a  member  of  the  firm,  the  firm 
name  remaining  the  same — Pettingell,  An- 
drews &  Company.  Later  in  the  same 


FRANK  S.  PRICE,  President 

year  the  company  was  incorporated  and 
the  name  changed  to  Pettingell-Andrews 
Company,  F.  E.  Pettingell  being  president; 
D.  A.  Andrews  treasurer;  Charles  B.  Price, 
secretary. 

During  1893  F.  E.  Pettingell  severed 
his  connection  with  the  company,  and  D.  A. 
Andrews  passed  away. 

By  1894  the  company  had  outgrown  its 
quarters  and  moved  to  72  Federal  street. 
During  1894  Mr.  Frank  S.  Price  entered 
the  employ  of  the  company. 

During  this  period  the  company  had 
closely  identified  itself  with  the  Phillips  In- 
sulated Wire  Company  of  Pawtucket,  R.  I., 
Mr.  Phillips  of  the  latter  concern  becoming 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  Pettingell-An- 
drews Company,  and  Charles  B.  Price  be- 
coming a  director  of  the  Phillips  Insulated 
Wire  Company. 

In  1897  Charles  B.  Price  was  elected 
president  and  Frank  S.  Price  secretary. 

By  1898  the  business  had  grown  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  company  was  obliged 
again  to  seek  larger  quarters,  and  moved 
to  5  Winthrop  Square.  By  1902  the  com- 
pany had  outgrown  its  location  in  Win- 
throp Square,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year 
moved  to  its  present  location,  corner  of 
Pearl  Street  and  Atlantic  Avenue,  since 
which  time  two  additional  buildings  have 
been  added,  so  that  at  the  present  time  the 
company  occupies  three  buildings — the 
main  building,  with  offices,  being  located 
on  the  corner  of  Pearl  Street  and  Atlantic 
Avenue,  the  stock  rooms,  warehouses,  etc., 
being  in  the  adjoining  buildings  on  Atlantic 
Avenue  and  Purchase  Street. 

In  1913  Frank  S.  Price  was  elected 
president.  At  the  present  time  the  officers 
of  the  company  are  as  follows:  Charles 
B.  Price,  chairman  board  of  directors  and 
treasurer;  Frank  S.  Price,  president;  Wil- 
liam J.  Keenan,  vice-president;  George  J. 
Murphy,  secretary. 

The  company  has  always  represented 
in  the  New  England  States  the  leading 
manufacturers  of  the  various  electrical 
lines  throughout  the  country,  among  which 
are  the  following:  Phillips  Insulated 
Wire  Company,  Pawtucket,  R.  I. ;  Okonite 


370 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Company,  New  York  City;  the  Locke  In- 
sulator Mfg.  Co.,  Victor,  N.  Y.,  and  the 
General  Electric  Company.  It  is  the  old- 
est electric  supply  house  east  of  Chicago, 
and  by  far  the  largest  in  New  England. 

Frank  S.  Price,  president  of  the  concern, 
was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  November  8, 
1875.  He  was  educated  at  the  Dummer 
Academy,  and  after  finishing  his  course, 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Pettingell-An- 
drews  Company.  He  readily  adapted  him- 
self to  the  business,  and  in  1897  was  made 


secretary.  His  elevation  to  the  presidency 
was  in  1913,  and  since  that  period  the  en- 
tire business  of  the  large  establishment  has 
been  directed  by  him  and  his  brother,  the 
chairman  of  the  board.  Mr.  Price  holds 
membership  in  the  Algonquin  and  Ex- 
change Clubs  of  Boston,  the  Tedesco 
Country  Club,  the  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society,  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation, Jovian  Order,  and  is  a  director  of 
the  Society  for  Electrical  Development. 


HENRY    WATERMAN    PECK 


An  unusually  broad  technical  education 
and  a  wide  practical  experience  both  in 
electrical  engineering  and  on  the  commer- 


HENRY   W.   PECK 

cial  side  of  electric  and  gaslight  service 
have  brought  prominence  to  Mr.  Henry 
Waterman  Peck  in  the  field  of  illumina- 
tion. He  was  born  in  New  Britain,  Conn., 
July  7,  1877.  He  was  educated  in  the 
New  Britain  High  School,  graduated 
from  Yale  1897,  w^tn  first  prize  in  Ger- 
man and  election  to  Sigma  Xi,  and  from 
Cornell  in  1900;  and  he  took  the  course 


in  civil  engineering  at  Yale  and  in  electri- 
cal, mechanical  and  mining  engineering  at 
Cornell. 

He  practised  civil  engineering  with  S. 
E.  Minor,  Greenwich,  Conn.,  July,  1897, 
to  September,  1898.  In  December,  1900, 
he  entered  the  employ  of  ,the  Westing- 
house  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, Pittsburgh,  as  special  apprentice 
until  February,  1902,  and  then  became 
switchboard  engineer  with  that  company 
until  he  entered,  in  May,  1906,  the  Con- 
solidated Gas,  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company,  of  which  he  was  assistant 
superintendent  of  operation  until  Novem- 
ber, 1907,  then  became  assistant  electrical 
engineer  of  the  Rochester,  N.  Y.  Railway 
and  Light  Co.,  in  charge  of  commercial 
engineering  chiefly,  until  May,  1911, 
and  after  that  until  February,  1912, 
was  assistant  to  the  general  manager. 
Since  February,  1912,  he  has  been  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Schenectady  Illuminating  Company  and 
the  Mohawk  Gas  Company  of  Schenec- 
tady, N.  Y.  He  is  a  member  and  was 
president  two  terms  of  the  Schenectady 
board  of  trade,  president  of  the  Schenec- 
tady board  of  education;  vice-president  of 
the  Empire  State  Gas  and  Electric  Asso- 
ciation; fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers;  member  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
American  Gas  Institute,  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  National  Commercial 
Gas  Association,  Mohawk  Club,  Mohawk 
Golf  Club  and  the  Schenectady  Historical 
Society. 


MICHAEL    IDVORSKY    PUPIN 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


371 


MICHAEL   IDVORSKY    PUPIN 


When  Prof.  Michael  Idvorsky  Pupin 
came  to  this  country  an  immigrant  forty 
five  years  ago,  he  had  an  abiding  faith 
in  his  ability  to  make  his  way  in  the  world, 
but  had  no  thought  of  becoming  one  of  the 
world's  savants  through  his  electrical  re- 
search. Prof.  Pupin  was  born  in  Idvor, 
Banat,  Hungary,  October  14,  1858,  and 
ran  away  from  home  to  come  to  America. 
After  arriving  at  Castle  Garden  he  worked 
as  a  farm  hand  in  Delaware  and  Mary- 
land and  drifting  back  to  New  York,  he 
worked  during  the  daytime  and  studied 
assiduously  at  Cooper  Institute  in  the  even- 
ings. He  saved  enough  to  enter  Columbia 
University  and  at  the  end  of  the  freshman 
year  he  won  two  first  prizes  in  Greek  and 
Mathematics.  This  was  a  great  help  to 
him.  He  got  through  his  sophomore  year 
with  less  difficulty  and  when  he  graduated 
with  the  A.  B.  degree  in  1883,  he  had 
saved  enough  money  to  go  abroad  and 
study  Physics  and  Mathematics.  He  was 
given  the  Tyndall  fellowship  by  Columbia 
in  1885.  This  yielded  $650  a  year  and  the 
University  induced  him  to  return  to  this 
country  in  1888  to  aid  Prof.  Crocker  in 
establishing  a  course  in  electrical  engineer- 
ing. This  position  gave  Prof.  Pupin  a  free 
hand  to  conduct  his  research  work,  which 
he  took  up  through  love  of  study  of  the  phe- 
nomena relating  to  exact  physical  sciences. 
Among  his  discoveries  is  that  of  secondary 
X-ray  radiation;  discovery  of  the  law  of 
equivalence  between  uniform  electrical  con- 
ductors and  those  made  up  of  periodic 
structure  and  the  application  of  this  dis- 
covery to  long  distance  telephone  work  by 
constructing  distortionless  cables  and  over- 
head lines.  This  made  the  New  York-San 
Francisco  telephonic  transmission  possible, 
also  the  Boston-Washington  transmission 
over  an  underground  line;  also  the  applica- 
tion of  electrical  resonance  to  telephony 
and  telegraphy,  particularly  wireless  teleg- 
raphy. The  results  of  this  work  were  the 
inventions  in  electrical  tuning  practiced  uni- 
versally to-day  in  wireless  telegraphy. 
They  were  patented,  the  Marconi  Com- 
pany buying  the  patents  in  1902.  Prof. 
Pupin  received  the  French  Academy  He- 
bert  Prize  for  these  achievements  and  he 
values  this  highly,  as  it  is  very  seldom 


awarded  by  the  Academy  to  men  born  out- 
side of  France. 

When  wireless  telegraphy  became  prom- 
inent in  1896,  he  invented  a  simple  method 
of  electrolytic  rectification  of  high  fre- 
quency oscillations  at  the  receiving  station; 
this  general  method  of  receiving  wireless 
signals,  that  is,  the  rectification  of  high 
frequency  oscillations,  is  now  in  universal 
use,  in  the  vacuum  tube  rectifiers.  His 
work  in  electrical  discharges  in  rarefied 
gases  led  him  to  take  up  the  study  of 
the  X-ray;  he  was  the  first  in  this  country 
to  repeat  the  Roentgen  experiments  and 
the  first  to  use  X-rays  practically  for  sur- 
gical purposes. 

This  X-Ray  work  interfered  with 
Pupin's  health,  so  he  abandoned  it  for  the 
study  of  electrical  transmission  of  power 
and  in  particular  the  mathematical  theory 
of  sectional  electric  conductors.  The  out- 
come of  this  work  is  the  well-known 
"Pupin-Coil,"  now  universally  used  in  tele- 
phony and  telegraphy.  This  invention  of 
Pupin's  has  done  more  to  extend  the  sphere 
of  telephonic  work  than  all  other  inven- 
tions together,  since  the  original  invention 
of  the  telephone.  Striking  illustrations  of 
the  value  of  this  invention  are  the  existing 
New  York-San  Francisco  telephone  line, 
the  Boston-Washington  underground  cable 
line,  and  the  submarine  cable  between  Eng- 
land and  Holland — all  of  these  are  impos- 
sible without  the  "Pupin-Coil." 

This  same  mathematical  theory  of  sec- 
tional conductors  is  applicable  to  wireless 
telegraphy;  Pupin  has  developed  it  during 
the  last  ten  years  for  the  solution  of 
several  important  problems  in  wireless 
telegraphy.  He  has  just  now  completed 
the  most  important  of  these — probably 
more  important  than  the  "Pupin-Coil"  in 
its  value  to  mankind,  although  perhaps  not 
nearly  as  important  from  the  point  of 
view  of  money.  What  he  has  now  found 
and  will  soon  announce  to  the  world  is  a 
perfect  method  of  eliminating  "static"  in- 
terference with  wireless  transmission,  the 
great  drawback  of  wireless.  Under  present 
conditions,  it  is  often  impossible  to  get 
messages  through  for  days  at  a  time,  and 
at  all  times  of  the  year,  during  portions  of 


372 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


the  day  transmission  is  impossible.  The 
vital  importance  of  this  invention  to  this 
country  in  time  of  war  is  obvious. 

Prof.  Pupin  is  a  member  of  many  scien- 
tific bodies.  He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science  and  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Sciences,  a  member  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  the  American  Mathemati- 
cal Society,  the  American  Institute  of 
ElectricalEngineers,  the  National  Academy 


of  Sciences,  and  a  corresponding  member 
of  the  Royal  Serbian  Academy.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin  conferred  the  Ph.D.  de- 
gree upon  him  in  1889,  Columbia  honored 
him  with  the  Sc.D.  in  1904  and  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  made  him  a  Doctor  of 
Laws.  He  has  been  Professor  of  Electro- 
Mechanics  at  Columbia  University  since 
1901  and  he  is  also  director  of  the  Phoenix 
Research  Laboratories,  attached  to  the 
same  institution. 


LOUIS    MAXWELL    POTTS 


It  was  the  good  fortune  of  Louis  Max- 
well Potts  to  be  intimately  associated  with 
the  great  scientist,  Prof.  Henry  A.  Row- 
land, studying  under  him,  assisting  in  the 
development  of  the  Rowland  system  of 
telegraphy,  and  carrying  forward  the  work 


pany  of  Baltimore,  with  offices  in  the  In- 
dustrial Building.  Mr.  Potts  is  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  born  October  30,  1876, 
at  Canonsburg.  He  graduated  from 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College,  1896, 
winning  signal  honors.  He  took  the  Ph.D. 


LOUIS  M.   POTTS 


after  the  death  of  its  inceptor.  Mr.  Potts 
has  taken  out  many  patents  on  printing  and 
automatic  telegraph  apparatus.  The  first 
decade  of  the  century  he  devoted  to  the 
Rowland  Telegraphic  Company  as  electri- 
cal engineer,  constructing  engineer  and 
chief  engineer.  He  was  afterward  chief 
engineer  of  the  Universal  Telegraphic 
Company.  Since  1915  he  has  been  chief 
engineer  of  the  Universal  Machine  Corn- 


degree  at  Johns  Hopkins  University  in 
1900.  He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  As- 
sociation for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
a  member  of  the  American  Physical  Society 
and  Societe  Franchise  de  Physique,  and  an 
associate  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  —  secretary 
since  1909  of  the  Baltimore  section  of  that 
organization.  Mr.  Potts'  home  is  at  2129 
Maryland  Avenue,  Baltimore. 


•HENRY  ST.CLAIR  PUTNAM 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


373 


HENRY   ST.    CLAIR    PUTNAM 


Henry  St.  Clair  Putnam,  who  is  one  of 
the  leading  consulting  engineers  in  the 
country,  was  originally  intended  for  a  legal 
career  and  practiced  that  profession  for 
two  years,  when  his  inclinations,  which 
were  for  engineering  work,  induced  him 
to  relinquish  law.  Mr.  Putnam  was  born 
at  Davenport,  Iowa,  July  8,  1861,  the  son 
of  Charles  Edwin  and  Mary  Louisa  (Dun- 
can) Putnam.  He  received  his  prelimi- 
nary education  at  the  Davenport  High 
School,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1880. 
He  then  entered  the  State  University  of 
Iowa,  and  this  institution  conferred  the 
LL.B.  degree  upon  him  in  1882.  He  prac- 
ticed law  for  two  years,  and  then  entered 
the  Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana,  to  prepare  for  his  engi- 
neering career.  He  graduated  B.S.  in 
1886,  and  the  institute  conferred  upon  him 
the  M.S.  degree  in  1905  and  the  M.E.  in 
1907.  He  became  associated  with  the  En- 
gineering Department  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  where  he  remained 
during  1886  and  1887,  and  from  1887 
until  1896  he  was  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  arc  light  carbons  for  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Carbon  Company,  the  Brush 
Carbon  Company  and  the  American  Car- 
bon Company.  Mr.  Putnam  began  prac- 
tice as  a  consulting  electrical  engineer  in 
Chicago  in  1896  and  in  1900  transferred 
his  activities  to  Philadelphia.  In  1902  he 
came  to  New  York  as  the  partner  of  L. 
B.  Stillwell,  with  offices  at  100  Broadway. 


This  firm  has  executed  some  very  impor- 
tant work.  It  was  in  charge  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  Manhattan  Elevated  Railroad, 
the  New  York  Interborough  Transit  Com- 
pany (Subway),  the  New  York  Hudson 
and  Manhattan  Railroad  and  the 
New  York,  Westchester  &  Boston 
Railroad.  He  has  also  made  many 
technical  reports  on  various  electric 
power  projects.  Mr.  Putnam  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, the  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  the  American 
Geographical  Society,  the  Phi  Delta  Theta 
Fraternity,  the  Engineers',  Railroad, 
Union  League,  City,  and  Lawyers' 
Clubs,  of  New  York  City;  the  Com- 
mercial Club,  of  Davenport,  Iowa, 
and  the  Cosmos  Club,  of  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Mr.  Putnam  has  been 
a  close  student  of  all  things  electrical,  and 
his  investigations  have  resulted  in  the  con- 
tribution of  many  able  articles  to  the  tech- 
nical press.  Among  the  papers  he  has 
published  are  "The  Electrification  of 
Steam  Railroads,"  "The  Conservation  of 
Power  Resources,"  which  was  read  at  the 
White  House  Conservation  Congress  in 
1908;  "The  Electric  Propulsion  of  Canal 
Boats,"  "The  Coasting  Clock  and  the  Eco- 
nomical Use  of  Power,"  and  "The  Eco- 
nomical Combination  of  Water  and  Steam 
Power  Plants."  Mr.  Putnam  resides  at 
1 1 8  East  54th  Street. 


374 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


GEORGE  HERNDON  PEGRAM 


George  Herndon  Pegram,  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit 
Company,  the  New  York  Railways  Com- 
pany and  the  Rapid  Transit  Subway  Con- 
struction Company,  was  born  at  Council 
Bluffs,  Iowa,  December  29,  1855,  and  was 
graduated  from  Washington  University, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  at  the  head  of  his  class  in 
1877  with  the  degree  of  Civil  Engineer. 
The  degree  of  Master  of  Arts  was  con- 
ferred on  him  in  1905. 

In  1898,  the  Manhattan  Railway  Com- 
pany of  New  York  City,  contemplating  the 


extensions  of  its  lines,  and  the  change  ol 
motive  power  from  steam  to  electricity 
appointed  Mr.  Pegram  Chief  Engineer. 

His  contribution,  in  a  scientific  way,  wa: 
the  suggestion  of  the  twin  compound  en 
gine  with  vertical  low  pressure  and  hori 
zontal  high  pressure  cylinders,  operating 
on  both  ends  of  the  generator  shaft,  as 
used  in  the  74th  Street  Power  Station. 

Mr.  Pegram  is  a  Member  of  the  Rail 
road  and  the  Engineers'  Clubs  in  Ne\\ 
York  City,  and  a  Past  President  of  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers. 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


375 


E.   C.   RANEY 


It  has  doubtless  been  an  important 
factor  in  the  wonderful  development  of 
the  electric  industry  on  the  engineering  side 
that  the  greater  electrical  corporations 
have  maintained  experimental  laboratories, 
with  staffs  of  expert  engineers  constantly 
in  counsel  together,  for  the  production  of 


E.  C.  RANEY 

improved  apparatus  for  the  solution  of  en- 
gineering problems  as  they  have  arisen. 
And  yet  some  of  the  best  inventions  for 
electrical  betterment  have  been  the  product 
of  individual  effort  working  without  these 
advantages  of  counsel  and  environment. 
An  instance  in  point  is  the  Automatic  Re- 
closing  Circuit  Breaker,  the  first  working 
model  of  which  was  made  and  tried  out 
while  its  inventor,  Mr.  Raney,  was  still  a 
student  in  the  university. 

Mr.  E.  C.  Raney  is  a  native  of  Fayette, 
Ohio,  born  August  18,  1882,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Ohio  University,  Athens,  Ohio, 
and  later  took  the  Engineering  Courses  at 
Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
receiving  the  degree  of  M.S.  in  Electrical 
Engineering  in  1912,  and  election  to  the 
honorary  society  of  Eta  Kappa  Nu.  In 
1912  he  was  also  instructor  in  electricity 
in  the  Columbus  (Ohio)  Trade  School. 


Meanwhile  he  had  active  experience  in 
mechanical  and  engineering  work,  and  in 
1908  was  in  charge  of  a  power  plant  of 
a  coal  company  in  Jefferson  County,  Ohio. 
While  there,  one  of  his  assistants  remarked 
to  him  that  it  seemed  strange  that  there 
were  circuit  breakers  which  would  open 
automatically  in  case  of  overload  or  short 
circuit,  but  none  that  would  reclose  when 
the  short  circuit  had  been  removed.  He 
argued  that  it  was  just  as  important  to  re- 
store current  to  the  line  when  the  trouble 
was  over  as  it  was  to  break  the  current 
when  the  trouble  occurred.  He  insisted 
that  Mr.  Raney  should  explain  to  him  just 
why  this  defect  could  not  be  remedied,  and 
it  was  while  attempting  to  make  this  ex- 
planation that  Mr.  Raney  discovered  that 
it  could  be  done. 

In  1910  and  1911,  while  finishing  his 
engineering  courses  at  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity, Mr.  Raney.  made  the  first  working 
model  of  the  Automatic  Reclosing  Circuit 
Breaker.  The  model  was  tested  thor- 
oughly on  a  branch  circuit  of  a  coal  mine  in 
Alabama  in  1912.  The  potential  of  this 
circuit  was  550  volts,  direct  current,  and 
was  subjected  to  very  frequent  "short." 
The  model  responded  promptly  and  accur- 
ately to  these  tests,  working  so  satisfactor- 
ily that  Mr.  Raney's  friends  urged  him  to 
organize  a  company  for  the  manufacture 
of  this  apparatus  on  a  commercial  basis.  In 
1913  The  Automatic  Reclosing  Circuit 
Breaker  Company  was  organized  for  the 
manufacture  of  circuit  breakers,  relays, 
etc.,  and  Mr.  Raney  has  been  general  man- 
ager of  that  company  ever  since.  The 
company  began  business  upon  a  very  mod- 
est scale,  and  only  a  few  machines  were 
built  and  put  into  operation  during  the 
first  year  of  its  business.  But  its  merits 
soon  met  the  recognition  of  the  electrical 
world  and  the  machine  began  to  be 
adopted  into  use  very  widely,  a  gratifying 
growth  of  the  business  continuing  from 
then  each  year  to  the  present  time.  The 
reclosing  feature  of  this  circuit  breaker  is 
one  of  incalculable  benefit  because  it  makes 
immediately  effective  a  renewal  of  service 
which  was  formerly  only  accomplished 
after  long  delay.  It  makes  possible  the 
automatic  operation  of  hundreds  of  sub- 
stations in  the  coal  mining  fields  and  in 
many  railway  stations. 


376 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


THE  BISHOP  GUTTA  PERCHA  COMPANY 


The  Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Company  was 
the  pioneer  in  the  use  of  Gutta  Percha  as 
an  insulator  in  this  country,  the  founder  of 
the  business,  Stephen  D.  Armstrong  of 
Brooklyn,  using  the  material  seventy  years 
ago.  It  was  early  in  1847  tnat  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, who  was  at  that  time  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  rubber  goods,  received 
his  first  consignment  of  gutta  percha.  He 
had  been  attracted  by  the  reports  of 
foreign  governments  and  scientists  on  the 
adaptability  of  the  new  gum  as  an  insulator 
for  electric  wires,  and  his  own  tests  so 
pleased  him  that  he  went  to  England,  where 
he  secured  the  necessary  machinery  for  the 
new  process  and  four  of  the  most  valuable 
patents,  with  exclusive  rights  for  their  use 
in  this  country.  The  patents  were  at  once 
filed  in  Washington  and  the  machinery  set 
up  in  Brooklyn  the  same  year,  1847.  In 
1857  Mr.  Armstrong  sold  his  business  to 
Samuel  C.  Bishop,  who  established  a  fac- 
tory in  New  Jersey,  removing  in  1860  to 
East  Twenty-fifth  Street,  New  York,  and 
fitting  up  the  factory  now  owned  and  oc- 
cupied by  the  Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Com- 
pany. W.  W.  Marks,  a  nephew  of  Mr. 
Armstrong,  who  was  superintendent  of  the 
Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Company  for  forty 
years,  was  connected  with  the  Brooklyn 
factory  when  the  machinery  arrived  from 
England.  He  helped  equip  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Street  factory  and  had  charge  of  it 
until  his  death  in  1888.  In  the  early  stages 
gutta  percha  proved  to  be  a  failure  as  an 
insulator  and  Mr.  Armstrong,  founder  of 
the  business,  was  the  first  to  successfully  use 
wire  insulated  with  gutta  percha  for  work- 
ing under  water.  This  was  a  No.  9  wire, 
insulated  to  the  diameter  of  half  an  inch, 
which  was  laid  across  the  North  River. 

Upon  the  death  of  Samuel  C.  Bishop, 
Samuel  Boardman,  as  executor  of  the 
estate,  assumed  control  of  the  business,  in 
which  he  had  the  assistance  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  Henry  A.  Reed,  now  president  of 
the  company,  who  was  at  that  time  engaged 
in  expert  accountancy.  Mr.  Reed's  knowl- 
edge of  electricity  was  of  great  value,  and 
upon  the  organization  of  the  Bishop  Gutta 
Percha  Company,  in  1885,  by  the  six  lega- 
tees under  Mr.  Bishop's  will,  he  was 
elected  secretary.  He  was  made  manager 
in  1887;  treasurer  in  1893  and  president 


in  1905.  Upon  the  death  of  the  legatees 
Mr.  Reed  bought  the  various  interests  until 
now  it  is  entirely  controlled  by  members  of 
his  family.  He  has  as  associates  in  the 
management  his  three  sons — William 
Boardman,  Henry  Douglas  and  Louis  F., 
who  act  respectively  as  treasurer,  vice- 
president  and  secretary. 

When  the  present  company  was  organ- 
ized in  1885  the  business  had  fallen  oft 
considerably,  but  the  infusion  of  new 
energy  soon  restored  conditions  to  normal, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  output  of 
the  company  had  largely  increased  and  has 
grown  steadily  since  that  period.  The 
Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Company  aims  to 
make  the  best,  not  the  cheapest  goods,  and 
in  almost  every  case  where  the  product  of 
the  company  has  been  in  competition  with 
that  of  other  manufacturers,  the  standard 
quality  of  the  Bishop  company's  goods  has 
won  although  the  price  set  was  higher  than 
that  of  other  bidders.  Since  Mr.  Reed's 
connection  with  the  company,  the  process 
of  manufacture  has  been  entirely  changed 
and  the  value  of  its  use  for  insulation  suc- 
cessfully demonstrated.  This  was  in  a 
large  measure  due  to  Mr.  Reed's  inventive 
ability,  as  he  evolved  methods  that  turned 
early  failure  into  success.  In  all  the  de- 
velopments of  the  various  electrical  in- 
dustries, the  company  has  kept  pace  with 
the  varied  demands  for  conductors  of 
every  description  and  many  of  the  wires 
and  cables  used  by  the  telegraph,  tele- 
phone, electric  light  and  electric  rail- 
ways have  been  made  by  the  company. 
Many  of  the  cables  used  by  the  Light 
House  Board,  the  Life  Saving  Service,  the 
Army  Signal  Service  and  Weather  Bureau, 
were  also  planned  and  produced  by  the 
company.  In  addition  to  cables,  the 
Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Company  manufac- 
ture a  full  line  of  gutta  percha  goods, 
among  which  is  gum  tissue,  largely  used  in 
surgical  work,  by  hat  manufacturers,  for 
ladies'  dress  shields  and  a  hundred  other 
purposes.  The  factory  of  the  company, 
420  to  430  East  25th  Street,  being  inade- 
quate for  the  steadily  growing  business,  the 
building  403  to  407  East  Twenty-third 
Street  was  acquired  and  the  most  modern 
machinery  installed  for  the  manufacture  of 
the  gutta  percha  specialties. 


HENRV    A.  REED 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


377 


HENRY  A.  REED 


Henry  A.  Reed,  president  of  the  Bishop 
Gutta  Percha  Company,  has  during  his 
long  and  active  career  done  much  valuable 
work  in  matters  relating  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  submarine  cables  and  other  insu- 
lated electrical  wires  and  has  on  many 
occasions  been  consulted  as  the  best  author- 
ity on  such  work  by  government  depart- 
mental heads,  among  whom  were  General 
A.  W.  Greely,  U.  S.  Signal  Corps  and 
Admiral  W.  S.  Schley,  of  the  Light  House 
Department.  Mr.  Reed  was  born  at  Car- 
mel, Putnam  County,  New  York,  Febru- 
ary n,  1829,  and  is  a  descendant  of  John 
Reed,  an  officer  in  Cromwell's  Army,  who 
came  to  America  from  Cornwall,  England, 
in  1660.  A',  the  age  of  seventeen  he  began 
teaching  in  che  Carmel  district  school  and 
when  twent) ,  while  still  teaching,  he  learned 
telegraphy  and  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
Carmel  telegraph  office,  July  i,  1849.  One 
year  later  he  opened  a  telegraph  office 
at  Croton  Falls,  the  first  on  the  Harlem 
Railroad,  and  was  on  July  i,  1850, 
transferred  to  Hudson,  where  he  remained 
two  years  and  witnessed  the  first  railroad 
train  that  ran  from  New  York  to  Albany 
on  the  Hudson  River  Railroad.  In  1852 
he  was  appointed  operator  in  the  New 
York  office  of  the  New  York,  Albany  & 
Buffalo  Telegraph  Company,  at  which  time 
three  operators  took  care  of  all  the  New 
York  telegraph  business  over  these  lines 
to  the  North  and  West.  In  1853,  Mr. 
Reed  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  Pough- 
keepsie  office  of  this  company.  The  tele- 
graph business  did  not  take  up  his  entire 
time,  so  he  opened  a  bookstore  in  1855,  into 
which  he  removed  the  telegraph  office  and 
managed  both.  While  engaged  as  an 
operator  Mr.  Reed  was  the  first  man  to 
attempt  to  locate  wire  trouble  at  points 
distant  from  his  office,  by  measuring  the 
currents  with  his  lips  and  fingers.  On  one 
occasion  he  accurately  located  a  "break" 
twelve  miles  distant,  where  lightning  had 
struck  a  pole  and  broken  the  wire.  Pro- 
fessor S.  F.  B.  Morse  was  a  resident  of 
Poughkeepsie  at  this  time  and  an  intimate 
friend  of  Mr.  Reed,  frequently  visiting  his 
office.  In  1855,  he  was  present  when  Mr. 
Reed  was  using  his  primitive  method  of 


locating  trouble  and  suggested  that  he  had 
an  instrument  that  he  thought  would  be 
more  accurate  for  the  work.  He  there- 
upon presented  him  with  a  small  galvanom- 
eter, the  first  to  be  used  for  this  purpose 
in  America.  This  instrument  is  now  in  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
when  Mr.  Reed  was  receiving  the  news  of 
the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  Commodore 
afterwards  Admiral  Farragut  was  stand- 
ing by  his  side,  and  when  told  of  the  start- 
ling event  said:  "That  means  I  must  go  to 
Norfolk  at  once.  I  have  many  friends 
there,  but  if  duty  requires,  I  will  blow  the 
city  to  H — 1."  In  1866,  Mr.  Reed  gave 
up  telegraphy  to  devote  his  entire  time  to 
his  book  business,  which  had  grown  to 
large  proportions.  In  1876,  he  sold  the 
store,  shortly  afterwards  taking  up  ex- 
pert accounting.  He  came  to  New  York 
in  1878  and  assisted  in  the  management 
of  the  estate  of  Mrs.  Samuel  C.  Bishop, 
which  was  operating  the  Bishop  Gutta 
Percha  Works,  and  which  was  threatened 
with  a  lawsuit  for  infringement  of  the 
Simpson  patent,  covering  the  use  of 
gutta  percha  as  insulation.  A  similar 
action  had  been  brought  successfully 
against  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  but  the  data  collected  and 
prepared  by  Mr.  Reed  caused  the  plain- 
tiffs to  withdraw  their  suit  against  the 
Bishop  Company.  In  1885  he  was  made 
'  secretary  of  the  Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Com- 
pany by  the  legatees  of  Mrs.  Bishop,  and 
in  1887,  became  General  Manager  and  at 
once  bent  his  energies  to  build  up  the  busi- 
ness, which  was  rapidly  decreasing.  Mr. 
Reed  has  always  taken  an  interest  in  elec- 
trical affairs  and  keeps  well  posted  on  the 
development  of  the  industry.  He  foresaw 
that  rubber  would  be  a  much  better  in- 
sulator for  any  conductors  that  were  to  be 
used  anywhere  except  under  water  and  at 
once  engaged  an  experienced  engineer  to 
design  and  install  machinery  to  insulate 
wire  and  cables  with  rubber.  In  1887,  Mr. 
Reed  was  called  in  consultation  by  the 
U.  S.  Light  House  Board,  which  was 
engaged  in  devising  a  system  for  lighting 
river  channels  by  lighted  buoys  and  range 


378 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


lights.  In  1888,  he  designed  and  furnished 
the  first  high  tension  cables  to  be  used 
underground.  In  1905,  Mr.  Reed  became 
president  of  the  Bishop  Gutta  Percha 
Company. 

Mr.  Reed  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Electric  Club  and  the  Electric  Trade 
Society,  serving  on  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  latter  and  being  its  president 
for  one  term.  He  was  on  the  House 
Committee  of  the  Electric  Club  and  ex- 
hibited at  one  of  the  meetings  of  the  club 
the  first  perfected  phonograph  made  by 
Mr.  Edison.  Mr.  Reed  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  the  Electrical 
Engineers.  He  was  married  May  14,  1859, 
to  Alice  Amelia  Boardman,  sister  of  An- 


drew and  Samuel  Boardman  of  the  well- 
known  law  firm  of  Boardman  &  Boardman 
of  New  York.  The  union  brought  three 
sons,  William  Boardman,  Henry  Douglas 
and  Louis  Francis  Reed  and  one  daugh- 
ter, Alice  Augusta,  now  Mrs.  Richard 
Deeves.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reed  reside  at  88 
North  Ninth  Street,  Roseville,  Newark, 
N.  J.  On  May  14,  1909,  they  celebrated 
their  golden  wedding,  on  which  occasion 
two  of  the  bridesmaids  at  their  wedding  in 
1859,  were  present.  Many  handsome 
presents  were  received  by  the  couple  from 
the  children,  the  factory  employees,  busi- 
ness associates  of  Mr.  Reed  and  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  which  they 
are  members. 


HENRY  DOUGLAS  REED 


Henry  D.  Reed,  Vice-President  of  the 
Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Company,  was  born 
in  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  February 
u,  1869,  the  son  of  Henry  A.  Reed 
and  Alice  A.  (Boardman)  Reed.  The 
family  moved  to  New  Jersey,  November 
2d,  1880,  and  Mr.  Reed  successively  at- 
tended the  district  school  in  Scotch  Plains, 
the  grammar  school  in  Bergen  Point  and 
the  Newark  High  School.  During  his 
second  year  at  the  latter  institution  he  won 
the  Hammer  prize  for  making  the  best  set 
of  apparatus  for  demonstrating  the  ele- 
mentary principles  of  electricity  and 
physics.  The  set  consisted  of  twenty-four 
pieces  of  apparatus.  After  finishing  his 
studies  at  the  high  school,  Mr.  Reed  en- 
tered Stevens  Institute  of  Technology 
and  graduated  in  1892,  with  the  degree  of 
M.E.,  and  immediately  afterwards  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Bishop  Gutta 
Percha  Company.  His  first  work  with  this 
concern  was  the  careful  study  of  the 
machines  in  each  department  with  the  view 


of  improving  the  product  and  increasing 
the  output,  in  which  work  his  technical 
training  was  a  great  aid  and  of  inestimable 
-  value  to  the  company.  He  then  took  up 
the  electrical  part  of  the  work  and  con- 
tinued in  this  line  until  1900,  when  he  de- 
voted more  time  to  assisting  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  rapidly  growing  business. 
In  1906  he  was  elected  vice-president,  a 
position  he  still  holds.  Mr.  Reed  has  been 
with  the  Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Co.  over 
twenty-six  years  and  is  well  known  in  the 
insulated  wire  industry.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, the  Engineers  Club,  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  Stevens  Alumni 
Association,  the  Essex  County  Country 
Club,  the  Glenwood  Tennis  Club  and  the 
Roseville  Athletic  Association.  He  was 
married  December  15,  1904,  to  Emilie  R. 
Currier,  of  Newark,  N.  J.  He  now  re- 
sides in  East  Orange,  N.  J.,  and  is  one  of 
the  Water  Commissioners  of  that  city. 


HENRV    D_  REED 


WM_  BOARDMAN    REED 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


379 


WILLIAM  BOARDMAN  REED 


W.  Boardman  Reed,  who  retired  from 
practice  as  a  civil  engineer  to  accept 
the  position  of  treasurer  of  the  Bishop 
Gutta  Percha  Company,  of  which  his  father 
and  brothers  are  also  officials,  was  born 
in  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  May  27, 
1860.  He  was  educated  in  the  Pough- 
keepsie Preparatory  School,  afterwards 
entering  Union  College,  graduating  in 
1882,  with  the  degrees  of  A.B.  and  C.E. 
He  immediately  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  from  1882  until  1890  was 
civil  and  mining  engineer  at  Lake  Cham- 
plain  Mines,  New  York.  In  1891  he  had 
charge  of  the  construction  of  the  water 
supply  for  Northville,  N.  Y.,  and  from 
1892  until  1894  was  chief  engineer  of 
the  Cayadutta  Electric  Railway,  construct- 
ing the  line  from  Fonda  to  Gloversville. 
From  1894  until  1906  he  was  engineer  of 


Maintenance  of  Way  of  the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  of  New  York  City  and 
while  in  this  position  invented,  but  did 
not  patent,  several  appliances,  which  have 
since  come  into  general  use  in  all  the  large 
cities  of  the  country.  In  1889  he  made  an 
inspection  and  report  on  the  magnetite  ores 
of  the  Island  of  Cuba  and  during  his  active 
practice  as  an  engineer  made  a  reputation 
as  a  specialist  in  railway  track  construction 
and  maintenance.  He  was  president  of  the 
Otsego  and  Herkimer  Railroad  Company 
from  1909  until  1914.  He  relinquished 
his  professional  work  in  1906  to  accept  his 
present  position.  Mr.  Reed  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers, 
Engineers'  Club,  New  York  Railroad 
Club,  Delta  Phi  Fraternity,  graduate 
Council  of  Union  College.  Has  resided 
since  1906  at  Mt.  Vernon,  N.  Y. 


380 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM   BIRCH  RAXKINE 


(Deceased) 


The  electrical  development  of  Niagara 
Falls,  the  world's  most  striking  exhibit  of 
electrical  progress,  owes  much  of  its  suc- 
cessful accomplishments  to  the  late  Wil- 
liam Birch  Rankine,  whose  firm  faith, 
purposeful  initiative  and  convincing  per- 
sonality overrode  obstacles  and  brought 
into  effective  organization  and  successful 
operation  The  Niagara  Falls  Power  Com- 
pany project 

He  was  born  in  Owego,  N.  Y.,  January 
4,  1858,  the  son  of  Rev.  James  Rankine, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  distinguished  divine  and 
educator,  sometime  President  of  Hobart 
College  and  Rector  of  the  Delancey  Divin- 
ity School  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.  Mr.  Rankine 
was  educated  at  the  Canandaigua  (N.  Y.) 
Academy,  entered  Hobart  College  in  1873 
and  later  went  to  Union  College,  Schenec- 
tady,  from  which  he  was  graduated  A.B. 
in  1877,  with  election  to  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  and  later  received  the  A.M.  degree. 

For  three  years  following  his  gradua- 
tion he  lived  and  studied  law  at  Niagara 
Falls,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1880. 
While  engaged  as  a  law  student  he  became 
deeply  impressed  with  the  problem  of  Ni- 
agara's power  and  its  successful  utilization 
for  the  purposes  of  industry.  Following 
admission  to  the  bar,  he  went  to  New  York 
City  in  1880,  and  engaged  in  general  prac- 
tice of  law  there  until  1890.  During  that 
period  he  became  actively  identified  with 
the  preliminary  stages  of  organization  of 
The  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company,  car- 
rying through  the  fight  for  procurement  of 
State  Charter  and  municipal  privileges,  the 
work  of  procuring  lands  at  fair  values,  of 
allaying  popular  apprehension  that  eco- 
nomic exploitation  would  mar  the  beauty 
of  the  cataract,  and  the  formidable  indus- 
trial obstacles  placed  in  the  path  of  the  en- 
terprise. He  was  the  first  secretary  of  the 
company  and  later  its  vice-president,  and 
from  1890  he  devoted  his  entire  attention 
to  company's  affairs.  He  interested  great 
capitalists,  such  as  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  D. 
O.  Mills,  Morris  K.  Jesup,  John  Jacob 
Astor,  W.  K.  Vanderbilt  and  many  others, 
in  carrying  the  enterprise  to  strong  and 
successful  organization. 

Besides  this  financial  backing  was  that 
of  the  world's  most  famous   electricians, 


including  Lord  Kelvin,  Thomas  A.  Edisi 
Nikola  Tesla  and  others  of  world-w 
fame,  all  of  whom  were  made  the  persoi 
friends  and  became  the  enthusiastic  ; 
mirers  of  Mr.  Rankine. 

He  removed  to  Niagara  Falls  pern 


WILLIAM  BIRCH  RANKINE 

nently  in  1899,  and  became  its  forem 
citizen.  He  was  well  known  and  popu 
on  the  Canadian  side  also,  had  securec 
charter  for  the  Canadian  Niagara  Po\ 
Company,  of  which  he  was  vice-preside 
besides  being  second  vice-president  z 
treasurer  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Po\ 
Company,  the  Niagara  Junction  Railv 
Company  and  the  Niagara  Developm 
Company,  and  stockholder,  director  < 
officer  in  numerous  corporations  and  ck 
He  was  prominent  in  the  Episcopal  Chut 
Chancellor  of  the  diocese  of  Western  IS 
York,  member  of  the  Standing  Commiti 
deputy  of  the  Episcopal  Fund.  He  d 
September  30,  1905,  deeply  lamented, 
leaving  a  great  and  finished  work. 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


381 


HENRY  GERBER  REIST 


The  work  of  those  specialists  in  electri- 
cal and  mechanical  engineering  whose 
efforts  have  been  largely  concentrated  upon 
improvements  in  generator  design  has  been 
an  important  factor  in  the  progress  of  the 
electrical  industries.  Among  these  experts 
Henry  Gerber  Reist,  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  is  prominent. 

He  was  born  at  Mount  Joy,  Pa.,  May 
27,  1862,  and  is  of  Swiss  descent;  his  first 


American  ancestor  having  come  to  this 
country  in  1724  and  purchased  a  farm  near 
Mannheim,  Pa.,  still  held  in  the  Reist 
family.  He  was  reared  on  a  farm  and 
educated  in  country  schools,  high  school 
and  State  Normal  School,  later  taking 
the  mechanical  engineering  course  in  Le- 
high  University,  from  which  he  was  grad- 
uated with  the  degree  of  M.E.  in  1886. 
He  also  received  election  to  Tau  Beta  Pi, 


382 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


honor  society;  became  a  member  of  the  Phi 
Gamma  Delta  Fraternity,  and  was  captain 
of  the  college  tug-of-war  team  for  three 
years. 

He  was  in  the  foundry  and  machine 
department  of  the  Harrisburg  (Penn. ) 
Car  Company  from  1886  until  1889,  being 
assistant  superintendent  of  that  depart- 
ment when  he  left  it.  A  general  interest 
in  electrical  machinery,  and  a  belief  that 
this  line  of  work  promised  rapid  develop- 
ment, led  him  to  connect  himself  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  in 
1889,  and  he  has  served  ever  since  with 
that  company  and  its  successor,  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  He  has  had  charge 
of  the  design  and  construction  of  rotating 
alternating  current  machinery  for  the 
General  Electric  Company  since  1894. 
During  this  time  the  generators  of  this 
class  have  increased  in  size  from  a  few 
hundred  kilowatts  to  50,000  k.v.a.  About 
seventy-five  patents  have  been  taken  out  on 
Mr.  Reist's  inventions. 

He  has  given  special  attention  to  the 
mechanical  development  of  electrical  ma- 
chinery. His  designs  are  known  for  their 
good  lines  and  harmonious  appearance  as 
well  as  for  their  safety  and  economical  use 
of  materials.  He  has  done  much  work  to- 
ward solving  the  problem  of  coolingelectri- 
cal  machinery,  having  had  granted  to  him 
a  fundamental  patent  for  the  systematic 
ventilation  of  laminated  cores  by  means  of 
space  blocks,  now  universally  used.  The 
closed  slot,  generally  employed  in  Europe, 
is  not  favored  by  American  engineers,  who 
are  enabled,  by  using  open  slots,  to  insulate 
coils  completely  before  placing  them  in  a 
machine,  thus  facilitating  repairs  besides 
securing  better  insulated  coils.  The  "bar- 
rel" type  of  coil,  now  in  general  use  in 


America,  permits  a  ready  crossing  of  the 
strands  composing  a  large  conductor,  thus 
greatly  reducing  the  so-called  "load 
losses."  The  reduction  of  these  losses  has 
long  been  a  specialty  with  Mr.  Reist.  An- 
other prominent  advantage  of  American 
over  European  practice  is  the  use  of  ena- 
mel, instead  of  tissue  paper,  as  plate  in- 
sulation, preventing  the  loosening  of  the 
core  during  operation,  with  the  attendant 
dangers  to  coil  insulation  and  lessened  con- 
ductivity of  heat  in  a  direction  transverse 
to  the  face  of  the  punchings.  American 
design  and  construction  allows  cores  to  be 
so  built  up  that  practically  no  filing  is 
needed  in  winding  slots  or  airgap  face;  and 
eddy  losses  at  those  points  are  prevented. 
To  these  American  improvements  Mr. 
Reist  has  been  a  foremost  contributor. 

He  has  recently  made  important  prog- 
ress in  the  design  of  thrust  bearings  for 
supporting  the  weight  of  the  rotating  parts 
of  vertical  shaft  generators.  The  feature 
of  the  design  is  to  distribute  the  load  by 
the  use  of  supporting  springs,  preventing 
any  part  from  being  overloaded.  This  al- 
lows the  use  of  increased  bearing  pres- 
sures and  greatly  reduces  the  bearing 
losses.  The  same  principle  has  been  ap- 
plied to  journal  bearings. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  member  and  past 
vice-president  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  member  of  the 
American  Electrochemical  Society,  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  member  and  past  president  of  the 
Society  of  Engineers  of  Eastern  New 
York,  and  of  the  Schenectady  County 
Historical  Society,  member  of  the  Mo- 
hawk Club  and  Mohawk  Golf  Club. 


LEONARD  F.  REQUA 


Leonard  F.  Requa,  president  of  the 
Requa  Motor  Co.,  was  born  in  New  Balti- 
more, Greene  County,  N.  Y.,  May  12, 
1844,  of  Huguenot  ancestry,  his  grand- 
father, Joseph  Requa,  the  founder  of  the 
American  branch  of  the  family,  serving  as 
an  officer  in  the  Continental  Army  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary  War,  and  being 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga  and 
also  at  White  Plains.  Mr.  Requa  was  edu- 


cated at  Coeyman's  Landing,  Albany 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  was  engaged  in  com- 
mercial pursuits  before  entering  the  electri- 
cal line.  Following  the  great  sleet  storm 
of  1886,  when  practically  all  telephone, 
telegraph  and  electric  wires  were  pros- 
trated, there  was  a  demand  for  an  insula- 
tion that  would  stand  underground  work, 
and  this  led  Mr.  Requa  to  investigate  the 
problem.  After  long  experiment  he  sue- 


ceeded  in  making  a  seamless  rubber-cov- 
ered insulation,  which  worked  perfectly 
underground  and  met  the  approval  of 
many  of  the  electric  companies.  He  or- 
ganized the  Safety  Insulated  Wire 
and  Cable  Company,  in  March,  1888, 
for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing 
his  invention,  and  the  first  order 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY  383 

DAVID  BARKER  RUSHMORE 


LEONARD  F.  REQUA 

was  given  the  company  by  William  H. 
Eckert  of  the  Metropolitan  Telephone 
Company.  This  was  for  five  miles  of  No. 
1 8  B.  &  S.  gauge,  and  was  supplemented 
three  days  later  by  an  order  for  fifty  miles. 
The  electric  light  cable  for  underground 
use  was  first  submitted  to  John  D.  Crim- 
mins,  who  referred  the  matter  to  Edward 
A.  Leslie,  the  manager  of  the  Manhattan 
Electric  Light  Company,  who  gave  an 
order  for  one  mile  for  test  purposes,  and 
a  few  days  later  purchased  fifty  miles.  The 
East  River,  the  Mt.  Morris  and  other 
lighting  companies  adopted  the  cable,  and 
the  factory  was  taxed  to  install  machinery 
fast  enough  to  keep  up  with  the  demand. 
Mr.  Requa  sold  his  interest  in  the  company 
in  1902,  since  which  time  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in  other  branches  of  industry. 


Following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  pro- 
genitors, who  were  inventors  and  engineers, 
David  Barker  Rushmore  has  risen  to 
prominence  in  his  profession.  He  was  born 
August  21,  1873,  in  Old  Westbury,  Nas- 
sau County,  New  York,  the  son  of  John 


DAVID  B.  RUSHMORE 

Howard  and  Julia  Anna  (Barker)  Rush- 
more,  and  was  educated  at  the  Swarth- 
more  Preparatory  School,  Swarthmore 
College  and  Cornell  University.  He  grad- 
uated from  Swarthmore  with  the  B.S.  de- 
gree in  engineering  in  1894  and  received 
the  C.E.  degree  in  1897.  From  Cornell 
University  he  received  the  M.E.  degree 
upon  graduation  in  1895.  In  1894,  he  was 
employed  by  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
Manufacturing  Co.  at  the  Newark,  N.  J., 
plant  and  in  1895  was  with  the  same  com- 
pany at  the  East  Pittsburgh  factory.  In 
1896,  he  was  foreman  of  the  testing  de- 
partment of  the  Royal  Electric  Works, 
Montreal,  Canada.  In  1899  he  became 
Transmission  and  Designing  Engineer  for 
the  Stanley  Electric  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany and  in  1906  he  was  appointed  engi- 
neer of  the  Power  and  Mining  Department 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  Schenec- 


384 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


tady,  N.  Y.,  a  position  he  still  fills.  He 
is  a  life  member  of  the  American  Society 
of  Civil  Engineers  and  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Mining  Engineers,  and  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  a  past  manager 
and  vice-president  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  member 
of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical 
Engineers,  American  Society  of  Mechani- 


cal Engineers,  American  Electrochemical 
Society,  American  Iron  and  Steel  Institute, 
American  Association  for  the  advance- 
ment of  Science,  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York,  New  York  Athletic  Club,  Bankers 
Club  of  America,  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  Great  Britain,  Societe  Inter- 
nationale des  Electriciens,  France,  the  local 
clubs  of  Schenectady,  New  York,  and  the 
Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity. 


HENRY   AUGUSTUS    ROWLAND 


The  memory  of  Henry  A.  Rowland  is 
one  cherished  by  his  contemporaries  and 
revered  by  the  whole  scientific  world.  He 
stood  high  in  a  small  group  of  interna- 
tional and  pre-eminent  scientists  who  dur- 
ing that  fertile  period  of  discovery,  the  last 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  pene- 
trated to  the  secrets  of  fundamental  laws, 
bringing  many  into  light.  Just  prior  to 
his  appointment  in  1875  to  the  professor- 
ship of  physics  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, he  anticipated  all  subsequent  in- 
vestigations in  the  announcement  of  the 
simple  law  of  the  magnetic  circuit.  Later 
he  made  a  profound  impression  in  Berlin, 
by  reason  of  the  results  obtained  from  im- 
portant studies  of  the  magnetic  effect  of 
moving  electrostatic  charges. 

When  he  turned  his  investigating  zeal  to 
the  study  of  light,  it  was  to  meet  baffling 
obstacles.  Although  the  solar  spectrum  was 
recognized  as  the  key  to  problems  in  ether 
physics,  the  medium  through  which  it  was 
produced  and  studied  proved  an  obstacle  to 
successful  experiments.  Robert  Boyle, 
more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  Fraun- 
hofer  and  Nobert,  made  various  types  of 
fine  ruled  gratings  for  measuring  the  length 
of  light  waves.  Lewis  M.  Rutherford,  an 
amateur  astronomer  of  New  York,  later 
constructed  a  machine  that  produced  grat- 
ings superior  to  those  of  Europe,  but  it 
fell  short  of  the  fine  degree  of  mathe- 
matical precision  required.  Rowland's  me- 
chanical genius  here  came  into  play.  He 
attempted  the  correction  of  a  vital  defect 
after  a  vast  amount  of  thought  had  been 
expended  upon  it  and  achieved  a  result  of 
astonishing  perfection.  Perfecting  the  ma- 
chinery for  making  ruled  gratings  was  to 
him,  however,  a  step  to  a  greater  dis- 


covery. The  concave  grating  immediate- 
ly simplified  the  processes  involved  in  the 
use  of  the  diffraction  spectroscope.  In 
Rowland's  laboratories  came  that  develop- 
ment of  scientific  photography  which  re- 


HENRY    A.    ROWLAND 
(Deceased) 

suited  in  the  "Photographic  Map  of  the 
Normal  Solar  Spectrum,"  now  recognized 
as  a  world  standard.  As  an  engineer  his 
counsel  was  followed  in  some  of  the 
most  important  projects  of  the  cen- 
tury. Even  a  partial  chronicle  of  Row- 
land's contributions  to  scientific  effort 
would  necessitate  a  voluminous  story  of 
never  ceasing  activity.  In  number  of  titles 
his  writings  were  exceeded  by  many  of  his 


HAROLD     ROWNTREE 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


385 


contemporaries,  but  their  quality  placed 
them  at  the  forefront  of  scientific  thought. 
As  a  youth,  born  in  Honesdale,  Pa.,  Nov. 
27,  1848,  his  mind  was  early  set  upon 
his  destined  career,  for  he  went  first  to 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  graduating  in  1870.  A  biographical 
memoir  by  Thomas  C.  Mendenhall,  read 
before  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 
in  1903,  ably  covers  the  salient  character- 
istics of  the  man  and  the  scientist.  Henry 


A.  Rowland  died  April  16,  1901,  and  in 
the  fullness  of  his  powers.  It  was  his  good 
fortune  to  receive  universal  recognition 
during  life;  first,  in  the  bestowal  upon  him 
of  degrees  by  higher  institutions  of  learn- 
ing and  election  to  membership  in  nearly 
all  scientific  societies  worthy  of  note  in 
Europe  and  America ;  second,  in  the  more 
significant  honor  of  wielding  a  potent  and 
beneficent  influence  upon  the  whole  realm 
of  science. 


HAROLD  ROWNTREE 


One  of  the  prime  promoters  of  progress 
in  the  solving  of  the  mechanical  problems 
incident  to  the  practical  operation  and  im- 
provement of  modern  electrical  devices,  is 
Harold  Rowntree,  of  Kenilworth,  111., 
president  of  the  National  Pneumatic  Com- 
pany; president  of  the  Burdett-Rown- 
tree  Manufacturing  Company,  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Elevator  Supplies  Com- 
pany. The  United  States  Patent  Office 
records  in  the  neighborhood  of  one  hun- 
dred of  his  patents,  covering  inventions 
through  which  have  come  radical  improve- 
ments in  one  of  the  most  universally  used 
of  all  mechanical  systems,  the  rapid  transit 
facilities  depended  upon  by  myriad  New 
Yorkers  and  the  populations  of  all  our 
great  cities.  When  in  the  subway  rush 
hour  the  apparently  hopeless  congestion  is 
dissolved,  and  we  with  the  countless  throng 
are  sped  on  our  way  in  time  measured  by 
seconds;  when  the  high  speed  elevator 
soars  from  street  to  dizzy  height  in  the 
office  building,  discharging  us  at  the  exact 
level  of  our  floor  so  accurately  and 
smoothly  as  not  even  to  disturb  our 
thoughts;  we  are  in  contact  with  more  con- 
vincing evidence  of  the  inventor's  accom- 
plishment than  any  quantity  of  government 
statistics.  Although  Mr.  Rowntree  dis- 
claims a  natural  liking  for  mechanics  and 
bases  his  aptitude  in  invention  upon  a  pre- 
dilection for  mathematics,  this  matter  of 
taste  seems  to  have  had  no  deterring  ef- 
fect upon  either  the  prolificness  or  utility 
of  the  product.  A  major  portion  of  his 
attention  is  centered  in  the  study  of  auto- 
matic control  of  electrical  devices.  He 
was  the  first  to  provide  means  for  auto- 
matically slowing  down  the  speed  of  elec- 


tric elevators  before  stopping,  and  the  first 
to  apply  this  slowing  down  process  to  those 
automatic  elevators  and  dumbwaiters  that 
have  pre-determined  stopping  points.  Il- 
lustrating the  frequent  embarrassments, 
delays  and  frustrations  to  which  many  an 
inventor  is  subject,  is  the  case  of  an  im- 
provement in  elevator  operation  waiting 
some  twelve  years  for  general  recognition. 
Originally  Mr.  Rowntree  patented  a  double 
electric  motor  equipment  for  elevators 
which  enabled  the  cars  to  be  operated  at  a 
high  rate  of  speed,  and  yet  stopped  accu- 
rately level  with  the  floor.  The  first  com- 
plete test  occurred  when  a  dumbwaiter  em- 
bodying the  invention  was  constructed  and 
installed  in  a  twelve-story  building.  It  ful- 
filled expectations  to  the  fullest  degree, 
running  at  a  speed  of  eleven  hundred  feet 
per  minute,  yet  being  so  absolutely  under 
control  that  the  car  could  be  stopped  auto- 
matically at  any  floor  without  varying  the 
part  of  an  inch  from  the  correct  level.  The 
car  was  operated  successfully  for  years 
before  its  adoption  elsewhere,  for  when 
first  introduced  it  was  too  speedy  for  the 
prevailing  gait  of  business,  and  conse- 
quently met  no  demand,  or  rather  exceeded 
it,  as  its  inventor  had  anticipated  the  time. 
Eventually  the  strides  of  commerce  caught 
up  with  the  idea.  The  day  arrived  when 
Uncle  Sam  straining  every  nerve  in  the 
colossal  tasks  of  the  war  program,  gath- 
ered in  the  dormant  energies  of  neglected 
utilities  and  made  them  work.  The  Gov- 
ernment ordered  immediately,  and  put  into 
use,  a  large  number  of  heavy  automatic 
freight  elevators  designed  for  such  speed 
of  operation  and  accuracy  of  stops  as  ne- 
cessitated the  utilization  of  the  type  of 


386 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


double  electric  motor  equipment  de- 
scribed. 

Mr.  Rowntree  was  the  first  to  invent  a 
means  for  the  pneumatic  operation  of 
doors  on  elevated  and  subway  trains,  and 
he  provided  for  electrically  controlling 
such  devices.  He  led  in  the  invention  of 
interlocking  electrical  connections.  Thus 
the  safety  of  the  passengers  was  secured 
by  the  train  not  being  able  to  move  while 
any  doors  were  open,  nor  the  doors  ca- 
pable of  opening  while  the  train  was  in 
motion.  Another  source  of  danger  was 
removed  by  tlje  automatic  arresting  of  the 
doors  when  by  chance  a  passenger  might  be 
struck  by  its  closing.  He  has  recently  in- 
vented and  patented  electric  means  for  au- 
tomatically limiting  the  speed  of  a  train 
by  the  combination  of  the  speed  of  the 
train  ahead  and  the  distance  of  the  train 
ahead.  It  is  estimated  that  the  use  of  this 
invention  on  congested  subway  systems 
would  at  least  double  their  passenger  car- 
rying capacity  per  hour  without  in  any  way 
increasing  the  possibility  of  accidents. 

Further  successful  experiments  dealing 
with  the  automatic  control  of  automatic 
mechanism,  brought  forth  a  recently  pat- 
ented invention  of  unlimited  scope  of  ap- 
plication. Its  practical  employment  might 
all  but  revolutionize  the  conduct  of  our 
telephone  and  telegraph  systems  to  say 
nothing  of  the  effect  upon  elevator  man- 
agement and  divers  other  agencies  of  mod- 
ern intercourse.  At  least  the  efficiency  of 
dispatch  would  be  doubled  if  this  device 
be  accepted  and  applied  to  the  innumerable 
machines  and  apparatus  controlled  by  elec- 
tric currents  and  responding  to  them  in  a 
fixed  manner  of  correspondence.  The  de- 
vice allows  of  automatically  recording  all 
calls  requiring  circuit  connections,  storing 
them  up  and  automatically  forwarding 
them  to  the  controlled  apparatus  as  soon 
as  it  is  released  from  previous  service.  For 
example,  calls  for  an  automatic  dumb- 
waiter or  elevator  which  is  already  in  use 
or  is  not  in  condition  to  respond  to  the  call 
and  until  it  is  ready  to  respond  or  has  com- 
pleted the  service  in  which  it  is  ready  to 
respond  or  has  completed  the  service  in 
which  it  was  engaged;  and  then  such  call 
will  be  automatically  forwarded  to  the  ma- 
chine as  soon  as  it  is  at  liberty  to  respond. 
A  still  greater  field  of  usefulness  is  sus- 
ceptible to  the  benefits  of  this  invention  in 


telegraphy  and  telephony.  Instead  of  the 
incalculable  delays  following  upon  "line's 
busy"  and  a  harassed  and  forgetful  cen- 
tral, our  telephone  calls  may  be  amazingly 
expedited  by  eliminating  the  human  element 
while  the  calls  are  automatically  recorded 
and  retained  until  the  desired  connections 
are  in  condition  to  receive  them  when, 
again  automatically,  they  will  be  for- 
warded. In  like  manner,  business  men 
would  find  that  a  vastly  increased  depend- 
ence might  be  placed  upon  the  expeditious 
transmission  of  their  telegraphic  business 
were  the  same  improvement  adopted  by  the 
telegraph  systems.  Especially  would  it 
prove  invaluable  where,  under  present  con- 
ditions, long  distance  messages  must  be 
relayed  from  one  line  to  another  at  inter- 
mediate points.  There  would  be  an  ob- 
vious saving  of  time  by  the  automatic  re- 
laying of  messages.  The  automatic  con- 
trol obtained  by  this  device  insures  the  re- 
ceiving, recording  and  retaining  of  all  mes- 
sages and  their  prompt  forwarding  at  in- 
termediate points  when  lines  become  avail- 
able, providing  also  for  the  forwarding  of 
messages  in  the  exact  order  in  which  they 
are  received. 

The  Rowntrees  are  an  English  family 
whose  genealogical  records  go  far  back 
into  English  history.  Harold  Rowntree 
began  life  in  Bradford,  England,  on  Oc- 
tober 5,  1865,  and  was  educated  there  in 
private  schools,  from  whence  he  went  to 
learn  and  later  engage  in  the  machine 
trade.  His  ancestors  had  had  the  name  of 
having  unusual  qualities  of  pertinacity  and 
perseverance  in  their  undertakings,  a  trait 
easily  confused  with  obstinacy.  It  was, 
though,  an  obstinate,  not-to-be  denied  aim 
that  governed  young  Rowntree's  profes- 
sional progress.  He  had  ideas  in  those 
days  reaching  far  beyond  his  environ- 
ment, vital,  if  youthfully  immature,  and 
portentous  of  rapid  future  development 
Throughout  the  domain  of  scientific  ex- 
ploration the  phenomena  has  been  noted 
of  the  simultaneous  awakening  of  ad- 
vanced minds  to  a  new  set  of  facts 
as  if  their  thoughts  were  in  some  man- 
ner synchronized.  Many  years  before 
we  were  thrilled  by  the  first  hazardous 
flights  of  the  aeroplane,  the  problem 
of  overcoming  the  air  was  insistently 
knocking  at  the  doors  of  science.  Very 
few  gave  it  serious  consideration.  But  Mr. 


R.  SANFORD    RILEV 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


387 


Rowntree  in  one  of  his  early  note  books 
filled  with  speculative  solutions,  went  so 
far  as  to  describe,  boyishly  'tis  true,  but 
none  the  less  accurately,  the  future  mono- 
plane, having  wings  four  feet  wide  and 
forty  feet  from  tip  to  tip,  and  the  body 
about  the  size  of  those  in  use  today;  but 
he,  like  others,  was  nonplussed  by  the  ques- 
tion of  motive  power.  In  defining  inven- 
tion, as  Mr.  Rowntree  says,  one  must  real- 
ize the  interdependence  of  inventions  and 
the  fact  that  they  invariably  follow  a  regu- 
lar sequence  of  evolutionary  growth,  result- 
ing often  in  an  invention  being  ahead  of 
its  time  and  necessitating  the  making  of 
several  inventions  in  order  to  reach  one 


practicable.  He  is  a  man  of  markedly  stu- 
dious habits,  delighting  to  delve  into  fun- 
damental laws  and  untiringly  searching  for 
fresh  conclusions. 

Mr.  Rowntree's  career  in  America  dates 
from  1884.  Undoubtedly  he  found  the 
upbuilding,  progressive  American  spirit  a 
stimulation  because,  a  few  years  later,  in 
1890,  he  commenced  the  series  of  inven- 
tions which  have  brought  him  high  name 
and  reputation.  He  is  a  member  of  sev- 
eral electrical  engineering  clubs  and  so- 
cieties. His  offices,  with  the  National 
Pneumatic  Company,  are  at  50  Church 
Street,  New  York. 


R.   SANFORD   RILEY 


One  of  the  fundamental  reasons  why 
the  central  electric  stations  of  the  United 
States  are  able  to  supply  electric  current 
at  the  wonderfully  low  prices  they  do  is 
that  the  great  majority  of  them  are 
equipped  with  mechanical  stokers,  which 
add  in  a  marked  degree  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  plants.  The  subject  of  this  sketch,  R. 
Sanford  Riley,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  is  a 
leader  in  the  development  of  the  mechani- 
cal stoker  and  is  devoting  his  life  to  its 
improvement  and  exploitation,  especially 
in  the  electrical  industry. 

R.  Sanford  Riley  was  born  in  Canada 
in  1874  and  spent  his  boyhood  in  the  City 
of  Winnipeg.  Both  his  father  and  his 
mother  are  descended  from  a  line  of  old 
Yorkshire  (England)  stock,  and  his  great- 
grandfather was  an  English  officer  in  the 
Napoleonic  wars.  His  father  is  a  promi- 
nent banker  of  Winnipeg,  Canada.  Mr. 
Riley  graduated  with  honors  in  1896  from 
the  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute.  In 
college  he  was  president  of  his  class,  editor 
of  the  class  book,  played  center  on  the 
football  team  and  is  a  member  of  Sigma 
Alpha  Epsilon  Fraternity.  He  is  president 
of  the  Worcester  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
vice-president  of  the  Worcester  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
and  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  Engineers'  Club  of 


New  York,  Engineers'  Club  of  Boston, 
Worcester  Club,  the  Tatnuck  Country 
Club,  The  Detroit  Athletic  Club,  The 
Appalachian  Club  and  the  Alpine  Club 
of  America.  Mr.  Riley  has  climbed 
some  of  the  highest  mountains  in 
Switzerland  and  the  Canadian  Rockies. 
He  is  very  fond  of  horses  and  keeps  a 
hunter  for  his  own  riding.  He  is  a  former 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers, 
and  holds  the  highest  certificate  of  com- 
petency issued  by  the  British  Board  of 
Trade — that  of  Extra  First  Class  Engi- 
neer. He  also  holds  the  highest  U.  S.  cer- 
tificate as  Chief  Engineer  for  unlimited 
tonnage  on  any  ocean. 

Between  1898  and  1903  Mr.  Riley 
worked  his  way  around  the  world  as  a  Ma- 
rine Engineer.  He  started  from  Cramp's 
shipyard  in  a  ship  which,  as  a  draftsman, 
he  had  helped  to  design.  He  sailed  the 
Pacific  in  the  Empress  Line  and  joined  the 
United  States  Navy  in  Hong  Kong.  He 
went  through  the  Boxer  campaign  and 
came  home  via  the  Indian  Ocean  and  Suez 
Canal  as  Chief  Engineer  of  the  "Are- 
thusa,"  a  naval  auxiliary  used  as  a  base 
ship  for  torpedo  boats.  On  the  Asiatic 
Station  Mr.  Riley  assisted  in  manoeuvers 
under  Gen.  Funston  for  the  capture  of 


388 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Aguinaldo.  He  left  the  sea  to  enter  the 
employ  of  the  N.  Y.  Ship  Building  Co.  of 
Camden,  N.  J. 

In  1906  Mr.  Riley  became  manager  of 
the  American  Ship  Windlass  Co.  of  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  and  here  he  had  an  opportu- 
nity to  put  his  naval  engineering  experi- 
ence to  further  use  in  the  design  of  wind- 
lasses and  steering  engines.  But  he  soon 
specialized  on  the  "Taylor"  stoker,  then 
being  manufactured  by  the  American  Ship 
Windlass  Co.  in  crude  form  as  it  had 
been  left  at  the  death  of  the  inventor. 
He  thus  became  known  as  a  pioneer  in  the 
commercial  development  of  high  capacity 
under-feed  stokers,  which  have  revolution- 
ized modern  boiler  rooms.  Having  been 
around  fire  rooms,  ashore  and  afloat,  all 
his  life,  Mr.  Riley  knew  something  of  com- 
bustion. The  fire  room  evidently  had  been 
neglected  and  had  not  shared  the  progress 
made  in  the  engine  room.  Mr.  Riley  pro- 
ceeded to  redesign  and  improve  the  "Tay- 
lor" stoker  and  built  up  a  large  business. 

In  1911  Mr.  Riley  sold  out  his  interest 
in  the  American  Ship  Windlass  Co.  and 
later  organized  the  Sanford  Riley  Stoker 
Co.,  Ltd.,  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  to  develop 
and  market  the  Riley  Self  Dumping  Un- 


derfeed Stoker.  By  its  use  the  capacity  of 
many  old  boiler  rooms  has  been  tripled 
and  in  some  new  plants,  like  the  Buffalo 
General  Electric  Co.,  the  Riley  stoker 
gives  500%  of  their  normal  boiler  output, 
a  capacity  which  would  have  been  deemed 
impossible  a  few  years  ago.  The  stokers 
developed  by  Mr.  Riley  have  changed  the 
dirty  boiler  room  from  the  most  undesir- 
able part  of  the  plant  into  a  place  which 
now  attracts  brains  and  not  brawn.  In 
the  modern  boiler  room  the  stoker  handles 
coal  and  ashes  automatically,  and  obtains 
the  maximum  number  of  heat  units  from 
the  coal,  with  the  result  that  boiler  room 
labor  is  cut  to  a  minimum,  one  fireman  and 
one  water  tender  being  able  to  handle  as 
high  as  10,000  boiler  H.P.  Mr.  Riley  has 
to  his  credit  a  number  of  inventions  in  ma- 
rine machinery  and  boiler  room  equipment, 
especially  stokers.  He  is  also  President  of 
the  Murphy  Iron  Works  of  Detroit,  the 
oldest  and  perhaps  the  largest  manufac- 
turers of  stokers  exclusively  in  the  coun- 
try. This  Company  was  founded  in  1878, 
and  its  product  is  primarily  adapted  for 
the  smaller  industrial  concerns  rather  than 
the  large  public  utility  plants  for  which  the 
Riley  Stoker  is  particularly  suited. 


D.  FREDERICK  SCHICK 


The  prominence  in  the  electrical  engi- 
neering profession  which  D.  Frederick 
Schick  has  attained,  has  not  come  by  an 
easy  road.  Born  in  Philadelphia  in  1875, 
he  received  his  general  education  in  the 
George  Meade  Grammar  School,  and  at 
the  old  Eastburn  Academy,  from  which  he 
was  graduated.  He  was  then  employed  by 
the  West  End  Electric  Company  for 
two  years  as  wireman,  oiler,  and  switch- 
board and  dynamo  tender.  In  this 
connection  he  realized  the  fact  that 
without  technical  education  it  was  prac- 
tically impossible  to  reach  any  success 
of  importance  in  the  electrical  field. 
Therefore,  he  entered  the  mechanical 
arts  course  of  the  Drexel  Institute. 
While  pursuing  the  studies  in  the  institu- 
tion, he  spent  his  summer  vacations  in  the 
employ  of  the  Complete  Electrical  Con- 


struction Company,  New  York  City,  in 
installations  of  electric  light  systems. 
After  graduation  from  the  Mechanical 
Arts  Course,  Mr.  Schick  returned  to  the 
Drexel  Institute  for  a  two  years'  course 
in  electrical  engineering,  and  when  he  had 
completed  it  became  construction  foreman 
with  the  firm  of  J.  F.  Buchanan  &  Co., 
electrical  contractors,  of  Philadelphia.  He 
left  this  firm  in  1899  to  work  for  the  Phila- 
delphia Electric  Company,  being  employed 
as  a  wireman  in  the  construction  depart- 
ment, starting  work  at  the  old  Callowhill 
Station  at  Twenty-sixth  and  Callowhill 
Streets.  By  successive  promotions  he  be- 
came foreman,  draftsman,  office  assistant 
and  finally  succeeded  James  T.  Hutchings 
as  Superintendent  of  Distribution  and  Con- 
struction for  the  company.  That  title  was 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


389 


D.     FREDERICK     SCHICK 


dropped,  however,  in  May,  1916,  because 
the  department  covered  all  of  the  electrical 
design,  as  well  as  the  distribution  and  con- 
struction, and  Mr.  Schick  became  known  as 
"electrical  engineer"  for  the  company. 
His  place  as  a  leader. in  the  electrical  engi- 
neering profession  had  been  won  by  hard 
work,  continuously  followed  up  by  intense 
enthusiasm  for  his  profession. 


Mr.  Schick  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  a 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  and  has  for  several  years  been 
a  member  of  the  Electrical  Apparatus 
Committee  of  that  Association.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  and  of  the  Engineers  Club  of 
Philadelphia. 


390 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 

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JOHN     MARTIN     SCHREIBER 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


391 


JOHN  MARTIN  SCHREIBER 


John  Martin  Schreiber,  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Public  Service  Railway  Company, 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  graduated  from  the 
Ohio  State  University,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
with  the  degree  of  Mechanical  in  Electri- 
cal Engineering.  During  the  summer 
months  while  at  college,  Mr.  Schreiber  was 
employed  by  the  Electrical  Department  of 
Laclede  Gas  Light  Co.,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in- 
specting and  testing  watt  meters.  Before  he 
graduated,  his  father  suddenly  died.  Mar- 
tin Schreiber,  Sr.,  was  a  general  contractor 
and  brick  manufacturer,  with  quite  exten- 
sive operations  along  the  Ohio  River,  from 
Portsmouth,  Ohio,  to  Catlettsburg,  Ky. 
As  a  result  of  the  father's  demise,  the  son 
left  college  for  a  year  and  closed  out  his 
father's  business,  finishing  several  im- 
portant contracts.  Then  he  returned  to 
college,  and  after  graduation  went  at  once 
into  the  employ  of  the  Cleveland  Electric 
Railway  Company,  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Here 
he  was  employed  as  electrician,  doing  wire 
work  incidental  to  connecting  up  generators 
and  switchboards  in  the  Cedar  Avenue 
Power  House,  and  in  electrolytic  surveys. 
Then  he  was  employed  as  draughtsman  on 
power  house  designs  and  equipment.  Next 
he  was  made  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
drafting  room,  with  supervision  and  con- 
struction of  building  and  coal  handling, 
and  all  other  equipment,  in  connection  with 
the  extension  of  the  Cedar  Avenue  Power 
House.  In  June,  1903,  he  resigned  from 
the  Cleveland  Electric  Railway  Company 
and  became  assistant  engineer  of  the  Public 
Service  Railway  Company,  having  charge 
of  a  number  of  track  extensions,  and  de- 
sign and  construction  of  new  bridges  and 
car  houses.  A  year  later  a  large  number 
of  bridges  were  carried  away  by  action  of 
floods  at  Paterson,  N.  J.,  and  immediate 
vicinity.  He  was  assigned  to  the  task 
of  putting  a  number  of  these  bridges  in 
safe  operating  condition  for  cars  in  the 
quickest  possible  time.  It  was  during  this 
time  that  he  designed  and  built  a  pile  trestle 
railroad  bridge,  with  an  electrically  oper- 
ated bascule  draw  span  over  the  Passaic 
River,  between  Passaic  and  Wallington, 
in  forty  days.  A  unique  feature  of 
the  bridge  was  an  auxiliary  truss  to 


hold    the    trolley    wire,    that    was    auto- 
matically   raised    and   lowered   when   the 
bridge  was  opened  and  closed.     Although 
the  bridge  was  only  supposed  to  be  used 
for  a  few  months,  it  was  operated  for  about 
two  years.     The  jack-knife  span  could  be 
opened  and  closed  in  four  minutes;  quite  a 
contrast  to  the  temporary  wagon  bridge 
alongside,   which  required  thirty  minutes 
to  open  and  close  to  allow  a  boat  to  go 
through  the  draw.     He  was  next  assigned 
to  the  design  and  construction  of  the  Plank 
Road  Shops,  now  the  Newark  Shops,  at 
Newark.     These  buildings  are  well  known 
in   the   electrical   railway  field,   and  have 
been  a  show  place  for  those  interested  in 
the  design  of  modern  shop  buildings  for 
electric  railways.     Many  of  the  features 
and   equipment  in  these   shops,   including 
the  arrangement  of  buildings  with  trans- 
fer tables,  have  since  been  incorporated  in 
other  railway  properties.     Since   1906  he 
has  been  Engineer  of  Maintenance  of  Way 
and  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Public  Service 
Railway  Company,  that  operates  900  miles 
of  track  in  146  municipalities  in  the  state 
of  New  Jersey,   serving  a  population  of 
2,800,000.      The   company  also   operates 
ferries  across  the  Hudson  River,  between 
Edgewater,  N.  J.,  and  I25th  Street,  New 
York,    and   over   the    Kill   von   Kull,   be- 
tween Bayonne,  N.  J.,  and  Staten  Island, 
N.  Y.     For  twelve  years  he  has  had  re- 
sponsible charge  of  the  design  and  con- 
struction of  a  large  number  of  improve- 
ments for  public  service.  Among  the  im- 
portant operations  are  car  houses,  bridges, 
ferry  slips  and  ferry  houses,  sand  drying 
and  stone  crushing  plants,  and  commercial 
buildings  throughout  the  State  represent- 
ing millions  of  dollars.     Included  in  this 
are  car  houses  and  shops  at  Camden,  head- 
quarters   of   the    Southern    Division    and 
the     Hoboken     Terminal     at     Hoboken, 
where    one    may    take    elevated    or    sur- 
face street  cars;  ferries  over  the  Hudson 
River;  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern   Railroad    trains,    or    Hudson    River 
Tubes  to  New  York,  all  from  under  one 
roof.      Then,   there  was   extensive   recon- 
struction   of    ferry   properties    that   took 
in  slips  with  their  appurtenances  such  as 


392 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


electrically  operated  bridges  and  new  ferry 
houses.  Among  the  track  extensions  was 
the  so-called  "Fast  Line"  from  Elizabeth 
to  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  built  after  the 
best  steam  road  practice,  with  continuous 
track  automatic  block  signals.  And  more 
recently,  he  had  charge  of  the  design  and 
construction  of  the  new  Public  Service 
Terminal  at  Newark.  This  consists  of  a 
subway  and  trolley  terminal  and  office 
building,  combined.  There  are  two  train 
floors  (elevated  and  subway)  and  a  con- 
course, with  show  rooms  on  the  street  level. 
The  building  is  of  eight  stories,  with  394 
rooms  and  ten  acres  of  floor  space.  The 
building  is  of  unique  design  and  embodies 
all  branches  of  high-class  engineering. 
Various  problems  which  involved  unusual 
engineering  skill  were  put  up  to  Mr. 
Schreiber  during  the  war.  The  Public 
Service  Railway  served  many  shipyards 
and  munition  plants  and  to  accommodate 
these  the  company  was  forced  to  make  ex- 
tensions in  Newark,  Camden  and  Glouces- 
ter, the  engineering  and  construction 
details  of  which  were  worked  out  under 
Mr.  Schreiber's  directions.  Mr.  Schreiber 
was  a  member  of  a  committee  reporting  to 
the  Public  Service  Corporation  of  New 
Jersey  on  the  proposed  vehicular  tunnels 
under  the  Hudson  River,  between  Canal 
Street,  New  York,  and  Twelfth  Street, 
Jersey  City.  He  has  always  taken  a  keen 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  technical  societies. 
He  is  Past  President  of  the  American  Elec- 
tric Railway  Engineering  Association,  and 
has  served  on  many  committees  of  the 
American  Electric  Railway  Association; 
he  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Engineering  Standards  Committee;  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers; 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers; 
American  Society  for  Testing  Ma- 
terials; National  Electrical  Light  Asso- 
ciation; the  Electrical  Committee  of  the 
American  Railway  Engineering  Associa- 
tion; Representative  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association  on  the  Elec- 
trical Committee  of  the  National  Fire  Pro- 
tection Association.  Mr.  Schreiber  holds 
membership  in  the  Engineers';  Transpor- 
tation and  New  York  Railroad  clubs  of 
New  York;  the  Essex  County  Country 
Club  of  West  Orange,  N.  J.,  and  South 
Orange  Field  Club  of  South  Orange,  N.  J., 
and  the  Alpha  Tau  Omega  fraternity. 


WILLITS   H.    SAWYER 

Willits  H.  Sawyer  was  born  in  School- 
craft,  Michigan,  October  30,  1873,  and 
was  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Nebraska  in  1894. 

He  became  connected  with  the  Lincoln 
(Nebraska)  Street  Railway  in  1890,  after- 


WILLITS     H.     SAWYER 

ward  with  the  Evansville  (Ind.)  Street 
Railway,  and  the  New  Haven  (Conn.) 
Street  Railway  until  1896.  He  was  with 
the  General  Electric  Company's  Testing 
Department,  1896-1897;  engaged  in  spec- 
ial test  and  construction  of  Surface  Con- 
tact Systems  in  England,  1897;  then  in 
the  Railroad  Department  in  early  de- 
velopment of  the  multiple  unit  system 
and  in  tests  and  construction  of  Manhattan 
Elevated,  Brooklyn  Elevated  and  Manhat- 
tan Subway,  in  New  York,  1897-1905. 
He  was  with  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  as  engi- 
neer in  charge  of  their  New  York  office, 
1905-1914;  since  then  and  now  vice-presi- 
dent of  E.  W.  Clark  &  Co.  Management 
Corporation,  in  executive  charge  of  rail- 
way and  light  and  power  companies.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  the  Engineers'  and 
Railroad  Clubs,  of  New  York,  and  Engi- 
neers' Club,  of  Columbus,  Ohio. 


EDWARD    SCHILDHAUER 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


393 


EDWARD  SCHILDHAUER 


The  work  of  the  electrical  engineer  is  of 
such  variety  and  diversity  that  the  Story 
of  Electricity  in  its  entirety  touches  nearly 
every  important  constructive  enterprise  of 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century.  Edward 
Schildhauer,  of  Indianapolis,  is  an  electri- 
cal engineer  who  is  possessed  of  construct- 
ive and  engineering  initiative  which  has  en- 
abled him  to  face  and  conquer  many  new 
and  important  problems  of  electrical  engi- 
neering, and  to  become  recognized  as  an 
important  factor  in  the  development  of  the 
electrical  industry. 

He  was  born  in  New  Holstein,  Wiscon- 
sin, August  21,  1872,  and  attended  the 
common  schools  preparatory  to  a  college 
education.  From  early  boyhood  he  al- 
ways had  a  desire  to  know  something  about 
electricity,  and  this  desire  crystallized  into 
a  determination  to  study  it  after  visiting 
the  Edison  Power  Stations  in  Milwaukee. 
He  therefore  entered  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  in  a  course,  leading  to  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  Electrical  Engi- 
neering, with  which  he  was  graduated  in 
the  Class  of  1897.  The  degree  of  Electri- 
cal Engineer  was  conferred  in  1911. 

After  graduation,  in  1897,  he  obtained 
employment  with  J.  G.  White  &  Company 
on  electric  street  and  interurban  railway 
construction  work  in  and  around  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  for  a  year,  and  after  that, 
from  1898  to  1906  he  was  with  the  Chi- 
cago Edison  Company  and  the  Common- 
wealth Electric  Company  (now  the  Com- 
monwealth Edison  Company)  of  Chicago, 
He  started  in  the  construction  department 
of  the  Chicago  Edison  Company,  was 
transferred  to  the  drafting  department  as 
a  draftsman,  was  promoted  to  chief  drafts- 
man, then  became  assistant  to  the  mechan- 
ical engineer  and  finally  assistant  to  the 
electrical  engineer. 

During  this  period  the  company's 
growth  was  very  rapid.  The  number  of 
substations  increased  from  one  to  twenty- 
six;  and  while  he  was  assistant  to  the  elec- 
trical engineer,  the  Fisk  Street  Station, 
where  the  first  5,ooo-kilowatt  steam  tur- 
bine was  installed,  was  developed.  Natur- 
ally, during  this  period,  a  good  many  im- 
provements were  made  in  switchboard 


construction,  and  in  the  layout  of  substa- 
tions to  establish  continuity  of  service.  He 
therefore  had  a  varied  experience,  and  ob- 
tained several  letters  patent. 

Mr.  Schildhauer  had  thus  progressed  to 
a  position  where  he  had  secured  recogni- 
tion as  one  of  the  most  capable  electrical 
engineers  in  the  country,  and  this  led  to  his 
appointment,  in  1906,  to  the  position  of 
electrical  and  mechanical  engineer  of  the 
Panama  Canal,  in  which  connection  he  had 
charge  of  all  electrical  and  mechanical  work 
connected  with  the  locks  and  dams.  This 
work  consisted  of  designing,  purchasing, 
inspecting,  erecting,  and  operating  all  the 
apparatus  required,  including  the  steam 
stations  for  construction  purposes,  the 
hydro-electric  stations  and  substations,  and 
the  transmission  lines  across  the  Isthmus. 

It  was  a  work  of  supreme  importance, 
and  one  which  presented  new  and  difficult 
problems,  the  solution  of  which  advanced 
electrical  science  and  crowned  with  suc- 
cess the  greatest  engineering  enterprise  in 
which  our  Government  had  ever  engaged. 
In  the  solution  of  these  problems  Mr. 
Schildhauer  invented  many  devices  for 
which  he  received  letters  patent. 

Development  of  electrical  devices  for 
many  new  purposes  ensued  during  the  con- 
struction period  on  the  Panama  Canal. 
These  embraced  electric  towing  locomo- 
tives for  hauling  ships  through  the  locks; 
remote  control  boards  for  controlling  all 
gates,  valves,  and  machinery  of  the  locks, 
all  interlocked  to  prevent  incorrect  oper- 
ation; a  miter-gate  operating  mechanism 
for  closing  and  opening  the  huge  miter- 
gates  weighing  upward  to  700  tons  each; 
and  special  mechanisms  for  operating  cylin- 
drical valves,  spillway  gates,  emergency 
dams,  and  other  lock  equipment. 

In  July,  1914,  the  work  of  construction 
having  been  completed,  Mr.  Schildhauer 
resigned  from  the  Panama  Canal,  after 
having  completed  the  work  of  organizing 
the  operating  force. 

Since  then  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  munitions — such  as  load- 
ing and  assembling  3-inch  shrapnel  and  as- 
sembling 3-inch  high  explosive  shells  while 
General  Manager  of  the  New  Castle  Con- 


394 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


struction  Company  of  New  Castle,  Dela- 
ware; manufacturing  and  loading  2i-sec- 
ond  time  fuses  while  President  of  the  Ar- 
tillery Fuse  Company  of  Wilmington,  Del- 
aware, and,  for  the  duration  of  the  war, 
manufacturing  and  loading  rifle  grenades, 
Stokes  trench-mortar  fuses,  etc.,  while  Pres- 
ident of  the  Stenotype  Company,  of  In- 
dianapolis, Ind. 

His  great  achievements  in  connection 
with  the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal 
were  recognized  by  his  alma  mater,  and  in 
the  college  year  1912-1913  the  Faculty  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin  conferred 
upon  him  the  honor  of  placing  a  painting 
of  his  portrait  in  the  University  Hall  of 
Fame,  created  to  honor  alumni  of  that 
famous  institution  who  have  gone  out  into 


the  world  and  gained  high  distinction  in 
their  professional  or  public  careers. 

The  Alpha  of  Wisconsin  Chapter  of 
Tau  Beta  Pi  likewise  honored  him  by  elect- 
ing him  a  member  of  the  society — a  de- 
ferred honor  which  he  would  have  been  en- 
titled to  in  his  student  days  had  the  chapter 
been  in  existence  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Schildhauer  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
the  Engineers'  Club,  Engineers'  Country 
Club  and  Bankers  Club  of  New  York,  Col- 
umbia Club  and  Country  Club  of  Indian- 
apolis, and  the  University  Club  of  Panama. 


FRANCIS  HENRY  SHEPARD 


The  use  of  electricity  to  supplement 
steam  for  train  propulsion  marks  one  of 
the  greatest  strides  in  the  development  of 
that  force.  When  the  electrification  of 
heavy  transportation  lines  was  first  con- 
sidered, a  number  of  electrical  engineers 
undertook  to  solve  the  problem  of  power 
application.  There  were  no  precedents 
for  guidance  and  in  consequence  several 
methods  were  evolved,  some  of  which 
formed  the  foundations  of  modern  practice 
while  others  proved  themselves  to  be  un- 
fitted to  give  comprehensive  and  satis- 
factory operation. 

Among  the  pioneers  in  railroad  electri- 
fication was  Francis  Henry  Shepard.  Hav- 
ing taken  up  electrical  work  in  his  boyhood 
and  having  been  connected  with  some  of 
the  early  trolley  car  installations,  he  was 
in  a  position  to  take  an  active  part  in  the 
construction  and  initial  operation  of  the 
Baltimore  Tunnel  electrification,  which 
was  the  first  heavy  tonnage  railroad  ever 
operated  electrically.  His  experience  and 
growing  knowledge  convinced  him  that  the 
solution  of  the  electric  railroad  problem 
lay  in  providing  greater  and  more  flexible 
power  per  train  than  was  possible  with  the 
use  of  steam.  He  has  always  specialized 
in  the  electric  railroad  field,  spending  four 
years  of  much  activity  with  Mr.  Frank  J. 
Sprague  in  the  exploitation  of  the  multiple 


unit  system  and  participating  in  most  of 
the  important  electrification  work  that  has 
since  been  undertaken.  His  record  of  ac- 
complishment in  this  line  of  endeavor  has, 
therefore,  been  exceptional.  Immediately 
after  graduation  from  high  school  in  1889 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company,  as  an  assist- 
ant in  the  Construction  Department. 
This  company  was  installing  a  plant  for 
the  Mason  City  Electric  Light  Company, 
and  upon  its  completion  Mr.  Shepard 
remained  with  the  local  company,  doing 
line  work,  inside  wiring  and  operating 
dynamos. 

In  April  1 890,  he  went  with  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railway,  where 
under  the  direction  of  the  Mechanical  En- 
gineer, Mr.  George  Gibbs,  he  was  engaged 
on  train  lighting  and  isolated  plant  work. 
In  1891  he  transferred  his  energies  to  the 
West  Side  Street  Railway  Company  of 
Milwaukee,  one  of  the  early  Sprague  roads, 
and  there  he  did  armature  winding  and  re- 
pair work.  In  1892  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  armature  room  of  the  Mil- 
waukee Street  Railway  Company,  then  the 
third  largest  electric  railway  in  the  coun- 
try, and  in  the  following  year  became  its 
electrician  in  charge  of  car  equipment  and 
the  electrical  repair  shop.  While  there  he 
instituted  a  number  of  modifications  in  this 


FRANCIS     H.SHEPARD 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


395 


early  equipment  to  obtain  greater  reliabil- 
ity and  this  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion. 

He  left  this  position  in  October,  1893, 
to  take  the  electrical  course  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology,  where  he 
was  admitted  by  special  vote  of  the  faculty 
without  examination,  a  remarkable  and 
most  unusual  occurrence.  He  remained  at 
the  Institute  for  eighteen  months,  when  he 
was  compelled  to  go  to  a  hospital  on  ac- 
count of  an  injury.  While  under  treatment 
he  was  offered  the  position  of  assistant  to 
the  supervising  engineer  who  was  in  charge 
of  the  installation  of  electric  locomotives, 
line  work  and  power-house  for  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad  at  Baltimore.  He 
continued  this  connection  until  1896  when 
he  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  work  as 
supervising  engineer.  While  located  in 
Baltimore  Mr.  Shepard  added  materially 
to  his  knowledge  of  electricity  by  taking 
special  instruction  in  electrical  engineering 
under  the  late  Dr.  Duncan  at  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  He  completed  the 
work  of  electrification  and  secured  its  ac- 
ceptance. Leaving  Baltimore,  he  was  then 
promoted  to  become  technical  assistant  to 
William  J.  Clark,  General  Manager  of  the 
Railway  Department  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  at  New  York,  and  in  this 
connection  he  reviewed  the  original  plans 
of  the  New  York  Subway  and  numerous 
other  contemplated  electric  railway  projects 
in  various  parts  of  the  United  States. 

In  January,  1898,  he  went  with  the 
Sprague  Electric  Company  and  became 
assistant  to  Mr.  Frank  J.  Sprague  in  the 
exploitation  of  the  multiple  unit  system.  It 
was  here  under  Sprague  that  Mr.  Shepard 
was  given  opportunity  for  most  energetic 
practical  application  to  original  electrical 
development.  Mr.  Sprague  had  created 
and  developed  the  system  and  then  had  the 
contract  for  the  installation  of  electric 
equipment  on  the  South  Side  Elevated 
Railway  Company,  Chicago.  The  contract 
was  completed  in  the  most  satisfactory 
manner  despite  the  almost  universal  senti- 
ment existing  that  the  system  could  not 
possibly  work  and  if  it  did,  it  would  have 
no  future.  As  the  system  with  the  vast 
traction  possibilities  it  unfolded  is  now 
standard,  it  can  be  seen  how  erroneous 
were  the  opinions  of  the  critics. 


After  leaving  Chicago  Mr.  Shepard  was 
engaged  in  the  commercial  and  engineering 
exploitation  of  the  Multiple  Unit  System 
on  the  elevated  roads  of  Brooklyn,  Boston 
and  New  York,  and  was  largely  responsible 
for  the  decision  to  use  the  Multiple  Unit 
System  on  the  New  York  Elevated  Roads. 
In  the  Spring  of  1902,  the  Sprague  Elec- 
tric Company  having  been  acquired  by  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Mr.  Shepard 
engaged  as  consulting  engineer  for  various 
interests,  including  railroads  and  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company. 

In  September,  1903,  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company  and  was  asso- 
ciated with  George  Westinghouse  in  the 
development  of  electro-pneumatic  control 
and  on  general  railway  engineering.  He 
was  active  in  the  perfection  of  this  method 
of  control,  which  has  since  become  uni- 
versally standard  and  has  been  adopted 
by  other  large  interests  which  originally 
opposed  it.  In  general  railway  work  Mr. 
Shepard  has  contributed  to  the  develop- 
ment of  engineering  on  numerous  electric 
railway  installations,  among  them  being 
the  Grand  Trunk  Railway;  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad;  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad;  Chicago,  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul  Railway;  Norfolk  &  Western 
Railway;  New  York  Municipal  Railway 
Corporation  and  the  Interboro  Rapid 
Transit  Company.  Mr.  Shepard  is  still 
associated  with  the  Westinghouse  Com- 
pany as  Director  of  Heavy  Traction. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  that  has 
made  him  an  important  factor  in  heavy 
traction  is  thorough  knowledge  of  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  industry  and  the  needs  of 
the  railroads,  together  with  that  experi- 
ence necessary  for  their  conjunction.  He 
possesses  an  analytical  mind,  a  strong 
mechanical  bent,  with  a  vigorous  brain  to 
conceive  and  an  uncommon  amount  of 
energy  to  execute  the  elements  that  must 
bring  success.  Added  to  these  is  a  strong 
personality  and  a  faculty  of  inspiring  the 
best  effort  from  the  men  associated  with 
him.  Mr.  Shepard  is  the  author  of  several 
articles  on  electrification  and  allied  sub- 
jects and  has  taken  out  numerous  patents 
on  electrification  methods  and  details.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Engineers'  Club,  the 


396 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


Lotos  Club,  the  Railroad  Club,  the  New 
York  Athletic  Club,  Pittsburgh  Athletic 
Club  and  the  Wykagyl  Country  Club  of 


New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  where  he  makes  his 
home.  His  business  address  is  165  Broad- 
way, New  York  City. 


DR.     SAMUEL     SHELDON 


Dr.  Samuel  Sheldon,  who  has  been  Pro- 
fessor of  Physics  and  Electrical  Engineer- 
ing at  the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brook- 
lyn since  1889,  was  born  March  8,  1862, 
in  Middlebury,  Vermont.  He  graduated 


from  the  Middlebury  College  in  1883, 
with  the  A.B.  degree,  was  the  recipient  of 
the  A.M.  degree  in  1886  and  the  honorary 
degree  of  D.Sc.  in  1911.  He  was  winner 
of  the  Waldo  Prize  for  four  years;  the 


HENRY    D.  SHUT  E 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


Second  Botanical  Prize;  was  Salutatorian 
of  his  class  at  graduation  and  received  the 
highest  honors  in  physics.  He  graduated 
from  the  University  of  Wiirzburg,  Ger- 
many, in  1888,  with  the  Ph.D.  degree,  and 
in  1906  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  D.Sc.  After  leaving  Germany  he  be- 
came assistant  in  Physics  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  after  one  year's  service  at  that 
institute  of  learning  he  went  to  Brooklyn, 
where  he  has  since  occupied  the  chair  of 
Physics  and  Electrical  Engineering  in  the 
Polytechnic  Institute,  devoting  a  portion  of 
his  time  to  private  consulting  practice. 
At  different  periods  in  his  career  Dr.  Shel- 
don was  consulting  engineer  and  expert 
with  the  General  Electric  Company,  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  Company,  the  New 
York  Edison  Company,  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  the  Cutler-Hammer 
Mfg.  Company;  the  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany, of  New  York;  the  City  of 


Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  the  Swiss  Govern- 
ment. He  is  senior  author  of  "Dynamo 
Electric  Machinery,"  "Alternating  Cur- 
rent Machines,"  "Electric  Traction  and 
Transmission  Engineering,"  "Physical  La- 
boratory Experiments  for  Engineering 
Students,"  and  has  prepared  many  papers 
for  engineering  periodicals.  Dr.  Sheldon 
is  a  member  of  the  Engineers'  Club,  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Institute  of  Electri- 
cal Engineers,  1906-07;  president  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  1902-03;  presi- 
dent John  Fritz  Medal  Association,  1910; 
trustee  of  the  United  Engineering  Society 
and  chairman  of  its  Library  Board,  1916- 
17;  member  of  the  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  the 
American  Electrochemical  Society,  and  an 
Honorary  Fellow  of  the  Electro-Thera- 
peutic Society.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Fraternity.  Dr. 
Sheldon's  office  address  is  85  Livingston 
Street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


HENRY   D.    SHUTE 


As  engineer,  manufacturer,  financier  and 
sales  manager,  Henry  D.  Shute  has  at- 
tained a  place  of  note  among  those  who 
are  in  responsible  positions  in  the  electri- 
cal profession,  and  his  recent  promotion 
from  treasurer  to  vice-president  in  charge 
of  sales  of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company  marks  the  cap- 
ture of  another  round  in  the  ladder  of  suc- 
cess for  a  man  of  recognized  versatility  of 
talent  and  steadfastness  of  purpose. 

Henry  D.  Shute,  who  was  born  in  Som- 
erville,  Massachusetts,  August  i,  1871,  is 
a  scion  of  an  old  Colonial  and  Revolution- 
ary family.  After  a  thorough  preparatory 
training  he  entered  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology,  imbued  with  a  be- 
lief in  the  growth  of  the  electrical  indus- 
try and  a  desire  to  master  it  and  partici- 
pate in  its  expansion.  He  was  graduated 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in 
Electrical  Engineering  and  then  went  to 
Germany  and  took  a  year's  post-graduate 
work  in  the  School  of  Mines  at  Clausthal, 
and  in  the  Technical  School  at  Dresden, 
Saxony.  Returning  to  the  United  States, 
he  entered  the  shops  of  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  and  Manufacturing  Company  as 


a  "student  apprentice"  on  July  ist,  1893, 
and  there  continued  to  add  to  his  excellent 
technical  preparation  the  great  advantage 
of  full  participation  in  the  practical  appli- 
cations of  electrical  knowledge  in  which 
the  Westinghouse  work  is  a  leading 
example  and  in  many  branches  the  pioneer. 
For  two  years  he  was  in  the  testing  de- 
partment, where  he  familiarized  himself 
with  the  entire  line  of  machines  and  elec- 
trical devices  produced  by  that  great  plant, 
and  after  that  was  put  in  touch  with  newer 
problems  in  connection  with  erecting  and 
laboratory  work.  Later  he  was  assigned, 
as  assistant  foreman,  to  the  experimental 
department  of  the  main  East  Pittsburgh 
works,  in  which  many  new  and  important 
problems  were  confronted  and  mastered. 
He  was  then  transferred  to  the  Engineer- 
ing Department,  giving  his  attention  to  de- 
sign of  alternating  current  apparatus,  a 
branch  of  electrical  progress  in  which  the 
Westinghouse  plant  has  been  recognized 
as  leading.  With  that  work  he  completed 
the  first  five  years  of  his  connection  with 
the  Westinghouse  Company,  during  which 
he  had  covered  in  an  especially  complete 
way  the  manufacturing  and  technical 


398 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


details  of  the  company's  business  and  had 
proved  his  mettle  as  a  valuable  collabora- 
tor in  those  varied  departments.  He  was 
then  transferred  to  the  Sales  Department, 
to  which  he  carried  a  full  knowledge  of 
the  products  he  was  called  upon  to  sell, 
and  he  proved  to  be  as  much  of  a  success 
in  that  department  as  he  had  in  the  shops, 
drafting  rooms  and  laboratories.  He 
spent  five  years  in  the  Sales  Department 
and  was  then  made  assistant  to  Vice- 
President,  L.  A.  Osborne,  where  he  was 
familiarized  with  duties  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative in  their  character  and  was 
identified  in  a  prominent  and  responsible 
way  with  the  important  work  done  by  the 
Westinghouse  Company  in  the  electrifica- 
tion of  steam  railroads.  In  1910  he  was 
made  Acting  Vice-President,  but  in  1914 
was  transferred  to  the  position  of  Treas- 
urer of  the  company.  The  office  of 
Treasurer  is  an  important  one  in  the  West- 
inghouse Electric  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  whose  business,  in  addition  to 
its  manufacturing  activities,  involves  the 
financiering  of  subsidiaries  and  the  mak- 
ing of  investments  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent. The  treasurership,-  therefore,  calls 
for  a  considerable  degree  of  financial 
acumen  and  ability  to  judge  the  value  of 
public  utility  bonds.  Mr.  Shute  has  the 


financial  faculty  to  high  degree  and  in  his 
activities  has  acquired  a  great  interest  in 
the  study  of  high-grade  investments,  con- 
cerning which  he  is  exceptionally  well 
informed.  His  promotion  to  the  Vice- 
Presidency  of  the  company,  therefore, 
after  a  full-rounded  experience  in  the 
manufacturing,  sales  and  financial  depart- 
ments, brought  to  the  office  the  highest 
order  of  ability  for  the  larger  duties  that 
come  to  him.  He  has  taken  a  large  inter- 
est in  Pittsburgh  aftairs  and  is  a  citizen  of 
influence  and  prominence.  He  was  an  ac- 
tive member  of  the  Pittsburgh  Committee 
on  the  Anglo-French  Loan  and  afterwards 
of  the  Manufacturers'  Committee  which 
had  so  large  an  influence  in  making  the 
oversubscription  by  Pittsburgh  to  the  Lib- 
erty Loan.  Besides  his  office  in  the  West- 
inghouse Electric  and  Manufacturing 
Company,  he  is  a  director  of  several  man- 
ufacturing companies.  He  is  a  director 
of  the  Pittsburgh  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
a  member  of  the  Duquesne,  University, 
Pittsburgh  Golf,  and  Oakmont  Clubs,  in 
Pittsburgh;  the  Engineers',  Bankers',  Uni- 
versity and  City  Lunch  Clubs,  in  New 
York;  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  Union 
Society  of  the  Civil  War.  He  is  fond  of 
outdoor  life,  hunting,  fishing,  sailing,  golf, 
and  other  sports  of  the  open. 


S.  D.  SPRONG 


An  inherited  aptitude  for  engineering 
led  S.  D.  Sprong  into  the  field  of  electricity, 
and  his  work  in  connection  with  the  devel- 
opment of  that  industry  has  placed  him 
among  the  leading  electrical  engineers  of 
the  country.  Mr.  Sprong  was  born  at  East 
Greenbush,  Rensselaer  County,  N.  Y.,  Oc- 
tober 27,  1873.  His  birthplace  is  a  small 
town  in  the  vicinity  of  Albany,  and  it  was 
there  that  his  ancestors  from  Holland  set- 
tled in  1642.  Mr.  Sprong  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  and  by  private  tutors, 
which  was  supplemented  by  a  special 
course  in  electrical  and  mechanical  engi- 
neering. In  1892  he  secured  a  position  in 
the  armature  department  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
and  the  following  year  entered  that  com- 
pany's student  course  to  thoroughly  equip 
himself  with  every  detail  of  the  business. 


After  spending  some  time  with  the  General 
Electric  Company  he  was,  in  1898,  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  the  electrical  de- 
partment of  the  Consolidated  Gas  Com- 
pany of  New  Jersey,  with  headquarters  at 
Long  Branch.  He  remained  in  this  posi- 
tion until  1901,  when  he  became  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  Central  Electric  Company, 
Metuchen,  N.  J.  He  came  to  New  York 
City  in  1902  as  assistant  chief  electrical  en- 
gineer of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
and  retained  his  connection  with  that  com- 
pany until  1906,  when  he  accepted  a  similar 
position  with  the  United  Electric  Light, 
Heat  and  Power  Company,  New  York 
City.  After  three  years  with  this  company 
J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  New  York  City,  ten- 
dered him  the  position  of  chief  electrical 
and  mechanical  engineer,  and  from  1909 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


399 


S.    D.     SPRONG 


until  1912  he  handled  the  electrical  and 
mechanical  engineering  for  that  firm.  In 
1912  he  was  made  chief  electrical  engi- 
neer of  the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  still  retains  that  posi- 
tion. During  his  long  service,  covering  a 
period  of  over  a  quarter  century,  Mr. 
Sprong  has  devoted  much  time  to  investiga- 
tion and  research.  In  consequence  of  his 
efforts  along  this  line  he  has  taken  out 
numerous  patents  applicable  to  electrical 
and  mechanical  work,  many  of  which  are 
in  practical  use.  He  has  also  made 


improvements  in  the  practice  of  electric 
distribution  and  regulation,  and  has  contrib- 
uted various  other  devices  that  have  ma- 
terially aided  in  advancing  the  science.  Mr. 
Sprong  is  a  member  of  the  Engineers' 
Club,  New  York  City;  Engineers'  Club 
and  Crescent  Athletic  Club,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. ;  member  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers  and  Fellow  of  The 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
of  which  he  is  past  manager  and  vice- 
president.  His  office  address  is  360  Pearl 
street,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


400 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


FRANK    WHITNEY    SMITH 


•  Frank  W.  Smith,  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  of  The  United  Electric 
Light  and  Power  Company  of  New  York 
City,  has  been  identified  with  the  develop- 
ment of  alternating  current  distribution  in 
Greater  New  York  since  first  introduced 
by  the  Westinghouse  interests  through 
the  medium  of  the  United  States  Illuminat- 
ing Company  and  its  successor,  The 
United  Electric  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany. 


During  his  active  service  of  thirty-eight 
years  with  these  companies,  he  was  iden- 
tified with  the  construction  of  the  United 
Company's  modern  generating  station  at 
2Oist  Street  and  the  Harlem  River,  now 
supplying  6o-cycle  service  throughout  the 
boroughs  of  Manhattan,  Bronx  and 
Queens,  as  well  as  to  Westchester,  etc.,  25 
cycle  service  also  being  supplied  from  this 
plant  for  the  operation  of  the  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  and  the 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


401 


Boston  and  Westchester  Railroad  Com- 
panies. 

He  was  also  identified  with  the  design 
and  construction  of  the  Company's  sub- 
stations located  at  354  West  45th  Street, 
519  West  i46th  Street,  654  West  iSyth 
Street,  and  the  newer  and  modern  sub- 
station at  West  Farms,  through  which  the 
railway  supply  service  is  delivered,  and  in 
addition  the  modern  and  fireproof  service 
building  at  514  West  I47th  Street. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  director  of  the  United 
Company,  and  Secretary  of  the  Brush 


Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  New 
York,  a  subsidiary  of  the  United  Com- 
pany. He  is  a  director  of  the  Electrical 
Show  Company,  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  and  is  the  Treas- 
urer of  the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation and  a  member  of  its  Executive 
Committee,  as  well  as  a  member  of  other 
societies  and  clubs,  including  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  and  the  Engineers'  Country 
Club. 


WARNER  M.  SKIFF 


Warner  M.  Skiff,  now  manager  of  the 
Engineering  Department  of  the  National 
Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, was  born  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  Oc- 
tober 5,  1883.  He  was  educated  in  the 
Jamestown  High  School,  and  the  Case 
School  of  Applied  Science  at  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  graduating  1906.  He  took  special 
courses  in  electrical  engineering,  was 
elected  to  Sigma  Xi,  and  became  a  member 
of  the  Phi  Kappa  Psi  and  the  Tau  Beta  Pi 
fraternities.  He  secured  employment  with 
the  engineering  department  of  the  Na- 
tional Lamp  Works  following  his  gradua- 
tion in  1906,  became  greatly  interested 
with  the  work  and  has  continued  there  ever 
since.  He  has  held  various  positions  and 
has  been  responsible  for  a  large  number  of 
different  parts  of  the  work.  He  was 
gradually  advanced  in  the  service  and  in 
1913  he  became  manager  of  the  Engineer- 
ing Department.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society,  the 
Jovian  Order,  Electric  League  of  Cleve- 
land, National  Electric  Light  Association, 
the  Cleveland  Advertising  Club  and  the 
National  Association  of  Corporation 
Schools.  Mr.  Skiff  is  much  interested  in 
the  subjects  of  organization  and  manage- 
ment, with  particular  reference  to  human 
engineering.  Outside  of  his  professional 


WARNER  M.  SKIFF 

occupation,  he  is  interested  in  outdoor  rec- 
reations, camping,  canoeing,  fishing  and 
motoring. 


402 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


ELMER  AMBROSE   SPERRY 


Elmer  Ambrose  Sperry,  one  of  the 
earliest  pioneers  in  the  electrical  field  and 
an  inventor  with  more  than  250  patents  to 
his  credit,  was  born  at  Cortlandt,  N.  Y., 
October  12,  1860,  the  son  of  Stephen  De- 
catur  and  Mary  (Borst)  Sperry.  The 
founder  of  the  Sperry  family  in  the  United 
States  was  Richard  Sperry,  who,  while 
still  a  young  man,  emigrated  from  Eng- 
land in  1634  and  joined  the  settlers  of  the 
New  Haven  colony  in  Connecticut.  He 
occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  country,  for  it  was  he  who  for 
a  long  time  offered  asylum  and  protection 
to  the  three  "regicide  judges,"  Goffe, 
Whalley  and  Dixwell,  who  were  members 
of  the  court  that  condemned  Charles  I,  of 
England,  and  who  were  obliged  to  flee  the 
country  to  save  their  heads.  On  Sperry's 
farm  at  West  Rock,  near  New  Haven,  was 
a  cave  in  which  he  hid  the  three  fugitives. 
His  children  carried  food,  which  they  left 
at  a  pre-arranged  place  in  the  forest  for 
the  hunted  men  to  secure  at  night.  This 
cave  is  one  of  the  historic  show  places  of 
New  England  and  is  known  today  as  the 
Judges'  Cave.  Richard  Sperry's  son,  Rich- 
ard 2nd,  built  on  this  farm  a  stone  house, 
which  still  stands  and  is  occupied  by  his 
descendants,  never  having  been  out  of  the 
family's  possession. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  spent  his  boy- 
hood in  Cortlandt  and  was  educated  in  the 
State  Normal  School  of  his  native  town. 
During  the  year  1879-1880  he  attended 
Cornell  University,  and  here  his  college 
career  began  and  ended,  his  later  education 
being  the  result  of  self-training,  study  and 
practical  experience. 

In  1879,  and  before  he  had  arrived  at 
the  age  of  twenty  years,  young  Sperry  had 
invented  and  secured  the  practical  adop- 
tion of  one  of  the  earliest  arc  lights  in- 
vented in  the  United  States.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  although  not  yet  of  age,  he 
had  founded  his  own  business,  the  Sperry 
Electric  Company,  of  Chicago,  and  had 
begun  the  manufacture  of  arc  lamps, 


dynamos,  motors  and  other  electrical  appli- 
ances. This  was  but  the  beginning  of  a 
series  of  industrial  and  manufacturing 
enterprises  founded  by  Mr.  Sperry  to  mar- 
ket the  products  of  his  inventive  genius, 
all  being  conspicuously  successful.  In 
1883  he  erected  on  Lake  Michigan  the 
highest  electric  beacon  in  the  world,  con- 
sisting of  a  tower  350  feet  high  equipped 
with  arc  lamps  aggregating  40,000  candle 
power.  He  entered  a  competition  in  1888 
and  won  the  distinction  of  being  the  first 
to  produce  successful  electrical  mining 
machinery.  His  inventions  in  this  field 
cover  a  broad  range  of  appliances,  includ- 
ing reciprocating  mining  machinery,  rotary 
and  chain  cutting  equipment  and  electric 
locomotives  for  mines.  The  Sperry  min- 
ing devices,  from  the  time  of  their  initial 
appearance,  have  ranked  among  the  best 
known  and  most  widely  used  of  their  class 
and  represent  a  most  profitable  field  of 
business. 

Shortly  after  this  success  with  electrical 
mining  machinery,  Mr.  Sperry  appeared 
as  a  practical  designer  of  electric  railway 
cars  and  founded  the  Sperry  Electric  Rail- 
way Company,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  to 
manufacture  them.  This  business  was 
continued  with  profit  and  success  until 
1894,  when  the  patents  and  stock  were 
purchased  by  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany. The  transition  from  the  electric 
railway  car  to  the  electric  motor  vehicle 
was  an  easy  and  natural  one  for  Mr. 
Sperry.  At  the  time  when  the  earliest  pio- 
neers in  the  gasoline  automobile  industry 
were  still  making  their  experiments  Mr. 
Sperry  designed,  built  and  sold  a  successful 
electric  vehicle.  He  also  drove  the  first 
American  built  automobile  in  the  streets 
of  Paris  in  1896  and  1897,  where  a  large 
number  of  these  automobiles  were  sold 
and  delivered. 

An  important  commercial  process  for 
the  production  of  caustic  soda  and  bleach, 
used  by  the  Hooker  Electro-Chemical 
Company,  of  Niagara  Falls,  N.  Y.,  is  the 


ELMER     A.SPERRY 


THE   STORY   OF  ELECTRICITY 


403 


result  of  Mr.  Sperry's  activities  in  the  field 
of  electro-chemistry.  The  National  Bat- 
tery Company  was  organized  and  is  ope- 
rating under  other  electro-chemical  patents 
issued  to  Mr.  Sperry.  He  also  invented  a 
detinning  process  used  by  the  American 
Can  Company  and  machinery  for  produc- 
ing fuse  wires,  on  which  the  business  of 
the  Chicago  Fuse  Wire  Company  is 
founded.  He  also  was  instrumental  in  de- 
signing machinery  for  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  the  Goodman  Manufactur- 
ing Company  and  others. 

About  1890  Mr.  Sperry  first  turned  his 
attention  to  what,  thus  far,  has  been  the 
most  important  work  of  his  useful  career. 
He  was  attracted  to  the  immense  possi- 
bilities of  the  gyroscope,  which,  since  its 
first  demonstration  by  the  French  scientist 
Foucault,  in  1851,  had  been  little  more 
than  a  scientific  curiosity  or  a  mathemati- 
cian's toy,  embodying  intricate  and  ob- 
scure physical  principles.  Within  the 
decade  beginning  about  1898,  however, 
the  phenomena  of  the  gyroscope  suggested 
to  a  number  of  inventors  great  possibilities 
in  stabilizing  ships  at  sea  and  the  opera- 
tion of  single  rail  tram  cars.  But  none 
arrived  at  commercial  success  until  Mr. 
Sperry's  invention  of  the  gyroscopic  com- 
pass, a  remarkable  contribution  to  practi- 
cal mechanics.  The  principle  involved 
had  been  known  since  Foucault's  days. 
The  action  of  any  given  gyroscope  is  pre- 
cisely similar  to  that  of  a  "mechanical 
magnet"  and  it  also  shows  the  effect  of 
"polarity,"  since  the  direction  of  rotation, 
"clockwise"  or  "counter-clockwise,"  deter- 
mines which  end  of  the  rotating  axis  points 
to  the  north.  Mr.  Sperry  abandoned  the 
mercury  floats  used  by  previous  experi- 
menters and  reduced  the  whole  gyroscopic 
proposition  to  a  strictly  mechanical  basis 
within  easy  comprehension  of  the  man  of 
average  intelligence  and  containing  no  un- 
known quantities.  He  devised  the  beauti- 
ful method  of  driving  his  gyroscope  by 
using  the  wheel  rim  as  the  rotor  of  a  three- 
phase  electric  motor,  and  thereby  reduced 
the  gyroscopic  compass  to  a  perfectly  prac- 
tical basis  greatly  superior  to  the  mag- 
netic compass.  The  master  compass  may 
be  placed  in  any  safe  part  of  the  ship  and 


the  record  read  from  "repeating  instru- 
ments" in  any  other  part,  the  connection 
between  them  being  electrically  made. 

Mr.  Sperry  now  undertook  to  solve  suc- 
cessfully and  practically  the  problem  of 
stabilizing  ships.  With  the  results  of  a 
long  series  of  experiments  at  his  command, 
and  proceeding  upon  thoroughly  scientific 
lines,  he  set  himself  to  the  task  of  placing, 
mounting  and  driving  the  stabilizer  so  as  to 
secure  the  maximum  effect  under  all  condi- 
tions with  the  minimum  of  machinery  and 
stress.  The  apparatus  of  a  number  of  pre- 
vious inventors  had  depended  upon  a  cer- 
tain periodicity  in  the  movements  of  the 
vessel.  With  Sperry's  gyroscope  the  peri- 
odicity of  the  vessel  is  immaterial,  for  the 
apparatus  responds  to  whatever  motion  the 
ship  has,  synchronous  or  non-synchronous. 
In  other  words,  all  rolling  of  the  ship  is 
prevented  because  the  ship  never  begins  to 
roll,  the  tendency  to  roll  being  corrected  in- 
stantly in  its  incipiency.  A  ship  stabilized  by 
means  of  the  Sperry  devices  possesses 
many  technical  advantages  besides  these 
that  are  obviously  apparent.  These  in- 
clude level  gun  platforms,  comfort  for 
passengers  and  crew,  saving  livestock  in 
transit,  and  preserving  the  ship's  structure 
from  excessive  wrenching  and  stress.  The 
Sperry  stabilizer  already  has  been  applied 
most  successfully  to  many  vessels  ranging 
in  size  from  a  6o-foot  scout  boat  to  a  10,- 
ooo-ton  transport. 

With  the  advent  of  the  aeroplane  came 
the  problem  of  preventing  the  new  device 
from  losing  its  balance  in  the  air  and 
being  precipitated  to  earth,  and  of  less- 
ening the  too  frequent  accidents  in  the 
early  days  of  human  flight.  The  appara- 
tus invented  by  Mr.  Sperry  to  meet 
this  important  defect  of  flying  machines 
seems  to  be  the  only  efficient  solution 
of  the  problem  yet  devised.  In  recog- 
nition of  his  invention  of  the  aeroplane 
stabilizer  he  was  awarded  in  December, 
1914,  the  Collier  Trophy,  offered  for  "the 
most  valuable  contribution  to  aeroplane 
construction  and  operation  during  the  cur- 
rent year."  He  also  received  the  Collier 
Trophy  for  the  year  1916  for  his  "Drift 
Set." 

Mr.  Sperry's  many  achievements  have 


404 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


been  recognized  by  learned  societies  and 
also  by  the  Aero  Club  of  France,  which 
awarded  him  its  first  prize  for  his  gyro- 
scopic aeroplane  stabilizer;  by  the  Frank- 
lin Institute  of  Philadelphia,  which 
awarded  him  its  medal  for  his  gyro  com- 
pass for  ships;  by  the  American  Museum 
of  Safety,  which  awarded  him  the  1915 
"Scientific  American"  medal  for  the  gyro- 
scopic compass  and  stabilizer;  and  by  the 
Panama-Pacific  Exposition,  which  awarded 
him  the  Grand  Prize  for  his  Gyro-Com- 
pass. 

One  of  Mr.  Sperry's  latest  inventions 
is  a  form  of  electric  arc  searchlight  of  ex- 
traordinary brilliancy  which  uses  carbons 
manufactured  in  the  United  States  under 
his  direction.  The  intense  beam  sent  forth 
by  this  new  projector  may  be  appreciated 
when  it  is  stated  that  the  candle-power  per 
square  millimeter  of  the  tungsten  filament 
in  a  nitrogen  filled  incandescent  lamp,  such 
as  are  common  on  our  streets  and  in  stores, 
is  from  10  to  20.  In  the  Sperry  arc  the 
candle-power  is,  on  the  average,  500  per 
square  millimeter.  The  sun,  at  30  degrees 


elevation,  has  775  candle-power  per  square 
millimeter. 

Mr.  Sperry  was  married  in  1887  to 
Miss  Zula  Augusta  Goodman,  a  daughter 
of  Edward  Goodman,  proprietor  of  the 
"Standard,"  of  Chicago.  They  have  a 
daughter  and  three  sons — Helen  Mar- 
guerite Sperry,  Edward  Goodman  Sperry, 
Lawrence  Borst  Sperry  and  Elmer  Am- 
brose Sperry,  Jr. 

The  principal  scientific  and  engineering 
societies  carry  Mr.  Sperry's  name  on  their 
membership  rolls.  He  is  a  founder  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  of  the  American  Electro-Chemical  So- 
ciety; a  member  of  the  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the  Society  of 
Naval  Architects  and  Marine  Engineers, 
the  Society  of  Automotive  Engineers,  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  the  American 
Chemical  Society,  the  Aero  Club  of  Amer- 
ica, the  Engineers'  Club  of  New  York;  the 
Hamilton  Club  of  Brooklyn;  Marine  and 
Field  Club,  and  a  governor  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Country  Club,  of  Roslyn,  Long 
Island. 


PAUL  SPENCER 


Paul  Spencer,  now  of  Philadelphia,  has 
had  a  progressively  successful  career  in  his 
profession  of  electrical  engineer.  He  was 
born  in  East  Orange,  New  Jersey,  March 
19,  1866,  the  son  of  George  Gilman  and 
Caroline  (Arnold)  Spencer.  His  father, 
George  Gilman  Spencer,  came  from  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut,  and  was  a  graduate 
from  Yale  College,  in  the  Class  of  1834. 
The  paternal  descent  of  the  Spencers  goes 
back  to  an  ancestor  who  came  from  Eng- 
land to  Massachusetts  in  1632,  and  in  1634 
removed  to  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Paul 
Spencer  was  graduated  from  Yale  with  the 
degree  of  A.  B.,  in  the  Class  of  1887, 
taking  the  Senior  Year  honors  in  the  phy- 
sical sciences.  His  general  liking  for  these 
sciences,  and  especially  for  electricity,  to- 
gether with  the  fact  that  at  the  time  of  his 
graduation  from  Yale  electricity  was  at- 
tracting wide  attention  as  presenting  ex- 


ceptional opportunities  for  talent  and  en- 
terprise, led  him  to  adopt  electrical  engi- 
neering for  his  profession.  He  therefore 
entered  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Technol- 
ogy, from  which  he  was  graduated  with 
the  degree  of  M.  E.  in  1891.  Immediately 
after  his  graduation  from  Stevens  he  en- 
gaged with  the  Field  Engineering  Com- 
pany, building  a  trolley  road  in  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  and  continued  with  the  company 
until  1894.  He  was  then  with  the  Stanley 
Engineering  Company  from  1895  to  1898; 
was  General  Superintendent  of  the  People's 
Light  and  Power  Company  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  from  1898  to  1900,  when  he  ac- 
cepted the  position  which  he  has  held  ever 
since  of  electrical  engineer  of  the  United 
Gas  Improvement  Company  of  Philadel- 
phia. Mr.  Spencer's  professional  duties 
keep  him  fully  occupied,  and  his  standing 


THE   STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


405 


PAUL  SPENCER 


in  the  profession  is  among  the  leaders.  He 
is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  was  a  manager  of  the 
Institute,  1907-1909,  and  its  Vice-President 
1909-1911.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  and  has 
been  a  manager  of  the  Association  from 
1914  to  date.  He  is  an  associate  member 
of  the  Naval  Consulting  Board,  a  member 


of  the  Franklin  Institute  and  of  the  Illumi- 
nating Engineering  Society.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon  Fra- 
ternity, and  of  the  following  clubs:  The 
Racquet,  of  Philadelphia;  Merion  Cricket, 
of  Haverford,  Pennsylvania;  Engineers,  of 
Philadelphia,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  Di- 
rectors ;  the  University,  of  New  York,  and 
the  Graduates,  of  New  Haven. 


406 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


MARCELLUS    STALEY 


It  has  been  said  of  the  invention  of  the 
elevator  that  it  created  the  modern  city  by 
making  it  feasible  to  build  houses  high  and 
make  all  floors  accessible.  This  fact  has 
been  especially  accentuated  by  the  applica- 
tion of  electricity  to  the  work  of  furnish- 
ing power  to  freight  and  passenger  eleva- 
tors. It  has  been  a  valuable  accession  to 


MARCELLUS    STALEY 

the  equipment  of  large  buildings  in  cities 
where  most  passenger  and  very  many 
freight  elevators  now  owe  their  ease, 
safety  and  celerity  of  motion  to  the  adop- 
tion of  electrical  propulsion.  As  an  elec- 
trical engineer,  who  has  devoted  particular 
attention  to  this  department  of  the  electri- 
cal profession,  Marcellus  Staley,  of  New 
York  city,  has  attained  a  place  of  consider- 
able prominence.  He  was  born  in  Dayton, 
Ohio,  December  31,  1875,  and  is  of  an 
old  Ohio  family.  His  grandfather  used 
to  operate  a  dray  between  Cincinnati  and 


Dayton,  Ohio,  several  years  before  the 
first  railroad  was  built  in  that  region.  Mr. 
Staley  was  educated  in  the  public  and  high 
schools  of  Dayton,  then  entered  Ohio  State 
University  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Elec- 
trical Engineer  in  Mechanical  Engineering 
in  the  Class  of  1899.  After  graduation  he 
was  engaged  for  two  years  as  electrician 
of  the  United  States  Army  Transport 
"Meade,"  in  the  Philippine  service,  at  the 
end  of  which  he  returned  to  New  York. 
It  was  necessary  to  find  some  employment 
in  the  line  of  his  profession,  and  he  started 
in  with  his  tool  bag  and  a  partner  to  con- 
tract for  electric  elevator  repair  work, 
His  previous  experience  had  developed  in 
him  a  special  faculty  for  success  in  trouble- 
hunting  on  electrical  machinery,  which  he 
rightly  regarded  as  a  valuable  equipment 
for  an  elevator  repair  contractor.  He  has 
been  engaged  in  that  business  ever  since, 
becoming  recognized  as  one  of  those  best 
qualified  to  cope  with  the  intricacies  of 
remedying  defective  machinery,  and  has 
made  continuous  effort  toward  improve- 
ment in  the  construction  and  operation  of 
elevators,  especially  those  embodying  de- 
vices by  which  electric  control  has  been 
made  more  perfect  and  more  immediately 
responsive  to  the  touch  of  the  operator. 
Mr.  Staley  has  supervised  the  equipment  on 
the  elevators  of  many  of  the  largest  and 
most  important  commercial  and  office 
structures  in  the  metropolitan  area.  Con- 
tinuous improvement  and  development  in 
electrical  apparatus  and  machinery  of  this 
kind  has  marked  each  succeeding  year  of 
his  engagement  in  the  business,  and  his 
work  has  constantly  been  in  the  direction 
of  further  advancement  in  the  design  and 
operation  of  electric  elevators.  As  a  spe- 
cialist of  unique  experience  his  services  are 
much  in  demand  and  his  place  is  one  of 
leadership  in  the  profession  to  which  he 
has  so  long  been  devoted.  Mr.  Staley  is 
a  resident  of  the  Bath  Beach  section  of 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  has  his  offices  at  136 
Prince  Street,  New  York  city.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Ohio  Society  of  New  York, 
president  of  the  Bath  Beach  Taxpayers 
Association;  is  a  prominent  Mason  with 
thirty-second  degree,  Scottish  Rite,  and  a 
member  of  Kismet  Temple,  Mystic  Shrine. 


LEWIS    B.    STILLWELL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


407 


LEWIS  BUCKLEY  STILLWELL 


Lewis  Buckley  Stillwell  was  born  in 
Scranton,  Pa.,  in  1863,  being  descended  in 
the  eighth  generation  from  one  Nicholas 
Stillwell,  an  Englishman,  who  came  to 
America  from  Holland  in  1638,  settling 
in  New  Amsterdam.  The  Civil  List  of  the 
State  of  New  York  shows  the  family  to 
have  been  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Province,  only  one  name  (Van  Renssel- 
aer)  occurring  more  frequently  among  the 
members  of  the  Colonial  Assemblies  prior 
to  the  Revolution.  For  the  last  century 
Pennsylvania  has  been  the  home  of  Mr. 
Stillwell's  immediate  ancestry. 

Mr.  Stillwell  was  prepared  for  college 
at  the  High  School,  Scranton,  Pa.,  and  en- 
tered Wesleyan  University,  Middletown, 
Conn.,  in  September,  1882.  At  the  end 
of  Sophomore  year  he  left  Wesleyan  and 
entered  the  electrical  engineering  course  at 
Lehigh  University,  completing  this  course 
in  1885.  During  the  following  year  he 
pursued  special  studies  in  mechanical  engi- 
neering at  Lehigh,  and  in  October,  1886, 
was  appointed  Assistant  Electrician  of  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing 
Company  at  Pittsburgh.  Here  he  became 
associated  with  O.  B.  Shallenberger,  Will- 
iam Stanley,  Nikola  Tesla  and  others,  who 
were  doing  pioneer  work  in  alternating 
currents,  and  the  next  four  years  were  de- 
voted to  development  work  in  this  highly 
interesting  field.  During  the  summer  and 
autumn  of  1887  the  Westinghouse  Com- 
pany installed  at  New  Orleans  an  alternat- 
ing current  lighting  plant,  which  at  that 
time  was  the  largest  in  America,  if  not  in 
the  world.  The  belt  driven  alternators 
were  not  connected  in  parallel,  but  the 
feeders  which  they  supplied  were  carried 
upon  the  same  pole  line  for  a  distance  of 
about  two  miles.  When  commercial  serv- 
ice began,  the  intensity  of  the  lights  fluctu- 
ated rapidly  and  to  an  extent  sufficient  to 
destroy  the  value  of  the  system.  At  that 
time  the  phenomena  of  mutual  induction  of 
adjacent  circuits  had  not  been  encountered 
in  commercial  practice,  and  for  a  few  days 
the  officers  of  the  company  feared  that  the 
alternating  current  system  was  a  failure. 
Mr.  Stillwell  was  sent  to  New  Orleans  and, 
fortunately,  was  able  within  thirty-six 


hours  to  locate  the  trouble  and  correct  it 
bytransposing  some  of  the  circuits.  In  1889, 
and  again  in  1890,  Mr.  Westinghouse  sent 
him  to  Europe  to  investigate  electrical  de- 
velopments abroad.  He  traveled  exten- 
sively through  Great  Britain  and  on  the 
continent,  meeting  many  prominent  electri- 
cal inventors  and  studying  the  results  of 
their  work.  Returning  to  Pittsburgh,  in 
August,  1890,  he  took  up  the  matter  of 
direct  connection  of  engines  and  dynamos, 
belt  drive  having  been  used  exclusively  in 
the  United  States  up  to  that  time  and,  as 
chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  by  Mr. 
Westinghouse,  directed  an  investigation 
which  before  the  end  of  that  year  led  to  the 
adoption  by  the  Westinghouse  Company 
of  two  standard  frequencies,  namely,  30 
cycles  per  second  and  60  cycles  per  second. 
At  a  later  date  25  cycles  was  substituted 
for  30,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  speed  of 
the  hydraulic  turbines  ordered  by  the  Ni- 
agara Falls  Power  Company,  and  conse- 
quently that  of  the  direct-connected  genera- 
tors, had  been  fixed  at  250  r.p.m. 

While  in  London,  in  1889,  Mr.. Stillwell 
met  Mr.  Edward  D.  Adams  of  New  York 
and  Dr.  Coleman  Sellers  of  Philadelphia, 
who  had  gone  abroad  to  consult  with  the 
leading  scientists  and  engineers  of  Europe 
in  regard  to  the  possible  utilization  of 
power  at  Niagara.  Mr.  Westinghouse 
decided  that  his  company  would  not  com- 
pete in  presenting  plans,  as  invited  by  the 
Niagara  Commission,  which  was  organized 
by  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company  in 
1890;  but  from  the  time  of  his  first  meet- 
ing with  Mr.  Adams  and  Dr.  Sellers,  Mr. 
Stillwell  gave  much  of  his  time  and 
thought  to  the  development  of  the  poly- 
phase alternating  current  system,  with 
special  reference  to  the  Niagara  situation, 
and  in  1892  and  1893  directed  the  techni- 
cal development  of  the  plans  which,  in 
the  final  competition  of  manufacturers,  se- 
cured for  his  company  the  initial  contract 
for  three  5,000  horse-power  alternators. 
In  1890  Mr.  Stillwell  became  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  company,  and  from  that  time 
he  devoted  his  attention  especially  to  the 
development  of  apparatus  for  transmission 
of  power.  In  1892  he  made  a  long  tour 
through  the  West  to  investigate  and  report 


408 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


to  his  company  upon  the  commercial  pos- 
sibilities of  electric  power  transmission, 
and  following  the  award  of  the  Niagara 
contract,  in  the  following  year,  he  assumed 
immediate  charge  of  construction  and  in- 
stallation of  the  first  great  power  plant  at 
the  Falls. 

In  March,  1897,  he  severed  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Westinghouse  Company  and 
was  appointed  Electrical  Director  of  the 
Niagara  Falls  Power  Company  and  the 
Cataract  Construction  Company.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  technical  direction  of  the  work 
of  these  companies,  he  took  charge  of  the 
operation  of  the  plant,  reorganizing  both 
methods  and  personnel.  While  still  at  Ni- 
agara he  was  retained  as  Consulting  Engi- 
neer by  the  Manhattan  Railway  Company 
of  New  York  in  connection  with  the  equip- 
ment of  the  elevated  lines  in  that  city,  and 
in  September,  1900,  having  completed  the 
installation  of  the  first  50,000  horse-power 
plant  at  Niagara  and  the  organization  of 
the  operating  force,  he  resigned  his  posi- 
tion with  the  Niagara  companies  and  re- 
moved to  New  York. 

In  November  of  the  same  year  he  was 
appointed  Electrical  Director  of  the  Rapid 
Transit  Subway  Construction  Company, 
having  charge  at  that  time  of  the  electrical 
equipment  of  both  the  elevated  railways 
and  the  subway  system  of  New  York  City. 
After  completing  the  equipment  of  the  ele- 
vated lines  and  the  original  Interborough 
subway  system,  he  became  Consulting  En- 
gineer for  the  Hudson  Companies  in 
charge  of  electrical  equipment  of  the  four 
tunnels  constructed  between  Manhattan 
Island  and  New  Jersey.  In  the  design  and 
construction  of  the  great  power  house  of 
the  Interborough  Company  at  Fifty-ninth 
Street,  Mr.  John  Van  Vleck,  who  since  the 
earliest  days  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company  had  done  remarkable  pioneer 
work  for  that  company,  became  associated 
with  Mr.  Stillwell  as  Mechanical  Engineer 
of  the  Interborough  Company,  and  in  the 
equipment  of  the  lines  of  the  Hudson  Com- 
panies this  association  was  continued.  The 
entire  mechanical  and  electrical  equipment 
of  the  lines,  with  the  exception  of  the  sig- 
nal system,  were  directed  by  Mr.  Stillwell 
and  Mr.  Van  Vleck,  and  it  was  in  connec- 
tion with  this  work  that  Mr.  Stillwell  and 
his  assistant,  Mr.  F.  M.  Brinckerhoff,  de- 
veloped the  side  truss  construction  of  steel 


passenger  cars,  which  results  in  a  material 
saving  of  weight  and  at  the  same  time  a 
marked  increase  of  strength.  In  1905  Mr. 
Stillwell  was  a  member  of  a  commission 
formed  by  the  Erie  Railroad  Company  to 
report  upon  electrification  of  some  of  its 
lines.  In  1906  he  undertook  the  recon- 
struction and  extension  of  the  power  sys- 
tem of  the  United  Railways  &  Electric 
Company  of  Baltimore,  a  work  since  car- 
ried to  completion  with  most  satisfactory 
results.  In  1912,  at  his  suggestion,  the 
construction  of  a  large  power  plant  was 
undertaken  by  the  Lehigh  Navigation 
Electric  Company,  near  Lansford,  Pa. 
This  plant,  which  supplies  electric  power 
to  many  cement  mills,  mines  and  public 
utilities  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania,  burns 
anthracite  coal  of  the  smallest  screened 
size  in  combination  with  still  smaller  ma- 
terial which  otherwise  would  be  wasted, 
and  is  a  striking  example  of  true  conserva- 
tion of  natural  resources. 

While  carrying  on  his  extensive  work 
during  the  last  fifteen  years,  Mr.  Stillwell 
has  associated  with  himself,  from  time  to 
time,  a  group  of  partners  of  exceptional 
experience  and  ability,  including  Mr.  H. 
S.  Putnam,  Mr.  Hugh  Hazelton,  Mr.  M. 
G.  Starrett  and  Mr.  F.  M.  Brinckerhoff, 
who,  with  him,  constitute  the  membership 
of  the  firm  L.  B.  Stillwell,  Consulting  En- 
gineers. 

Among  other  important  undertakings 
not  above  mentioned  which  have  been  car- 
ried out  by  the  firm  are  the  electrification 
of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  of  the  Boston  & 
Maine  Railroad  Company,  the  rolling 
stock  equipment  of  the  New  York,  West- 
chester  &  Boston  Railway,  and  the  me- 
chanical and  electrical  plans  and  specifica- 
tions for  a  large  central  steam  heating  and 
power  plant  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr.  Stillwell  has  received  the  honorary 
degrees  of  M.S.  and  Sc.D.  from  Lehigh 
University  and  the  degree  of  Sc.D. 
from  Wesleyan  University.  He  is  Past- 
President  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  member  of'  the 
American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engi- 
neers, American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers, 
British  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
American  Philosophical  Society,  British 
Society  of  Arts,  and  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science. 
His  clubs  are  the  Century,  Engineers',  Re- 


RAY    P.  STEVENS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


409 


cess  and  Railroad  Clubs  of  New  York,  and 
the  Cosmos  Club  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
In  1916  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
National  Research  Council. 

In  the  electrical  field  Mr.  Stillwell  has 
taken  out  numerous  patents,  especially  in 
relation  to  the  regulation  and  control  of 
alternating  current  circuits.  The  original 
broad  patents  covering  inductive  regula- 
tion were  issued  to  him  in  1888.  He  is  the 
inventor  also  of  the  method  now  univer- 
sally used  to  localize  interruptions  of  serv- 
ice by  means  of  time  limit  circuit  breakers 
and  of  the  method  of  pilot  switchboard 
now  generally  used  in  large  plants  to  guide 
the  operators  in  the  manipulation  of 
power  circuits. 

In  the  mechanical  field  he  is  joint  inven- 
tor with  his  partner,  Mr.  F.  M.  Brincker- 
hoff,  of  the  system  of  framing  steel  passen- 
ger cars,  which  makes  each  complete  side 
of  the  car  from  underframe  to  deck  a  truss 
girder,  and  of  the  anti-telescoping  bulk- 
head construction  in  which  the  upper  or 
compression  member  of  the  truss  is  utilized 
for  longitudinal  support  of  the  upper  end 
of  a  steel  bulkhead  at  each  end  of  the  car. 


Mr.  Stillwell  has  contributed  a  number 
of  papers  to  proceedings  of  various  soci- 
eties with  which  he  is  connected,  and  to  pe- 
riodicals. Among  the  most  important  of 
these  are  "The  Electrical  Transmission  of 
Power  from  Niagara  Falls,"  Proceedings 
A.  I.  E.  E.,  August,  1901;  "Electrical 
Power-Generating  Stations  and  Transmis- 
sion," International  Engineering  Con- 
gress, 1904;  "Electric  Power  Generation 
at  Niagara,"  Cassier's  Magazine,  1905; 
"On  the  Substitution  of  the  Electric  Motor 
for  the  Steam  Locomotive,"  Proceedings 
A.  I.  E.  E.,  1907  ;  "Notes  on  Electric  Tow- 
age of  Canal  Boats,"  Proceedings  A.  I.  E. 
E.,  March,  1980,  and  "The  Relation  of 
Water  Power  to  Transportation,"  Pro- 
ceedings A.  I.  E.  E.,  April,  1916.  In  the 
preparation  of  the  papers  on  "Substitution 
of  the  Electric  Motor  for  the  Steam  Loco- 
motive" and  "Notes  on  Electric  Towage 
of  Canal  Boats"  his  associate,  Mr.  H.  St. 
Clair  Putnam,  collaborated. 

In  1892  Mr.  Stillwell  was  married  to 
Mary  Elizabeth  Thurston,  of  Pittsburgh. 
They  have  one  son  and  reside  at  Lake- 
wood,  N.  J. 


RAY  PARKER  STEVENS 


The  interurban  trolley  system  that  now 
gridirons  the  entire  country  and  makes 
cities  and  small  communities  readily  ac- 
cessible, is  as  remarkable  in  its  develop- 
ment as  the  telephone,  which  changed  the 
rural  dwellers'  condition  from  a  state  of 
comparative  isolation  to  one  of  social 
and  business  inter-communication.  Among 
those  who  were  the  first  to  recognize  the 
possibilities  of  development  of  such  sys- 
tems was  Ray  P.  Stevens,  whose  develop- 
ment of  the  electric  railways  of  Eastern 
Pennsylvania,  Western  Pennsylvania  and 
Eastern  Ohio  resulted  in  increased  earn- 
ings, improved  service  along  original  lines, 
and  greatly  enhanced  values  of  real  estate 
in  the  towns  reached  by  the  lines.  Mr. 
Stevens  is  a  practical  electrical  engineer 
who  has  made  a  close  study  of  light  and 
power  and  trolley  transportation  problems, 
and  there  is,  therefore,  no  element  of  luck 
in  his  achievement,  the  success  of  the  cor- 
porations in  which  he  is  interested  being 


due  to  keen  business  judgment  and  fa- 
miliarity with  the  smallest  detail  of  the 
electric  trolley  service.  Mr.  Stevens  was 
born  April  3,  1877,  m  Eastport,  Maine, 
the  son  of  Simon  G.  and  Abbie  Parker 
Stevens.  The  father  was  a  successful  fish 
canner  and  promoter,  and  Mr.  Stevens' 
ready  grasp  of  commercial  and  financial 
conditions  is  undoubtedly  inherited  from 
his  sagacious  New  England  ancestors,  who 
in  early  Colonial  days  faced  and  overcame 
obstacles  that  would  have  daunted  those 
less  intrepid.  Mr.  Stevens  attended  the 
schools  of  his  district,  after  which  he, be- 
came a  student  at  the  High  School,  Ells- 
worth, Maine,  and  later  took  a  prepara- 
tory course  at  the  East  Maine  Seminary, 
B.ucksport,  Maine.  He  subsequently  gradu- 
ated from  the  University  of  Maine  with 
the  degree  of  B.M.E.,  in  the  electrical  en- 
gineering course.  His  first  employment 
after  leaving  college  was  with  the  Elec- 
trical Wiring  and  Supply  Company,  Bos- 


410 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


ton,  Massachusetts,  after  which  he  entered 
the  student-service  of  the  Bell  Telephone 
Company  in  that  city,  later  going  to  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Lynn,  Mass., 
where  he  took  the  students'  course  in  prep- 
aration for  engineering,  construction  and 
operation  work.  Following  this  he  was 
engaged  in  building  and  operating  electric 
light  and  power  plants  in  the  South  for  the 
General  Electric  Company,  resigning  to 
accept  a  position  with  the  Automatic  Fire 
Alarm  Company  of  Boston,  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  Western  Department,  with 
headquarters  in  Chicago. 

While  practicing  as  a  consulting  engi- 
neer, Mr.  Stevens  built,  at  Everett,  Wash- 
ington, an  entirely  new  railway  and  light 
and  power  system,  including  tracks,  power 
house,  distribution  lines,  shops  and  cars. 
Following  this  he  was  induced  to  accept, 
tentatively,  the  engineering  and  manage- 
ment of  the  railway  and  lighting  properties 
in  Everett,  and  his  careful  supervision  re- 
sulted in  doubling  the  earnings  in  less  than 
five  years,  this  being  the  turning  point  in 
his  career  from  consulting  engineer  to  en- 
gineering and  management.  In  1903,  Mr. 
Stevens  electrified  the  Everett  branch  of 
the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  probably  the 
first  such  steam  railroad  electrification  in 
this  country.  Charles  S.  Mellen  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Northern  Pacific  at  that  time, 
and  the  success  of  the  Everett  venture 
doubtlessly  led  to  the  electrification  of  the 
New  Haven  lines,  after  Mr.  Mellen  be- 
came president  of  the  last-named  system. 
Mr.  Stevens  left  Everett  to  accept  the  po- 
sition of  general  superintendent  of  the  Au- 
burn &  Syracuse  Electric  Railroad  Co.,  in 
Auburn,  N.  Y.,  and  of  general  manager 
of  the  Skaneateles  Lake  Transportation 
Company. 

In  July,  1907,  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Transit  Company  and 
the  Lehigh  Valley  Light  and  Power  Co. 
Mr.  Stevens  established  limited  Pullman 
service  between  Allentown  and  Philadel- 
phia, and  erected  the  South  Eighth  Street 
Bridge  in  Allentown,  at  the  time  the  great- 
est reinforced  concrete  bridge  in  the  world. 
During  Mr.  Stevens'  administration  in  Al- 
lentown, after  six  years  of  untiring  labor, 
eighteen  electric  light  and  power  com- 
panies were  organized  and  developed  in 
the  Lehigh  Valley  and  consolidated  into  the 
Lehigh  Valley  Light  and  Power  Co.  In 


August,  1913,  Mr.  Stevens  resigned  as 
president  of  the  Allentown  companies  to 
become  president  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
Mahoning  and  Shenango  Railway  and 
Light  Company  and  its  subsidiary  inter- 
ests, with  headquarters  at  Youngstown, 
Ohio.  Upon  the  formation  of  the  Engi- 
neering and  Construction  Department  of 
the  Republic  Railway  and  Light  Company, 
Mr.  Stevens,  in  addition  to  his  other  posi- 
tions, was  made  vice-president  and  engi- 
neering manager  of  the  Republic  Railway 
and  Light  Company,  and  in  March,  1917, 
he  transferred  his  office  from  Youngstown, 
Ohio,  to  60  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
In  May,  1918,  Mr.  Stevens  was  elected 
President  and  Engineering  Manager  of  Re- 
public Engineers,  Inc.,  Consulting  and  Con- 
structing Engineers,  still  retaining  his  posi- 
tion as  vice-president  and  a  member  of 
the  executive  committee  of  the  Re- 
public Railway  and  Light  Company,  and 
president  of  the  Mahoning  and  Shen- 
ango Railway  and  Light  Company, 
the  Pennsylvania  Power  Co.,  Shen- 
ango Valley  Electric  Light  Co.,  and 
the  New  Castle  Electric  Co.  He  is  also  a 
director  and  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  The  Cleveland  Electric  Illumi- 
nating Company  and  Central  States  Elec- 
tric Corporation. 

Mr.  Stevens  is  a  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Committee  on  Electrolysis.  He  has 
given  many  years  of  study  to  this  subject, 
and  in  connection  with  the  other  members 
of  the  committee,  is  preparing  an  exhaus- 
tive report  on  the  subject.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Specifications 
for  Overhead  Lines  and  Crossings,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Pennsylvania  Public  Service 
Commission,  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and 
is  vice-president  of  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Transportation  and  Traffic  Asso- 
ciation. 

Mr.  Stevens  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
Fraternity,  the  Livingston  Club,  Allen- 
town,  Pa. ;  Youngstown  Club,  Youngstown, 
Ohio ;  Lawrence  Club,  New  Castle,  Pa. ; 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
the  Phi  Gamma  Delta  Fraternity,  Bankers 
Club,  New  York  City;  Crescent  Athletic 
Club,  Brooklyn,  and  the  Manhasset  Yacht 
Club  of  Long  Island. 

Mr.  Stevens  was  married  in  Islesboro, 


FRANK    H.STEWART 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


411 


Maine,  August  5,  1903,  to  Brina  C.  Pen- 
dleton,  of  that  city,  daughter  of  Captain 
and  Mrs.  Fields  C.  Pendleton,  and  two 


children  were  born  to  them,  Edwin  P. 
Stevens,  born  July  27,  1909,  and  Alice  P. 
Stevens,  born  October  16,  1911. 


FRANK   H.    STEWART 


On  the  commercial  side  of  the  Electri- 
cal Industry  one  of  the  leaders  who  has 
elected  to  be  exclusively  a  jobber  and 
dealer  in  electrical  supplies  and  to  de- 
vote his  attention  entirely  to  that  branch 
of  the  business  is  Frank  H.  Stewart,  the 
President  of  the  Frank  H.  Stewart  Elec- 
tric Company,  of  Philadelphia. 

He  was  born  in  Mannington  Township, 
Salem  County,  New  Jersey,  May  7,  1873, 
and  is  of  an  old  Colonial  family,  the 
proper  spelling  of  whose  name  is  "Stew- 
ard," the  first  American  ancestor  being 
Joseph  Steward,  who  came  from  Cheshire, 
England,  in  1682,  to  the  Delaware  River 
in  the  ship  "Submission." 

His  father  was  Eli  Stewart  and  his 
mother,  Mary  E.  (Burnett)  Stewart, 
daughter  of  Capt  Sam'l  L.  Burnett  of  Port 
Republic,  N.  J.  The  first  ancestor  of  his 
mother  in  America  was  Thomas  Burnett  of 
Southampton,  Long  Island  (1643). 

In  1896  Mr.  Stewart  married  Miss 
Rose  Kirby  of  Woodstown,  N.  J.  Her 
ancestors  of  the  Kirby  line  were  early  set- 
tlers of  Plymouth  Colony,  Mass.  (1630). 

Frank  H.  Stewart  was  educated  in  coun- 
try schools  in  Sharptown,  Halltown  and 
Woodstown,  New  Jersey,  clerked  four 
months  in  1890  in  the  Rogers  store  at 
Sharptown,  graduated  from  school  in 

1891,  and  then  worked  for  four  months  as 
a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Philadelphia 
Item     (newspaper),    meanwhile    entering 
upon  a  complete  business  course  in  Prick- 
ett's    Business    College    in    Philadelphia, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  at  the  head 
of  his  class  in  1892.     As  a  well-equipped 
bookkeeper    and    stenographer   he   began 
work  with  O.  D.  Pierce  &  Company,  elec- 
trical  contractors    and   dealers,    in   May, 

1892,  and  continued  there  until  that  firm 
retired  from  business   in  January,    1894. 
During  his  last  year  of  service  with  that 
firm  he  worked  as  a  traveling  salesman, 
selling  electrical  supplies. 


The  retirement  of  O.  D.  Pierce  &  Com- 
pany left  him  without  a  job,  and,  although 
he  had  excellent  qualifications,  he  could  not 
find  one,  owing  to  the  panic  conditions. 
Perhaps  it  was  good  for  him  that  jobs 
were  scarce,  for  he  decided  to  start  for 
himself.  He  had  learned  much  about  the 
electrical  business  and  had  in  1892  com- 
piled the  first  general  catalogue  of  electri- 
cal supplies  ever  issued  by  a  Philadelphia 
electrical  concern.  In  starting  his  business 
he  determined  to  divorce  the  sale  of  sup- 
plies from  the  business  of  electrical  con- 
tractor, for  in  visiting  the  contractors  he 
had  found  that  they  were  not  greatly 
pleased  to  buy  supplies  from  a  competitor, 
for  all  the  dealers  in  Philadelphia  were 
also  contractors  at  that  period.  Therefore 
Mr.  Stewart  became  the  first  jobber  in 
electrical  supplies  exclusively  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

His  business  was  small  to  begin  with, 
and  in  1896  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
P.  Logan  Bockius.  A  few  months  proved 
that  the  business  was  not  yet  big  enough 
for  two,  so  that  the  firm  of  Frank  H.  Stew- 
art &  Co.  was  dissolved  by  the  purchase  of 
the  interest  of  Mr.  Bockius  by  Mr. Stewart. 
From  1900  the  business  grew  rapidly,  and 
in  1904  it  was  incorporated  under  the 
present  name,  in  order  to  admit  of  partici- 
pation of  employees  in  the  management. 
The  premises  occupied  at  35  North  Sev- 
enth Street  having  been  outgrown  by  1907, 
Mr.  Stewart  bought  the  property  of  the 
first  United  States  Mint  buildings,  adjoin- 
ing 35  N.  7th.  These  buildings  were  the 
first  Federal  buildings  in  the  country  for 
which  Congress  appropriated  money. 
Upon  that  site  he  erected  an  addition  to 
his  business  premises,  but  later  tore  down 
the  old  buildings  and  erected  the  steel  and 
concrete  structure  now  occupied,  which 
was  when  erected  in  1911  the  best  and 
most  complete  electrical  supplies  building 
in  the  country. 


412 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Mr.  Stewart  has  always  been  active  in 
measures  for  the  uplift  and  progress  of 
the  electrical  business.  In  connection  with 
the  late  George  Vallee  he  called  the  first 
meeting  that  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
the  Electrical  Trades'  Association,  the  first 
cooperative  movement  of  its  kind  in  the 
industry,  and  now  an  international  institu- 
tion. He  attended  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Electrical  Supply  Jobbers  of  the  Atlantic 
coast  and  was  active  in  it  for  many  years, 
and  for  two  years  chairman  of  its  Atlantic 
(or  Eastern)  Division. 

He  is  a  collector  of  electrical  relics,  rare* 
coins,  Indian  relics  and  historical  works, 
and  is  the  author  of  several  publications, 
principally  of  an  historical  nature. 

He  is  president  of  the  Ocean  City  Fish- 
ing Club,  director  and  historian  of  the  New 


Jersey  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  director  of 
the  Genealogical  Society  of  Pennsylvania, 
Vice-President  Twentieth  St.  Improvement 
Association  of  Ocean  City,  Vice-President 
Woodbury  Country  Club,  President  North 
Pitman  Land  Co.,  President  Gloucester 
County  Historical  Society,  ex- Vice-Presi- 
dent Pitman  Cottagers'  Association,  Vice- 
President  Electric  Club  of  Philadelphia, 
ex-President  and  member  of  Pitman  Ma- 
sonic Club,  ex-Vice-President  and  member 
of  Rotary  Club  of  Philadelphia,  ex-Direc- 
tor and  life  member  of  Camden  Y.  M.  C. 
A.,  member  of  Franklin  Institute^  Union 
League,  Engineers'  Club,  Historical  Soci- 
ety of  Pennsylvania,  and  member  of  the 
Educational  Committee  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Philadelphia. 


GEORGE  H.  STICKNEY 


The  wonderful  strides  made  in  the  elec- 
tric illuminating  field  during  the  last  few 
years  is  aptly  told  in  the  record  of  the 
work  of  George  H.  Stickney,  whose 
achievement  along  this  line  was  recog- 
nized by  his  election  to  the  office  of 
President  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society,  which  election  was  confirmed  by 
the  Council  at  a  meeting  held  June  14, 
1917.  Mr.  Stickney  is  one  of  the  best 
known  illuminating  engineers  in  the  coun- 
try and  has  devoted  much  time  to  research 
work.  He  is  a  great  organizer  and  con- 
structive executive.  The  spirit  to  cooper- 
ate characterizes  everything  he  undertakes. 

Mr.  Stickney  was  born  in  Buffalo, 
N.  Y.,  in  1872.  He  graduated  from  Cor- 
nell University  with  the  degree  M.E. 
(E.E.)  in  1896  and  immediately  after 
graduation  went  to  the  General  Electric 
Company's  works  at  Schenectady,  where 
he  spent  a  year  and  one-half  in  the  student 
course.  While  working  in  this  course,  Mr. 
Stickney  became  interested  in  lighting  and 
foresaw  the  wonderful  future  of  electric 
illumination.  He  became  affiliated  with 
Mr.  W.  D'A.  Ryan  at  the  Lynn  works  as 
his  first  assistant.  This  was  long  before 
the  days  of  illuminating  engineering  as  an 
art  or  science,  and  Mr.  Ryan's  organiza- 
tion is  to  be  credited  with  a  great  deal  of 


pioneer  work  which  eventually  led  to  the 
establishment  of  the  society. 

For  a  period  of  about  thirteen  years, 
Mr.  Stickney  continued  along  this  line  of 
activity,  doing  much  development  work  in 
photometry  and  in  the  design  of  arc  lamp 
equipments.  He  spent  a  large  portion  of 
his  time  in  analyzing  the  application  of 
light-appliances,  and  largely  through  his 
efforts  arc  lamp  illumination  was  placed 
on  more  definite  ground.  In  1911,  when 
the  Edison  Lamp  Works  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  decided  to  establish  a 
separate  department  to  handle  the  gen- 
eral questions  of  illuminating  engineering 
as  to  incandescentlamps,  Mr.  Stickney,  with 
his  broad  knowledge  of  the  entire  field  of 
lighting,  was  the  logical  choice  as  the  man 
to  organize  such  a  division.  For  some 
time  he  had  observed  the  rapid  strides  of 
advance  the  incandescent  lamp  was  mak- 
ing, and  the  new  line  of  work  appealed 
strongly  to  him.  He  was  accordingly 
transferred  to  Harrison,  N.  J.,  as  assist- 
ant to  the  sales  manager,  which  position 
he  now  holds.  A  number  of  lighting  ap- 
pliances have  been  developed  under  his 
direction.  Of  later  years,  however,  he  has 
extended  his  field  of  activity  and  become 
vitally  interested  in  the  very  broad  ques- 
tion of  the  general  education  of  the  public 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


413 


GEORGE    H.    STICKNEY 


to  awaken  interest  in  better  lighting.  To 
this  end  he  has  written  or  supervised  the 
preparation  for  publication  purposes  of  a 
large  amount  of  material  on  lighting  prac- 
tice. This  has  taken  the  form  of  company 
publications  and  articles  and  papers  on  il- 
lumination which  have  appeared  at  fre- 
quent intervals  in  the  popular  technical  and 
trade  journals.  Mr.  Stickney  is  of  Puritan 
and  Quaker  ancestry  and  is  eight  genera- 
tions removed  from  the  original  Stickneys 
who  came  from  England  to  America  in 
1638.  Mr.  Stickney  has  served  on  many 
committees  in  different  societies,  whose 
functions  dealt  with  work  having  a  bearing 
on  illumination.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
following  technical  and  engineering  socie- 


ties :  Illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
(associate),  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation, American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  Association  of  Iron 
and  Steel  Electrical  Engineers,  Associa- 
tion of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers, 
American  Museum  of  Safety,  Engineers 
Club  of  New  York.  Prior  to  his  election 
as  president,  he  held  the  following  offices 
in  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society: 
Secretary  (charter),  New  England  Sec- 
tion, one  year  (1906);  Chairman,  New 
York  Section,  1911  (two  years);  Chair- 
man, Committee  on  Papers,  1914  (three 
years),  and  General  Secretary,  1916  (one 
year). 


414 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THEODORE    STEBBINS 


When  Theodore  Stebbins  chose  the  elec- 
trical profession  in  1883  electricity  had  few 
commercial  applications,  other  than  the 
telegraph,  and  these  applications  were  still 
great  curiosities  to  the  public  and  of  un- 
known commercial  value.  He  had  personal 
relations  with  many  pioneers,  some  fam- 
ous, others  now  unknown,  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  the  present  marvellous  de- 
velopment. 

Mr.  Stebbins  is  a  graduate  of  the  Mas- 


sachusetts Institute  of  Technology,  a  Fel- 
low of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  and  Member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  of  the 
Engineers'  Club  of  New  York,  and  of  the 
Bankers'  Club  of  America. 

He  was  engaged  with  the  General  Elec- 
tric and  its  predecessor  companies  from 
1886  to  1903,  and  since  has  been  occupied 
largely  in  public  utility  enterprises. 


CHARLES    P.STEINMETZ 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


415 


CHARLES   PROTEUS   STEINMETZ 


Dr.  Steinmetz  has  been  a  source  of  in- 
spiration to  scientists  and  a  source  of  salva- 
tion to  many  an  engineer  struggling  vainly 
with  some  seemingly  insuperable  problem. 
There  is  little  to  tell  to  electrical  engineers 
regarding  his  career — they  all  know  him 
and  rank  him  among  the  leaders  of  modern 
science;  but,  popularly  speaking,  his  name 
is  something  of  a  vague  abstraction.  The 
explanation  is  simply  that  his  work  has 
gone  over  the  heads  of  the  crowd.  Noth- 
ing sensational  or  spectacular  marks  the 
more  than  one  hundred  of  his  important 
electrical  inventions,  most  of  which  affect 
the  transmission  of  power  and  are  under- 
stood only  by  the  scientific  world.  The 
more  ordinary  of  them  include  elevator 
motors  and  a  mercury  arc  lamp. 

As  a  young  man,  Germany  became  too 
hot  for  him  because  of  his  socialistic  activi- 
ties; he  moved  to  Switzerland,  but  shortly 
came  to  the  United  States,  landing  in  New 
York  about  twenty-six  years  ago  penniless 
and  unknown.  For  some  time  he  was  em- 
ployed on  mathematical  work  at  Yonkers, 
N.  Y.,  by  Eickemeyer,  a  well  known  elec- 
trical inventor  and  pioneer  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  hat  manufacturing  industry. 
At  that  time  he  also  began  writing  in  Eng- 
lish mathematical  articles  for  the  Electri- 
cal World.  Since  1893  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  have  retained  his  services,  it 
is  said  at  a  very  large  yearly  salary,  which, 
as  one  observer  expressed  it,  "he  gets  for 
knowing  more  about  electricity  than  any 
body  else  in  the  world."  Up  in  Schenec- 
tady,  where  he  has  long  lived  in  an  envi- 
ronment of  unusual  but  characteristic  na- 
ture, he  has  been  president  of  the  Board  of 
Education  since  1912  and  president  of  the 
Common  Council  since  1916,  facts  not  cited 
as  extraordinary  honors  but  to  illustrate 
the  man's  common  touch  with  his  fellow- 
mortals.  Steinmetz  thoroughly  believes 
electricity  to  be  an  agency  for  the  better- 
ment of  society.  His  ideals  vision  the 
eventual  dispersal  of  our  densely  crowded 
city  populations,  a  more  even  distribution 
over  the  land,  where  men  will  have  a  better 
chance  for  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness,  the  amelioration  of  labor  condi- 
tions and  the  abolishment  of  steam  as  a 
power  medium.  The  Age  of  Steam  drew 


people  into  cities;  the  Age  of  Electricity 
will  draw  them  back  into  the  country. 
Steam  must  be  used  where  it  is  generated; 
electricity  may  be  sent  wherever  it  is 
needed.  Steinmetz  has  translated  his 
ideals  into  action,  concentrating  his  invent- 
ive powers  upon  problems  of  long  distance 
electric  power  transmission.  His  physical 
proportions  are  as  apart  from  average 
standards  as  the  rest  of  him.  Only  four 
feet  in  stature,  he  gives  the  impression  of 
being  all  head  and  shoulders.  The  shaggy 
beard  and  keen  eyes  gleaming  under  the 
high,  broad  forehead,  crowned  with  a  mop 
of  wiry,  close  cropped  hair,  suggest  the 
mental  counterpart  of  elemental  physical 
strength.  The  brain  within  the  huge  head 
may  be  wondered  at  but  not  explained.  In 
power  of  analysis  it  is  abnormal.  He  is 
said  upon  one  occasion  when  out  in  the 
open  to  have  solved  a  difficult  electrical 
problem  mathematically  and  without  exte- 
rior aid  by  the  mental  computation  and  ap- 
plication of  a  table  of  logarithms.  He  has 
reduced  the  rules  of  higher  calculus,  for- 
merly used  in  figuring  upon  electrical  laws, 
to  terms  in  algebra,  thus  enabling  young 
students  to  practice  upon  abstruse  princi- 
ples. Charles  Proteus  Steinmetz  was  born 
April  9th,  1865,  at  Breslau,  Germany,  the 
son  of  Carl  Heinrich  and  Caroline  (Neu- 
bert)  Steinmetz.  The  "Proteus"  was  be- 
stowed upon  him  by  an  early  schoolmaster. 
Those  acquainted  with  Greek  mythology 
will  understand  the  connection.  His  edu- 
cation in  mathematics,  chemistry  and  elec- 
trical engineering  was  had  at  Breslau,  Ber- 
lin and  Zurich.  Years  after,  Harvard 
University  conferred  upon  him  the  hono- 
rary A.M.  degree,  and  the  Union  Univer- 
sity of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  where  he  has 
been  professor  of  electro-physics  since 
1902,  supplied  the  Ph.D.  Dr.  Steinmetz 
is  the  author  of  many  written  studies,  ar- 
ticles, papers  and  books,  embracing  the  re- 
sults of  significant,  theoretical  and  experi- 
mental investigations.  Dr.  Steinmetz  was 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  1901-2.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society  and  the  National  Association  of 
Corporation  Schools. 


416 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


MESSRS.  JAMES  R.  STRONG  AND  EARNEST 
McCLEARY  AND  THEIR  WORK  ON 
BEHALF  OF  THE  NATIONAL  AS- 
SOCIATION OF  ELECTRICAL 
CONTRACTORS   AND 
DEALERS* 

Throughout   the   work   which    Messrs. 
Strong  and  McCleary  have  done   in  con- 
nection with  the  National  Association  of 
Electrical  Contractors,  probably  the  task 
of  remodelling  the  National  Constitution 
to  form  the  National  Association  of  Elec- 
trical Contractors  and  Dealers  stands  out 
as  the  most  important  thing  accomplished 
by  these  men,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 
movement  started  on  the  foundation  thus 
established  will  be  considered  in  years  to 
come  the  important  epoch  in  the  history 
of    retailing    in    the    electrical    industry. 
Realizing  that  the  National  Association  in 
its  old  form  was  not  sufficiently  broad  to 
cover  the  electrical  retail  industry  the  Na- 
tional Executive  Committee  last  June  di- 
rected   that    its    Constitution    Committee, 
consisting  of  the  above  named  men,  should 
associate    themselves    with    Mr.    W.    L. 
Goodwin,    and   endeavor   to   work  out   a 
plan  of  broadening  the  scope  of  the  asso- 
ciation.   This  work  was  carried  on  during 
the  summer  of   1917,  and  in  October  of 
that  year  the  plan  involving  a  new  consti- 
tution was  adopted  by  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Electrical  Contractors.     With- 
out going  into  all  the  details,  suffice  it  to 
say  that  the  plan  broadens  the  scope  of 
the  old  National  Association,  so  as  to  in- 
clude  all  retailers  of  electrical  merchan- 
dise whether  such  electrical  retailing  is  a 
minor  or  major  part  of  their  business,  and 
it  is  hoped  through  an  educational  cam- 
paign carried  on  through  this  National  or- 
ganization that  its  members  will  be  taught 
the  proper  principles  of  merchandising  and 
how  to  do  their  business  with  due  regard 
to    cost,    overhead,    and    a    profit;    that 
through  the  efforts  of  this  organization  in 
conjunction  with  other  National  organiza- 
tions in  the  industry  various  wastes  and 
duplication  of  effort  will  be  eliminated  so 
that  the  efficiency  of  all  will  be  improved, 
making  it  possible  to  serve  the  American 
public   and   distribute   electrical   merchan- 
dise at  less  cost  to  the  consumer  and  at  a 


'Further  reference  to  this  Association  is  made  on  page  330. 


reasonable  profit  to  all  taking  part  in  the 
transaction. 

This  National  Association  of  Retailers 
does  not  contemplate  and  will  not  counte- 
nance any  attempt  at  fixing  prices  or  regu- 
lating channels  of  distribution,  but  will  aim 
through  its  educational  campaign  to  im- 
prove retail  conditions  and  largely  in- 
crease the  number  of  points  of  contact 
which  the  public  may  have  with  electrical 
retailers. 

The  second  important  feature  in  the 
new  Constitution  is  that  by  a  system  of 
graded  dues  the  man  doing  a  larger  busi- 
ness shall  pay  his  proportionate  share  to- 
wards supporting  the  National  organiza- 
tion. 

A  study  of  the  new  Constitution  shows  a 
close  connection  between  the  National  and 
its  various  subdivisions: 

1.  The    four    Division    organizations, 
Atlantic,  Central,  Pacific,  and  Canadian. 

2.  The     various     State     organizations 
forming  the  Division. 

3.  The   various    District  organizations 
forming  the  State. 

Eventually  each  of  .these  subdivisions 
will  be  managed  by  an  official  secretary 
paid  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  organiza- 
tion and  collecting  data  and  statistics  for 
the  use  of  the  National  organization,  and 
acting  as  a  direct  connection  between  the 
individual  and  the  National.  Thus  oppor- 
tunity will  be  afforded  to  members  in  all 
parts  of  the  country  who  cannot  be  away 
from  their  business  for  long  periods  to  at- 
tend meetings  in  their  own  localities,  and 
it  is  through  this  feature  that  it  is  ex- 
pected that  the  campaign  of  education  will 
be  largely  carried  on.  It  is  expected  fur- 
ther that  in  these  District  meetings  the 
other  important  elements  of  the  electrical 
industry  will  meet  with  the  contractors 
and  dealers,  with  the  view  of  solving  in 
a  broad  way  the  problems  of  all,  and  thus 
eliminate  many  ills  which  have  heretofore 
prevented  the  proper  placing  of  the  elec- 
trical industry  before  the  public. 

An  important  feature  of  the  reorganiza- 
tion is  that  all  meetings  are  open  to  the 
public  and  to  any  one  interested. 

While  both  of  the  above  named  men 
had  previously  retired  from  office  in  the 
National  Association,  it  is  interesting  to 
notice  that  Mr.  McCleary  is  back  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


417 


harness  as  Treasurer  of  the  Association, 
and  that  Mr.  Strong  is  retained  in  an  ad- 
visory capacity,  and  that  they  are  devoting 


their  time  to  this  new  movement  in  the 
belief  that  it  is  a  solution  of  most  of  the 
problems  of  the  industry. 


JAMES    R.    STRONG 


James  R.  Strong  was  born  in  New  York 
City,  October  28,  1861,  and  graduated 
from  Trinity  College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  in 
1882.  He  entered  the  electrical  field  by  a 
practical  course  in  the  factories  of  the 
Watts-Campbell  Corliss  Engine  Works 
and  the  United  States  Electric  Lighting 
Company,  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  this  associ- 
ation covering  a  period  of  four  years.  He 
was  afterwards  connected  with  the  United 


States  Illuminating  Company  in  New  York 
City,  as  Superintendent  of  the  Construction 
Department  for  six  years.  Since  1890,  he 
has  been  President  of  the  Tucker  Electrical 
Construction  Company,  New  York  City. 
Mr.  Strong  has  been  officially  connected 
with  the  National  Electrical  Contrac- 
tors Association  since  its  inception  in  1891, 
and  was  its  President  from  1905  until 
1908. 


418 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


EARNEST   McCLEARY 


Earnest  McCleary  was  born  in  East  Sag- 
maw,  Michigan,  June  4,  1865,  and  was  left 
an  orphan  at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  He 
served  an  apprenticeship  at  harness  mak- 
ing, _  but  ill-health  compelled  him  to  dis- 
continue that  trade,  and  he  went  on  the 
lakes  as  a  sailor  before  the  mast,  finally 
becoming  first  mate  on  a  sailing  vessel. 
In  1884,  he  entered  the  electrical  field  by 
starting  with  the  Michigan  Bell  Telephone 
Company  in  their  Construction  Depart- 
ment, later  going  with  the  Edison  Com- 
pany of  Detroit.  In  1890,  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  Fontaine  Crossing  and  Elec- 
trical Company,  of  Detroit,  as  Superin- 


tendent of  Construction.  In  1893,  he 
transferred  his  activities  to  the  Electric 
Supply  and  Engineering  Company  of  De- 
troit, as  estimator,  becoming  Superintend- 
ent of  that  company  in  1896,  and  continu- 
ing in  that  position  until  engaging  in  busi- 
ness in  1900.  He  is  now  president  of  Mc- 
Cleary Harmon  Company,  of  Detroit, 
Mich.  Mr.  McCleary's  education  was  ob- 
tained by  study  out  of  working  hours.  He 
has  been  officially  connected  with  the  Na- 
tional Electrical  Contractors'  Association 
since  its  organization,  in  1901,  and  was  its 
president  from  1903  until  1905. 


FRANK    M.   TAIT 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


419 


FRANK    M.    TAIT 


Frank  M.  Tait  was  born  in  Catasauqua, 
Lehigh  County,  Pennsylvania.  After  leav- 
ing school  he  became  a  telegraph  operator 
and  assistant  train  dispatcher,  afterwards 
taking  the  position  of  night  engineer  of 
the  electric  plant  in  the  Catasauqua  Rolling 
Mills.  He  next  qualified  as  a  stenographer 
and  became  secretary  to  the  President  of 
The  Davies  &  Thomas  Company  of  Cata- 
sauqua, and  there  acquired  extensive  expe- 
rience as  to  the  manufacture  and  use  of 
structural  iron  and  steel  for  tall  buildings, 
street  railways,  gas  works,  tunnel  work, 
general  construction,  etc. 

In  1894  he  began  his  central  station 
career  by  becoming  manager  of  the  Cata- 
sauqua Electric  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany. Shortly  afterwards  he  effected  a  con- 
solidation of  the  local  gas  interests  with  the 
electric  light  company  and  directed  the 
Catasauqua  Gas  and  Electric  Company  un- 
til 1899.  He  then  became  connected  with 
the  public  utilities  of  Somerville,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  rebuilt  all  the  plants  and  proper- 
ties at  Raritan,  Somerville,  Finderne  and 
Bound  Brook,  New  Jersey,  merging  them 
into  the  Somerset  Lighting  Company, 
which  afterwards  became  and  is  now  part 
of  the  Public  Service  Gas  and  Electric 
Corporation  of  New  Jersey. 

New  London,  Connecticut,  was  the  next 
scene  of  his  labors,  where  he  became  direct- 
ing head  of  the  gas  and  electric  companies 
together  with  the  management  and  opera- 
tion of  a  general  machine,  boiler,  copper- 
smiths' and  boat  repairing  business,  devel- 
oping the  corporation  then  known  as  the 
New  London  Gas  and  Electric  Company, 
now  a  part  of  the  Connecticut  Company. 

In  1905  he  removed  to  Dayton,  Ohio, 


to  direct  the  affairs  of  the  Dayton  Electric 
Light  Company. 

While  there  the  property  was  greatly  en- 
larged into  a  corporation  now  well  known 
as  the  Dayton  Power  and  Light  Company, 
and  supplying  electric  light  and  power  to 
upwards  of  43  cities,  towns  and  villages, 
and  steam  and  hot  water  heating  to  several 
of  the  larger  cities  in  the  Dayton  territory. 

While  in  Ohio  he  was  very  prominently 
connected  with  the  Ohio  Electric  Light  As- 
sociation, serving  as  its  President  in  1908. 

The  great  Dayton  flood  occurred  while 
Mr.  Tait  was  located  in  Dayton,  and  he 
and  his  family  were  marooned  on  the  sec- 
ond floor  of  their  residence  for  three  nights 
and  four  days,  while  the  flood  raged,  and 
the  rapid  rehabilitation  of  the  city  after  the 
flood  was  to  a  large  extent  facilitated  by 
the  tremendous  work  of  his  company  and 
its  staff. 

In  1915,  Mr.  Tait  removed  to  New 
York  City  and  became  associated  with  the 
estate  of  A.  N.  Brady,  at  54  Wall  Street 
He  is  a  member  of  The  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  having  served  the  asso- 
ciation in  years  past  as  director,  Secretary 
and  Treasurer,  Vice-President  and  Presi- 
dent, in  1913. 

He  is  also  a  member  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  The  Ameri- 
can Gas  Association,  The  Franklin  Insti- 
tute, Illuminating  Engineering  and  other 
Societies.  He  maintains  membership  in  the 
Engineers'  Club  of  New  York,  Bankers' 
Club  of  America,  Ohio  Society  of  New 
York,  The  New  York  Squash  Club,  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  Dayton,  and  various  other 
Dayton  Clubs,  and  the  Baltusrol  Club  of 
New  Jersey. 


420 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


NIKOLA  TESLA 


Manifestly  the  works  of  Nikola  Tesla 
may  not  be  stripped  of  their  endless  possi- 
bilities of  scientific  interest  to  conform  to 
the  limits  of  a  brief  article.  As  elsewhere 
in  the  biographical  portion  of  our  history, 
we  simply  take  a  side  glance  at  the  person- 
ality of  the  man — where  he  came  from,  the 
professional  circumstances  of  his  career, 
intimate  incidents  that  have  no  place  in  a 
scientific  treatise,  with  merely  incidental 
reference  to  technical  aspects.  He  who 
must  know  just  what,  when  and  where 
Nikola  Tesla's  accomplishments  have  been 
thus  far  has  a  tremendous  field  of  study 
before  him.  In  the  most  far-reaching  ef- 
fects of  electrical  science  Tesla  has  had  a 
hand;  he  gave  solutions  vital  to  the  prob- 
lems attending  the  harnessing  of  electric 
power  to  manifold  industries.  If  his  labors 
had  comprehended  only  the  invention  of 
the  polyphase  alternating  current  system 
for  the  transmission  of  electrical  energy, 
that  alone  would  have  stamped  him  as  a 
great  discoverer  and  benefactor.  On  the 
evening  of  May  18,  1917,  in  the  audi- 
torium of  the  United  Engineering  Societies 
Building,  New  York  City,  Bernard  A. 
Behrend,  addressing  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  spoke  in  glow- 
ing terms  of  the  pre-eminent  place  held  by 
Mr.  Tesla  in  the  regard  of  all  who  appre- 
ciate scientific  achievement.  The  occa- 
sion was  the  presentation  of  the  Edison 
Gold  Medal  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  to  the  subject  of  the 
eulogy.  Just  twenty-one  years  prior  to 
this  date  Tesla  had  stood  before  the  same 
body  and  enunciated  the  principles  of  his 
rotating  field  induction  motor  so  clearly 
and  with  such  finality  that  nothing  has  re- 
mained to  be  said  except  by  way  of  prac- 
tical development.  Here  we  give  his  words, 
spoken,  remember,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  ago :  "To  obtain  a  rotary  effort  in 
these  motors  was  the  subject  of  long 
thought.  In  order  to  secure  this  result  it 
was  necessary  to  make  such  a  disposition 
that  while  the  poles  of  one  element  of  the 
motor  are  shifted  by  the  alternate  currents 
of  the  source,  the  poles  produced  upon  the 
other  elements  should  always  be  main- 
tained in  the  proper  relation  to  the  former, 
irrespective  of  the  speed  of  the  motor;  but 


in  a  synchronous  motor  such  as  described, 
this  condition  is  fulfilled  only  when  the 
speed  is  normal.  The  object  has  been  at- 
tained by  placing  within  the  ring  a  properly 
subdivided  cylindrical  iron  core  wound 
with  several  independent  coils  closed  upon 
themselves.  Two  coils  at  right  angles  are 
sufficient,  but  a  greater  number  may  ad- 
vantageously be  employed.  It  results  from 
this  disposition  that  when  the  poles  of  the 
ring  are  shifted,  currents  are  generated  in 
the  closed  armature  coils.  These  currents 
are  the  most  intense  at  or  near  the  points 
of  the  greatest  density  of  the  lines  of  force, 
and  their  effect  is  to  produce  poles  upon  the 
armature  at  right  angles  to  those  of  the 
ring,  at  least  theoretically  so;  and  since  this 
action  is  entirely  independent  of  the  speed 
— that  is,  as  far  as  the  location  of  the  poles 
is  concerned — a  continuous  pull  is  exerted 
upon  the  periphery  of  the  armature.  In 
many  respects  these  motors  are  similar  to 
the  continuous  current  motors.  If  load  is 
put  on  the  speed,  and  also  the  resistance  of 
the  motor  is  diminished,  more  current 
is  made  to  pass  through  the  energizing 
coils,  thus  increasing  the  effort.  Upon  the 
load  being  taken  off,  the  counter  electro- 
motive force  increases  and  less  current 
passes  through  the  primary  or  energizing 
coils.  Without  any  load  the  speed  is  very 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  the  shifting  poles 
of  the  field  magnet.  It  will  be  found  that 
the  rotary  effort  in  these  motors  fully 
equals  that  of  the  continuous  current  mo- 
tors. The  effort  seems  to  be  greatest  when 
both  armature  and  field  magnet  are  without 
any  projections."  The  basis  of  the  theory 
of  operation  leading  to  the  creation  of 
Tesla's  rotating  field  induction  motor  was 
evolved  by  Prof.  Andre  Blondel  of  1'Ecole 
Nationale  des  Fonts  et  Chaussees  of  Paris 
and  Prof.  Kapp  of  Birmingham,  England. 
Tesla's  system  of  power  transmission 
had  its  first  demonstration  by  Swiss  engi- 
neers, at  30,000  volts  from  Lauffen  to 
Frankfort.  A  few  years  later  an  adapta- 
tion of  it  on  the  grandest  scale  was  made 
by  the  Cataract  Construction  Company  at 
Niagara  Falls,  under  the  presidency  of 
Edward  D.  Adams  and  with  the  aid  of 
the  Westinghouse  Company's  engineers. 
Tesla's  influence  may  truly  be  said  to  have 


NIKOLA      T  E  5L  A 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


421 


marked  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of  elec- 
trical science.  His  mind  has  recognized  no 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  possible 
and  the  impossible.  With  the  imagination 
of  an  artist  and  the  will  of  a  scientist  he 
has  blazed  the  path  to  the  realization  of 
new  powers  and  resources,  even  though 
many  of  the  forces  of  nature  whose  ways 
he  has  sought  to  unveil  are  still  secret. 

A  rough  list  of  Mr.  Tesla's  discoveries 
and  inventions  up  to  1918  includes  the  fol- 
lowing significant  items  :  Two-phase,  three- 
phase,  multi-phase,  poly-phase  systems  of 
power  transmission,  rotating  magnetic 
field,  rotating  magnetic  field  transformer, 
induction  motor,  split-phase  motor,  system 
of  distribution,  rotary  transformer,  system 
of  transformation  by  condenser  discharges 
coil,  oscillation  transformer,  electrical  oscil- 
lator, mechanical  oscillator,  high  frequency 
machines  and  coils,  dynamo-electric  oscilla- 
tor, Tesla  tube,  lamp  and  Tesla  high- 
potential  methods,  inductor,  impedance 
phenomena,  electro-therapy,  electrical  mas- 
sage, arclight  system,  third  brush  reg- 
ulation, steam  turbine,  gas  turbine,  water 
turbine,  pump,  compressor,  igniter,  con- 
densers, electro-static  field,  Tesla  effects, 
wireless  system,  methods  of  wireless  trans- 
mission, magnifying  transmitter,  telauto- 
mata  for  warfare,  insulation,  underground 
transmission,  etc.  And  this  is  not  a  com- 
plete list,  either  as  to  patents  or  practical 
working  devices. 

Various  and  many  have  been  the  actual 
consequences  of  Tesla's  investigations  dur- 
ing the  past  twenty  years  alone.  They  are 
of  a  nature  that  when  stated  in  scientific 
terms — and  they  cannot  otherwise  be  ex- 
pressed— more  than  puzzles  the  untrained 
reader.  But  those  who  understand  will 
recognize  the  purposes  of  Tesla's  mechani- 
cal oscillators  and  generators  of  electrical 
oscillations  (1895);  researches  and  dis- 
coveries in  radiation,  material  streams  and 
emanations  (1896-98)  ;  the  high  potential 
magnifying  transmitter  (1897)  ;  system  of 
transmission  of  energy  by  refrigeration 
(1898);  art  of  Tel-automatics  (1898- 
99)  ;  discovery  of  stationary  electrical 
waves  in  the  earth  (1899)  ;  burning  of  at- 
mospheric nitrogen,  and  production  of 
other  electrical  effects  of  transcending  in- 
tensities (1899-1900)  ;  method  and  appa- 
ratus for  magnifying  feeble  effects  (1901- 


02);  art  of  individualization  (1902-03). 
Chronologically,  the  list  might  be  extended 
both  backward  and  forward.  Tesla,  as 
rumor  has  had  it  many  times,  has  been 
working  hard  upon  his  system  of  world- 
telegraphy  and  telephony.  Very  little 
data,  however,  has  been  procurable  that 
is  descriptive  of  his  later  researches,  and 
more  is  the  pity  from  the  historical  stand- 
point. Fortunately  a  valuable  record  ex- 
ists of  Tesla's  early  discoveries  and  dem- 
onstrations. T.  Commerford  Martin  was 
long  a  close  observer  of  Tesla's  work,  and 
in  1893  published  "The  Inventions,  Re- 
searches and  Writings  of  Nikola  Tesla," 
dealing  in  much  detail  with  the  inventor's 
great  experiments  up  to  that  time  and  pre- 
serving his  famous  lectures  delivered  be- 
fore the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers  in  1891,  the  Royal  Institution 
of  Electrical  Engineers  at  London  in  1892, 
and  the  Franklin  Institute  and  National 
Electric  Light  Association  at  Philadelphia 
and  St.  Louis  in  1893.  These  lectures 
were  brilliant  expositions  of  scientific 
truths ;  the  speaker  was  accorded  the  most 
enthusiastic  reception  and  his  words  pro- 
duced a  profound  effect. 

America  may  claim  Tesla  as  her  own, 
for  he  has  long  since  legally  adopted  the 
country.  He  was  born  in  1857  at  Smiljan, 
Lika,  a  borderland  region  of  Austro-Hun- 
gary,  of  the  Serbian  race.  His  education 
was  pursued  through  the  Higher  Real- 
schule  of  Carstatt,  Croatia,  and  the  Poly- 
technic School  at  Gratz,  where  it  was  the 
young  man's  intention  to  prepare  himself 
for  a  professorship  in  mathematics  and 
physics.  His  brain  was  in  too  great  a  fer- 
ment to  hold  to  such  a  narrow  prospect, 
so  instead  he  studied  practical  engineer- 
ing. To  Prague  and  Buda-Pesth  he  went 
to  acquire  languages  that  he  might  more 
broadly  qualify  himself  for  the  electrical 
profession.  For  a  while  he  served  as  as- 
sistant engineer  in  the  Government  Tele- 
graph Engineering  Department,  improving 
the  time  by  perfecting  several  telephonic 
details.  Going  to  Paris,  he  became  an 
electrical  engineer  in  one  of  the  large  com- 
panies developing  the  new  industry  of  elec- 
tric lighting.  Throughout  these  early  years 
Tesla  was  continuously  occupied  with  ef- 
forts to  embody  the  rotating  field  prin- 
ciple in  operative  apparatus.  Arrived  in 


422 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


America,  Tesla's  first  day's  move  was  to 
take  off  his  coat  in  the  Edison  Works,  the 
goal  of  his  ambition.  Though  the  neces- 
sity for  working  out  his  own  ideas  pre- 
vented his  staying,  he  benefited  by  associa- 
tion with  Edison  and  retained  thereafter 
a  strong  admiration  for  him.  There  was 
then  organized  a  company  to  make  and 
sell  the  arc  lighting  system  which  he  had 
labored  diligently  to  perfect.  That  done, 
he  devoted  himself  with  renewed  ardor  to 
his  old  discovery  of  the  rotating  field  prin- 
ciple for  alternating  current  work.  An- 
other important  discovery  made  in  recent 
times  by  Tesla  is  that  of  a  mechanical 
principle  which  he  has  succeeded  in  em- 


bodying in  several  types  of  machinery,  such 
as  reversible  gas  and  steam  turbines, 
pumps,  air  compressors,  transformers  and 
transmitters  of  power,  etc.  The  principle 
aims  at  the  production  of  prime  movers 
developing  ten  h.p.  or  more  for  each  pound 
of  weight.  Its  application  to  aerial  navi- 
gation and  the  propulsion  of  vessels  makes 
very  high  speeds  practicable.  Tesla  has 
not  finished.  The  world  waits  expectantly 
for  each  fresh  touch  of  his  vitalizing 
thought  upon  the  big  electrical  problems 
of  the  age.  He  is  an  extraordinary  blend 
of  such  antipolar  types  as  Faraday  and 
Edison — and  still  unique  with  primal  ele- 
ments of  his  own. 


MORRIS  S.  TOWSON 


Morris  S.  Towson,  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager  of  the  Elwell-Parker 
Electric  Company,  is  a  native  of  Cleve- 


MORRIS    S.    TOWSON 


land,  of  which  city  his  parents  were  pio- 
neers, and  is  of  English  descent.  He  was 
born  June  4,  1865,  was  graduated  B.S. 
and  C.E.  in  1886  from  the  Case  School  of 


Applied  Science,  Cleveland,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Phi  Kappa  Psi  fraternity. 

From  1887  to  J895  he  was  with  Robert 
Gillham  of  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  first 
as  draftsman  and  later  as  engineer  and 
associate.  He  was  engineer  of  construc- 
tion on  elevated  and  cable  railways  in 
Kansas  City,  Denver,  Omaha,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  New 
York  City.  His  work  included  designing 
and  charge  of  construction  of  some  of  the 
finest  cable  railways  built,  including  road 
work,  power  houses,  machinery  and  'all 
that  goes  to  make  up  a  complete  cable  rail- 
way system.  But  the  advent  of  electricity 
into  use  for  railway  construction  made 
cable  railways  obsolete,  and  in  1896  Mr. 
Towson  went  with  The  Brown  Hoisting 
Machinery  Company,  of  Cleveland,  as 
engineer. 

In  1897  he  changed  to  The  Elwell- 
Parker  Electric  Company,  Cleveland,  as 
engineer,  later  becoming  factory  superin- 
tendent, and  in  1910  to  his  present  posi- 
tion as  Vice-President  and  General  Man- 
ager, in  which  capacity  he  has  done  much 
work  in  the  development  and  manufacture 
of  electric  vehicles. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Cleve- 
land Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cleveland 
Athletic  Club  and  the  Society  of  Automo- 
tive Engineers. 


FRANKLIN   S.TERRY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


423 


FRANKLIN  S.  TERRY 


A  pioneer  in  the  incandescent  lamp  in- 
dustry, whose  activities  have  had  much  to 
do  with  the  promotion  of  progress  toward 
perfection  in  electric  lighting,  Franklin  S. 
Terry  is  one  of  the  notable  men  in  the  elec- 
trical field.  He  was  born  in  Ansonia,  Con- 
necticut, May  8,  1862,  was  graduated  from 
the  Ansonia  High  School  in  1880  and, 
after  his  graduation,  began  his  active  busi- 
ness career  as  a  bookkeeper  with  the  Elec- 
trical Supply  Company  of  Ansonia,  Con- 
necticut, from  April,  1880,  to  October, 
1884.  In  the  latter  month  he  went  to 
Chicago  and  established  a  branch  of  the 
same  company,  with  which  he  continued 
until  December,  1893.  Meanwhile,  in 
1889,  he  had  organized  the  Sunbeam  In- 
candescent Lamp  Company  of  Chicago, 
and  when  he  left  the  Electrical  Supply 
Company  he  took  personal  management  of 
this  lamp  business,  which,  under  his  direc- 
tion, progressed  steadily.  He  saw  the 
opportunities  which  opened  up  for  the 
incandescent  lamp  with  the  ever-expanding 
adoption  of  electrical  illumination  and  rec- 
ognized that  success  in  the  lamp  business 
would  depend  upon  the  ability  to  supply  the 
ever-persistent  demand  for  better  light, 
and  of  various  types  and  designs  of  lamps 
appropriate  to  the  diversified  needs  of  life 
and  industry.  He  directed  his  energies 
toward  improvement  of  the  product  and 
made  his  company  one  of  the  leaders  in  the 
lamp  business,  conducting  it  until  May  I, 
1901,  when  the  Sunbeam  Company  was 
purchased  by  the  National  Electric  Lamp 
Company,  formed  by  J.  B.  Crouse,  H.  A. 
Tremaine,  Franklin  S.  Terry,  B.  G.  Tre- 
maine  and  J.  Robert  Crouse,  at  that  date. 
He  engaged  with  the  company,  first  as  sec- 
retary and  later  as  first  vice-president.  In 
1911,  the  company  was  merged  with  the 
General  Electric  Company.  Since  then 
Mr.  Terry  has  continued  with  the  National 
Lamp  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, at  Nela  Park,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  of 
which  he  and  Mr.  B.  G.  Tremaine  are  the 
managers.  This  ranks  among  the  most 
widely  known  incandescent  lamp  enter- 
prises in  the  world  and  employs  the 
best  engineering,  designing  and  commercial 


talent  for  the  production  and  sale  of 
incandescent  lamps.  When  Mr.  Terry 
entered  the  lamp  business  he  found  a 
score  of  small,  struggling  companies,  all 
bitterly  competing  and  each  jealous  of  what 
little  progress  its  competitors,  acting  in- 
dividually, might  achieve.  Today  the  lamp 
industry  stands  closely  united  in  bonds  of 
mutual  acquaintance,  harmony  and  coop- 
erative effort,  provided  with  every  facility 
for  improving  lamp  quality  and  leading  in 
the  race-old  quest  for  better  light.  In  this 
remarkable  transformation,  Mr.  Terry 
has  been  a  prime  mover,  his  genius  for 
organization  making  him  a  most  effective 
factor  in  the  bringing  together  of  the  vari- 
ous lamp  interests.  He  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  when  that  body  was  founded 
in  February,  1885,  at  Chicago.  For  many 
years  he  has  served  on  the  Association's 
Incandescent  Lamp  Committee.  In  the 
management  of  his  own  enterprises,  Mr. 
Terry  has  always  sought,  in  every  prac- 
tical way,  to  increase  the  prosperity  and 
happiness  of  his  business  associates  and 
employees,  and  has  devoted  much  personal 
attention  to  the  development  of  a  savings 
and  investment  plan  to  promote  thrift. 
Under  this  plan  an  employee  can  start  sav- 
ing with  as  little  as  five  cents.  He  has  been 
active  in  French  relief  work,  taking  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  a  large  number  of  unfor- 
tunates whose  distress  resulted  from  the 
war.  He  has  encouraged  the  formation 
of  Red  Cross  classes  in  the  lamp  factories 
and  vigorously  promoted  the  Liberty  Bond- 
raising  and  Red  Cross  campaigns.  Outside 
of  his  business,  Mr.  Terry  has  an  espe- 
cial fondness  for  outdoor  life,  and  finds 
his  most  favored  times  of  recreation  those 
when  he  is  "out  camping."  He  is  one  of 
the  owners  of  a  sixty-acre  island  in  Lake 
Ontario,  known  as  Association  Island, 
where,  in  addition  to  its  uses  as  a  place  of 
rest  and  recreation,  many  important  elec- 
trical meetings  are  held  during  the  summer 
months.  He  delights  especially  in  beauti- 
ful landscapes  and  his  fondness  for  artistic 
lawns,  beautiful  shrubbery  and  the  fresh- 
ness and  attraction  of  natural  ornamenta- 


424 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


tion  is  shown  by  the  splendid  effects  at 
Nela  Park,  where  the  National  Lamp 
Works  are  located,  and  in  other  places 
where  he  has  had  a  controlling  voice  in  the 
improvement  of  the  surroundings.  His 
career  has  been  marked  by  good  judgment, 
the  selection  of  congenial  associations  and 


competent  subordinates,  the  constant  for- 
ward movement  in  the  enterprises  under 
his  control  and  the  harmonizing  of  the  in- 
terests of  all  connected  with  them.  His 
social  connections  include  membership  in 
the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago  and  the 
Union  Club  of  Cleveland. 


CHARLES  G.   M.   THOMAS 


Charles  G.  M.  Thomas,  treasurer  of 
the  Consolidated  Gas  Company,  has  for 
years  been  greatly  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  light  and  power  companies 
throughout  the  country.  He  was  born  in 
New  York  City  July  2,  1866,  and,  upon 


CHARLES    G.     M.    THOMAS 

the  completion  of  his  education,  entered 
the  insurance  business.  His  activity  in 
the  lighting  field  began  in  1888  with  the 
Standard  Gas  Light  Co.  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  of  which  he  became  manager  in 
1893.  During  this  period  he  was  also 
President  of  the  New  Paltz  &  Walkill  Val- 
ley Railroad  and  Vice-President  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Middletown,  Goshen 
Traction  Company.  He  was  in  succes- 
sion vice-president  and  general  man- 


ager of  the  Newtown  and  Flushing 
Gas  Company  and  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  New  York  and 
Queens  Gas  Company  and  the  Williams- 
port  Gas  Company.  During  this  period  he 
also  served  as  vice-president  and  general 
manager  of  the  Dallas  (Texas)  Gas  Com- 
pany, and  in  1907  he  became  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager  of  the  New 
York  and  Queens  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company.  He  was  made  its  presi- 
dent in  1913  and  in  1916  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  company,  which  office  he  still 
occupies.  Mr.  Thomas  is  secretary  and 
treasurer  and  a  director  of  the  Busi- 
ness Men's  Land  Company  of  Flushing, 
New  York,  and  director  of  the  Flushing 
National  Bank.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Merchants'  Association  of  New  York, 
past  president  and  a  director  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  the  Borough  of 
Queens  and  chairman  of  the  National  Af- 
fairs Committee;  a  director  of  the  Real 
Estate  Exchange  of  Long  Island. 

He  is  connected  with  many  scientific  bod- 
ies, being  a  member  and  former  president 
of  the  Empire  State  Gas  and  Electric  As- 
sociation and  a  member  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  the  Society  of 
Illuminating  Engineers,  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  New  York 
Electrical  Society,  the  American  Gas  in- 
stitute, the  Municipal  Art  Society,  the  Na- 
tional Geographic  Society,  a  Fellow  of 
the  American  Geographical  Society,  the 
American  Numismatic  Society,  the  Navy 
League  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Saint  David's  Society  of  New  York,  the 
Real  Estate  Association  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  National  Tax  Association, 
Queens  Masonic  Club,  American  Society 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  National 


ELIHU  THOMSON 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


425 


Municipal  League,  National  Security 
League,  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science  and  the  Real  Estate 
Board  of  New  York.  He  is  also  National 
Councillor  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  the  United  States,  was  chairman  of  the 
Mayor's  Committee  on  National  Defense 
in  Queens  Borough,  vice-president  and  di- 
rector of  the  Councils  of  the  Boy  Scouts 
of  America  in  the  City  of  New  York  and 
vice-chairman  of  the  Queens  County  War 
Aid  Association. 

Mr.  Thomas  is  a  Mason,  being  also  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Arch  and  a  Knight 
Templar,  and  a  member  of  the  Royal  Ar- 
canum. His  clubs  include  the  Niantic,  the 
Flushing  Country  (past-pres.),  Men's 
(past-president)  and  Third  Ward  Repub- 
lican Clubs,  of  Flushing;  the  Long  Island 
Automobile  Club,  and  the  Engineers'  and 
Engineers'  Golf  Clubs,  the  Gas  and  Elec- 


tric Golf  Association  (past-pres.),  of  New 
York;  the  Bayside  Yacht  Club,  Engineers' 
Country  Club,  of  which  he  is  also  presi- 
dent, and  a  member  of  the  board  of  gov- 
ernors, and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
the  State  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  married  in  New  York 
City  June  17,  1890,  to  Miss  Saidee  An- 
toinette Beach,  and  has  had  three  children 
— Dorothy  Gwen  (died  1896),  Marjory 
Beach  and  Charles  Norton  Thomas. 

On  January  27,  1916,  Mr.  Thomas  was 
elected  treasurer  of  the  Consolidated  Gas 
Company  of  New  York,  and  in  April  of 
the  same  year  he  was  made  treasurer  of 
the  Astoria  Light,  Heat  and  Power  Com- 
pany, and  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Di- 
rectors of  the  New  York  and  Queens 
Electric  Light  and  Power  Company,  which 
three  positions  he  still  holds. 


ELIHU  THOMSON 


Widely  famed  in  technical  and  scientific 
circles  for  the  great  range  and  importance 
of  his  researches  and  achievements  in  the 
electrical  field,  and  for  his  uniform  friend- 
liness and  helpfulness  to  students,  fellow 
workers  and  all  those  contending  with  the 
problems  of  electrical  discovery,  Dr.  Elihu 
Thomson  is  in  the  foremost  rank  of  those 
who  have  made  ours  preeminently  the 
Electric  Age,  and  has  become  one  of  the 
most  revered  and  respected  masters  of 
electrical  science. 

He  was  born  in  Manchester,  England, 
March  29,  1853.  His  father,  Daniel 
Thomson,  was  Scotch,  and  his  mother, 
Mary  A.  (Rhodes)  Thomson,  was  Eng- 
lish, but  Professor  Thomson  is  thoroughly 
and  emphatically  American.  He  came  to 
this  country  with  his  parents,  who  settled 
in  Philadelphia  in  1858.  He  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  Central  High  School  in  1870 
with  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and  received  its 
A.M.  degree  in  1875.  Late  in  1870  he  was 
appointed  assistant  professor  of  chemis- 
try and  in  1876  professor  of  chemistry, 
in  the  Central  High  School,  holding  that 
chair  until  his  electrical  researches  con- 
strained him  to  resign  it  in  1880.  From 
the  age  of  eleven  he  had  been  attracted  by 
the  phenomena  of  electricity,  and  he  had 


made  many  electrical  devices  and  instru- 
ments before  taking  the  subject  up  in  a 
professional  way. 

His  first  important  invention  was  the 
three-coil  arc  dynamo  which,  with  its  auto- 
matic regulator  and  other  novel  features, 
formed  the  basis  of  the  successful  lighting 
system  put  out  by  the  Thomson-Houston 
Electric  Company,  beginning  in  1880.  The 
three-coil  dynamo  was  one  of  the  first 
three-phase  machines  and  was  shown  as  an 
alternator  in  the  original  patent  papers. 
His  next  step  was  the  utilization  of  a  mag- 
netic field  to  control  an  electric  arc,  an  idea 
since  applied  in  many  forms,  but  first  used 
in  connection  with  a  lightning  arrester  for 
his  arc  system  in  1 8 8 1 .  Some  of  his  earlier 
researches  and  inventions  were  made  in 
collaboration  with  his  former  colleague  in 
the  High  School,  the  late  Professor  E.  J. 
Houston. 

The  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany, established  at  Philadelphia  in  1879, 
removed  in  1880  to  New  Britain,  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  1883,  when  a  Lynn  syndicate 
bought  control,  the  business  was  removed 
to  Lynn,  where,  with  more  complete  equip- 
ment, the  Thomson-Houston  enterprise 
was  built  up  to  great  prominence.  In  1892, 
by  merger  with  the  Edison  General  Elec- 


426 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


trie  Company,  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany was  formed,  now  the  largest  enter- 
prise of  its  kind  in  existence.  During  the 
pioneer  years  Professor  Thomson  was 
electrician  and  chief  engineer,  many  of  the 
fundamentally  important  inventions  upon 
which  the  industry  is  based  being  his. 
Dr.  Thomson  is  still  actively  engaged  with 
the  newer  problems  of  the  industry,  being 
consulting  engineer  of  the.  General  Elec- 
tric Co.  and  head  of  research  laboratory 
work  at  the  Lynn,  Mass.,  plant.  Many 
basic  principles  and  inventions  in  connec- 
tion with  electric  light,  power  and  traction 
are  his.  He  originated  the  art  of  electric 
welding  by  the  resistance  method  which  is 
now  more  and  more  applied  in  metal  manu- 
factures. The  Thomson  Electric  Meter, 
first  prize  winner  in  a  meter  competition  in 
Paris  in  1890,  is  now  used  by  millions.  He 
pioneered  in  high  frequency  developments 
which  later  became  the  basis  for  wireless 
methods.  His  inventions  touch  all  angles 
of  electrical  application,  and  his  United 
States  patents  alone  exceed  six  hundred. 

Professor  Thomson  received  honorary 
degrees  of  A.M.  from  Yale,  1890;  Ph.D. 
from  Tufts,  1894;  and  Sc.D.  from  Har- 
vard, 1909.  He  has  received  from  the 
French  Government  the  decorations  of 
Chevalier  and  Officer  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  He  was  awarded  the  Rumford 
Medal,  1901 ;  the  Grand  Prix  at  the  Paris 
Expositions  of  1889  and  1900;  was  the  first 
recipient  of  the  Edison  Medal  for  electrical 
engineering,  1910;  later  received  the  El- 
liott Cresson  Gold  Medal  from  the  Frank- 
lin Institute  at  Philadelphia,  having  before 
that  twice  received  the  John  Scott  Legacy 
Medal  for  electrical  inventions.  In  1916  he 
was  the  recipient  of  the  John  Fritz  Medal, 
founded  by  the  four  great  national  engi- 
neering societies,  which  was  awarded  to  him 
for  his  achievements  in  electrical  invention, 
in  electrical  engineering,  industrial  develop- 
ment and  scientific  research.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Corporation  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology,  past  presi- 
dent of  the  International  Electrochemical 
Commission  (1908-1911),  and  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers ; 
was  United  States  delegate  to  the  Inter- 
national Electrical  Congresses  at  Chicago 
in  1893  and  St.  Louis,  1904,  and  was 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Delegates 
and  of  the  Congress  at  St.  Louis.  He  is 


a  member  of  the  National  Academy  of 
Sciences,  Fellow  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science  (vice- 
president  1899)  ;  member  of  the  American 
Physical  Society,  American  Chemical  Soci- 
ety, American  Philosophical  Society,  So- 
ciety for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering 
Education ;  Fellow  of  the  American  Acade- 
my of  Arts  and  Sciences;  honorary  mem- 
ber of  the  British  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers;  member  of  the  British  Institu- 
tion of  Civil  Engineers  and  of  the  Societe 
Internationale  des  Electriciens. 


WILLIAM  STANTON  TWINING 

An  engineer  of  especial  prominence  in 
connection  with  construction  and  operation 
of  electric  street  railways,  is  William 
Stanton  Twining,  of  Philadelphia.  He 


WILLIAM    S.    TWINING 

was  born  near  Titusville,  Pa.,  February  20, 
1865;  attended  Cornell  University,  1884- 
1885,  and  Allegheny  College,  Meadville, 
Pa.,  1885-1887,  receiving  degree  of  C.E. 
in  1887  and  A.B.  1889;  was  instructor  in 
Allegheny  College,  1887-1890;  went  with 
the  Thomson-Houston  Company  as  assist- 
ant engineer  in  the  Railway  Engineering 
Department  in  its  Boston  office,  1890- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


427 


1891;  assistant  to  Chief  Engineer,  Union 
Railway,  New  York  City,  1891-1892;  At- 
lantic Avenue  Railroad,  Brooklyn,  1892- 
1893;  People's  Traction  Company,  Phila- 
delphia, 1893-1895;  became  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  Union  Traction  Company, 
Philadelphia,  1895-1902,  and  of  its  suc- 
cessor, the  Philadelphia  Rapid  Transit 
Company,  1902-1910,  designing  and  con- 
structing the  first  subway  and  elevated 
railroad  line  in  Philadelphia  (on  Market 
street),  1902-1908.  He  was  Engineering 
Manager  for  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis,  New 
York,  1910-1916,  until  appointed  Febru- 
ary 15,  1916,  by  Mayor  Smith,  as  Director 


of  the  Department  of  City  Transit  of  the 
City  of  Philadelphia.  In  that  capacity  he 
has  charge  of  design  and  construction  of 
the  city's  system  of  Rapid  Transit  lines, 
covering  about  ninety  miles  of  track, 
as  now  authorized,  and  estimated  to  cost 
about  $80,000,000  for  construction  and 
$20,000,000  or  more  for  its  equipment. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Civil  Engineers,  American  So- 
ciety of  Mechanical  Engineers,  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Frank- 
lin Institute,  and  the  Engineers,  Univer- 
sity, and  Manufacturers  clubs  of  Phila- 
delphia. 


THOMAS   E.   TYNES 


THOMAS    E.    TYNES 


For  the  past  ten  years  Thomas  E.  Tynes 
has  been  engaged  upon  the  numerous  tasks 


of  electrical  engineering  practice  applied 
to  steel  production  in  the  plant  of  the 
Lackawanna  Steel  Company,  Lackawanna, 
New  York.  He  completed  a  special 
course  in  Electrical  Engineering  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska  in  1896,  entering 
business  the  following  year  in  Chicago  in 
a  manufactory  of  scientific  instruments. 
Very  soon  after  he  was  superintending  the 
installation  of  electric  equipment  for  inter- 
urban  railways  in  the  middle  west  for  the 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  being  with 
them  for  eight  years.  The  lines  for  which 
he  performed  such  service  included  the 
Indiana  Union  Traction  System  and  the 
Union  City,  Winchester  and  Muncie  sys- 
tems; also  those  of  the  Muncie  &  Portland, 
Western  Ohio  Railways,  and  the  Ft. 
Wayne  &  Wabash  Valley  Traction  Co. 
Mr.  Tynes  is  of  English  ancestry;  a  de- 
scendant on  his  mother's  side  of  the  English 
historian,  Sir  John  Evelyn,  and  on  his 
father's  side  of  noted  sea  captains  in  the 
British  Colonial  Service. 


428 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ALEXANDER   H.   TRUMBULL 

President    of    the    Connecticut    Electric    Manufacturing  Company 
(See  following  page) 


429 


ALEXANDER  H.  TRUMBULL 


Alexander  H.  Trumbull,  president  of 
the  Connecticut  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company,  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  has,  in  his 
position  as  directing  head  of  that  organi- 
zation, built  up  one  of  the  greatest  indus- 
trial plants  in  New  England,  the  output 
of  which  consists  of  electric  fittings  for 
homes,  offices  and  business  buildings  of  all 
kinds.  The  Connecticut  Electric  Manu- 
facturing Company  was  originally  estab- 
lished at  Bantam,  Conn.,  by  Mr.  Trum- 
bull in  association  with  his  brothers,  Isaac 
B.  and  James  Trumbull.  The  business  was 
a  success  from  its  inception  and  Mr.  Trum- 
bull soon  became  obsessed  with  the  idea 
that  the  limitations  of  Bantam  were  too 
narrow  and  that  a  larger  city  would  afford 
opportunity  for  increased  trade  and 
broader  expansion.  Acting  upon  this  con- 
viction the  business  was  removed  to  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  in  1912,  where  the  company, 
in  anticipation  of  the  removal,  had  erected 
a  factory  at  Connecticut  and  Florence  Ave- 
nues. This  structure  is  60x150  feet  and  is 
three  and  one-half  stories  high.  It  is  of 
mill  construction,  thoroughly  equipped 
with  all  modern  machinery  and  appliances. 
Its  well-lighted  and  sanitary  interior,  amply 
protected  from  fire,  shelters  300  employees, 
of  which  fifty  per  cent  are  girls.  The  out- 
put is  distributed  all  over  the  United  States 
and  South  America  and  the  export  trade, 
which  has  largely  increased  in  the  past 
four  years,  spreads  out  to  most  of  the 
trade  centers  of  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa. 
When  the  business  was  first  removed  to 
Bridgeport,  Alexander  H.  Trumbull  filled, 
as  he  does  now,  the  position  of  president, 
James  Trumbull  was  vice-president  and 
Isaac  B.  Trumbull  acted  as  secretary  and 
treasurer.  Isaac  B.  Trumbull,  whose  por- 
trait is  shown  on  the  next  page,  was  lost 
on  the  Lusitania  in  May,  1915,  and  James 
died  in  April,  1916,  leaving  Alexander  H. 
Trumbull  in  sole  charge  of  the  business, 
which  has  largely  increased  under  his  care- 
ful management.  Mr.  Trumbull,  the  only 
survivor  of  the  original  organization,  was 
born  on  October  12,  1876,  in  West  Hart- 


ford, Conn.,  the  son  of  Hugh  H.  and 
Mary  Ann  (Harpen)  Trumbull.  The 
family,  originally  Scotch,  went  to  Ireland 
to  escape  religious  persecution,  and  the 
father  was  born  in  Ulster,  noted  for  its 
robust  men  of  progressiveness  and  deter- 
mination. After  coming  to  this  country  they 
resided  in  several  Connecticut  towns  and 
finally  removed  to  Plainville  during  Alex- 
ander Trumbull's  boyhood,  and  he  was 
educated  there.  He  had  six  brothers,  all 
of  whom  entered  the  manufacturing  busi- 
ness, and  when  Mr.  Trumbull  finished  his 
schooling  he  was  employed  by  the  Trum- 
bull Electric  Manufacturing  Company, 
which  was  organized  by  two  of  his 
brothers,  John  H.  and  Henry  Trumbull. 
Later  he  engaged  in  electrical  construction, 
and  with  his  knowledge  of  the  electrical 
industry  he  launched  the  venture  at  Ban- 
tam, which  has  met  with  more  than  ordi- 
nary success,  and  placed  its  directing  head 
in  the  front  rank  of  New  England  manu- 
facturers of  electrical  appliances.  When 
he  organized  the  company  Mr.  Trumbull 
had  a  capital  of  $800.  Upon  incorpora- 
tion the  company  was  capitalized  at 
$25,000,  of  which  $8,000  was  paid  in.  It 
is  now  $200,000,  all  paid,  and  the  business 
in  1916  amounted  to  $1,250,000.  This 
remarkable  growth  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
Mr.  Trumbull's  able  management,  his 
knowledge  of  electrical  conditions  and  an 
ability  to  extend  the  export  trade  to  profit- 
able centers.  The  company  now  employs 
three  traveling  salesmen  who  operate  from 
the  factory,  and  many  more  from  the  New 
York  City  office  at  30  Church  Street.  In 
addition  to  this  system  of  distributing  the 
product,  offices  are  maintained  in  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco. 

Mr.  Trumbull  was  married  December 
6,  1906,  to  Mary  Smith  of  Litchfield,  and 
there  are  two  children,  Marion  and  Donald 
Smith  Trumbull. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Algonquin  Club, 
the  Housatonic  Rod  and  Gun  Club  and 
the  Weatogue  Club. 


430 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE    LATE    ISAAC    B.    TRUMBULL 

One  of  the  three  Trumbull  Brothers  who  founded  the   Connecticut  Electric  Manufacturing  Company. 

(See  preceding  page.) 


BOWEN    TUFTS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


431 


BOWEN  TUFTS 


Bowen  Tufts,  one  of  Boston's  leading 
bankers,  has  spent  practically  his  entire 
business  life  in  the  development  of  the 
bonding  business  of  C.  D.  Parker  &  Co., 
Inc.,  and  their  predecessors  who  have  al- 
ways specialized  in  New  England  munici- 
pal, real  estate  and  public  utility  securities 
and  in  the  development  of  New  England's 
public  utilities.  He  is  now  interested  in 
over  a  score  of  electric  railway,  light,  heat 
and  power  companies  scattered  through- 
out the  down-east  territory.  Mr.  Tufts 
was  born  in  Lexington,  Mass.,  June  17, 
1884,  and  his  New  England  origin  is  at- 
tested by  his  direct  descent  from  Peter 
Tufts,  who  arrived  in  America  about  1675 
and  settled  in  New  England.  Mr.  Tufts 
was  educated  in  the  grammar  and  high 
schools  of  Somerville,  Mass.,  and  upon 
the  completion  of  his  studies  he  obtained 
a  position  with  the  banking  house  of  Jose, 
Parker  &  Co.  This  was  in  1899,  and 
four  years  later  he  became  manager  of  the 
firm.  His  quick  grasp  of  financial  affairs 
and  the  intricacies  of  investment  securities 
brought  rapid  advancement,  and  in  1910 
he  was  made  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
C.  D.  Parker  &  Co.,  which  succeeded  to 
the  business  of  Jose,  Parker  &  Co.  In 
1912  the  business  was  incorporated  under 
the  name  of  C.  D.  Parker  &  Co.,  Inc.,  and 
Mr.  Tufts  became  vice-president  and  man- 
ager of  the  vast  business  of  the  house, 
which,  in  addition  to  general  banking,  in- 
cludes the  management  and  financing  of 
public  utility  and  other  companies.  Mr. 
Tufts'  interests  are  many  and  varied.  He 
is  Vice-President,  Manager  and  Director 
of  C.  D.  Parker  &  Company,  Inc.,  bank- 
ers, and  Vice-President  and  Director  of 
the  following  companies  :  Amesbury  Elec- 
tric Light  Company,  Athol  Gas  &  Electric 
Company,  Blackstone  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany, Central  Massachusetts  Electric  Com- 
pany, Gardner  Gas,  Fuel  &  Light  Com- 
pany, Great  Barrington  Electric  Light  Co., 
The  Lenox  Electric  Company,  Marlboro 
Electric  Company,  Marlboro-Hudson  Gas 
Company,  Merrimac  Valley  Power  & 
Buildings  Co.,  North  Brookfield  Electric 


Light  &  Power  Co.,  Norton  Power  & 
Electric  Company,  Norwood  Gas  Com- 
pany, Plymouth  Gas  Light  Company, 
Provincetown  Light  &  Power  Company, 
Randolph  &  Holbrook  Power  &  Electric 
Co.,  Southeastern  Massachusetts  Power 
&  Electric  Co.,  Stockbridge  Lighting  Com- 
pany, Union  Light  &  Power  Company, 
Ware  Electric  Company,  Westborough 
Gas  &  Electric  Company,  Weymouth  Light 
&  Power  Company,  Winchendon  Electric 
Light  &  Power  Company,  Worcester  Sub- 
urban Electric  Company.  He  is  also  a 
Director  of  the  following  companies: 
Concord,  Maynard  &  Hudson  Street  Rail- 
way, Connecticut  Valley  Street  Railway, 
Gas  &  Electric  Improvement  Company, 
Massachusetts  Real  Estate  Exchange,  Ply- 
mouth Electric  Light  Company,  Wey- 
mouth Water  Power  Company,  and  a 
Trustee  of  the  following:  Belmont  Springs 
Trust,  Commonwealth  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Companies,  Central  Massachusetts 
Power  Company,  Franklin  County  Pow- 
er Co.  (also  Vice-President),  Lynn 
Realty  Trust,  Massachusetts  Consolidated 
Railways,  Massachusetts  Lighting  Compa- 
nies, Merrifield  Buildings  Trust  (Worces- 
ter), Old  Colony  Light  &  Power  Asso- 
ciates, Parker  Building  Trust,  and  is  the 
Treasurer  and  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association  (N.  E.  Div.).  It  will  be  seen 
by  these  various  interests  that  Mr.  Tufts 
has  been  one  of  the  most  active  men  in  the 
development  of  New  England's  electrical 
industry  and  bids  fair  to  eventually  extend 
his  activities  beyond  New  England's  boun- 
daries. Mr.  Tufts  was  married  Septem- 
ber 23,  1907,  to  Octavia  E.  Williams,  of 
Chicago.  The  children  by  the  union  are 
Mary  Octavia,  Bowen  Charlton  and  David 
Albert.  Mr.  Tufts  resides  at  Winchester, 
Mass.,  and  his  offices  are  at  78  Devonshire 
Street,  Boston,  where  as  Vice-President 
and  manager  of  the  C.  D.  Parker  &  Co., 
Inc.,  he  devotes  his  time  to  the  company's 
business  and  the  affairs  of  the  house,  which 
has  become  one  of  the  leading  concerns  in 
its  line  in  the  New  England  metropolis. 


432 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


FRANCIS  ROBBINS  UPTON 


The  basis  of  Thomas  A.  Edison's  pro- 
ductive researches  and  revolutionary  in- 
ventions has  been  a  finely  organized  com- 
pany of  experts  whose  operations  have 
been  carried  on  with  all  the  efficient 
method  and  attention  to  detail  associated 


FRANCIS    R.    UPTON 
From  a  photograph  taken  in  1889 

with greatcommercial organizations.  Huge 
sums  of  money  were  spent,  countless  hours 
consumed  in  close  laboratory  work,  and  ex- 
plorers sent  to  remote  parts  of  the  world 
on  the  mission  of  discovering  some  rare 
element,  before  the  Edison  carbon  filament 
lamp  was  evolved.  Francis  Robbins  Upton 
is  entitled  to  the  credit  implied  in  having 
been  a  coadjutor  of  Mr.  Edison,  on  which 
account  he  is  spoken  of  wherever  the  "wiz- 
ard's" achievements  are  known.  He  ar- 
rived at  Menlo  Park  in  1878,  bringing  the 
zeal  of  one  bent  upon  their  first  free  adven- 
ture and  the  avowed  desire  of  becoming 
a  disciple  of  Edison.  From  Peabody, 
Mass.,  where  he  was  born,  July  26,  1852, 


he  went  to  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover, 
Mass.,  to  Chauncey  Hall,  Boston,  and  to 
Bowdoin  College,  taking  the  Bachelor  of 
Science  degree  at  the  latter  institution  in 
1877.  The  ensuing  three  years  were  spent 
at  Princeton  College,  where  a  degree  was 
granted  him  in  1877,  and  at  the  University 
of  Berlin.  As  a  college  student,  he  special- 
ized in  mathematics  and  physics,  entering 
Edison's  employ  in  the  capacity  of  mathe- 
matician. But  his  usefulness  was  not  cir- 
cumscribed by  any  narrow  definition  of 
grade;  on  the  contrary,  he  ably  conducted 
much  of  the  important  early  work  of  the 
Edison  laboratories.  There  developed,  for 
instance,  his  mathematical  analysis  of  the 
multiple  arc  feeder  and  three  wire  system 
of  electric  lighting.  He  performed  many 
important  experiments  bearing  upon  the 
incandescent  carbon  filament;  lighting  a 
No.  2  high  resistance  lamp  beside  a  No.  i 
and  observing  that  No.  i  did  not  flicker; 
being  the  first  to  raise  carbon  filaments  to 
a  higher  point  of  incandescence  when  they 
were  being  exhausted  than  they  would  be 
subjected  to  at  normal  candle  power.  He 
designed  the  present  Edison  base  on  in- 
candescent lamps,  sending  the  gauges  out 
to  the  world;  he  took  charge  of  Edison's 
search  for  fibres;  he  was  commissioned 
to  buy  the  first  parcel  of  land  for  the 
Edison  Illuminating  Co.  of  Boston.  In 
fact,  Mr.  Upton's  interests  have  been  for 
years  synonymous  with  the  name  of  Edi- 
son. He  is  a  former  director  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Lighting  Co.,  the  Edison  Illumin- 
ating Co.  of  New  York,  the  Edison  Com- 
pany of  Isolated  Lighting,  the  Edison 
Lamp  Co.,  and  the  Edison  Portland  Ce- 
ment Co.  He  had  charge  of  the  first  in- 
candescent lamp  factory,  was  formerly 
general  manager  of  the  Edison  Lamp 
Works,  and  vice-president  of  the  Edison 
Electrical  Engineers.  One  of  his  best  de- 
served distinctions  is,  perhaps,  that  of  be- 
ing president  of  the  Edison  Pioneers.  More 
recently  Mr.  Upton  has  been  the  sales 
manager  of  the  National  Tube  Works  of 
Pittsburgh,  with  offices  in  the  Union  Build- 
ing, Newark,  N.  J. 


CHARLES    R.UNDERHILL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


433 


CHARLES  REGINALD  UNDERHILL 


Captain  Charles  Reginald  Underhill, 
electrical  engineer,  inventor,  author,  lec- 
turer and  specialist  in  the  application  of 
electromagnets  to  numerous  industrial 
purposes,  was  born  in  Chappaqua,  New 
York,  November  2,  1874.  He  is  a  direct 
descendant  of  Captain  John  Underhill,  of 
Colonial  fame.  On  account  of  deafness 
in  his  youth  he  did  not  attend  college, 
and  he  is  largely  self-educated,  and 
from  boyhood  has  always  been  much  in- 
terested in  problems  of  physics  and  elec- 
tricity. He  was  employed  in  the  inspection 
department  of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany in  New  York  from  1892  to  1900, 
becoming  assistant  chief  inspector  during 
that  time.  He  became  chief  electrical  en- 
gineer of  the  Varley  Duplex  Magnet  Com- 
pany, Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  and  Providence, 
R.  I.,  from  1900  to  1904.  It  was  during 
this  connection  that  he  acquired  a  special 
interest  in  the  subject  of  electromagnets, 
it  being  his  duty  to  design  them  for  numer- 
ous and  widely  different  purposes.  The 
very  small  amount  of  data  at  that  time 
available  in  regard  to  electromagnets  com- 
pelled him  to  enter  upon  investigations  of 
his  own,  which  he  has  continued  for  the 
past  seventeen  years,  and  his  laboratory 
force  is  continually  testing  electromagnets 
in  various  applications  under  his  direction. 
He  was  engaged  in  general  practice  as  a 
consulting  electrical  engineer  in  New  York 
City  from  1904  to  1909,  then  was  engaged 
for  a  few  months  as  an  editor  and  technical 
writer  with  the  Westinghouse  Electric  and 
Manufacturing  Company  at  East  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  resigning  to  become 
chief  engineer  of  the  American  Electric 
Fuse  Company,  1910  and  1911,  at  Mus- 
kegon,  Michigan.  On  July  i,  1911,  he 
became  the  chief  electrical  engineer  for  the 
Acme  Wire  Company,  of  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  manufacturers  of  magnet 
wires,  electromagnets,  coil  windings  of  all 
kinds  and  standards  and  special  wires  for 
electrical  purposes  and  recognized  as  lead- 
ers in  those  especial  lines  in  which  quality 
and  accurate  gauging  are  of  the  highest 
importance;  and  this  business  has  increased 
to  large  and  international  scope.  Captain 
Underhill  has  made  deep  researches  into 


the  aspects  of  electromagnet  design  and 
operation.  He  discovered  and  published 
general  laws  for  the  predetermination  of 
the  mechanical  force  characteristics  of 
electromagnets  for  operation  on  either 
continuous  or  alternating  current  circuits, 
and  he  has  designed  great  numbers  of 
electromagnets  for  numerous  purposes. 
Besides  these  researches  in  his  specialty  of 
electromagnets,  he  has  devoted  much  at- 
tention to  general  electrical  phenomena 
from  the  scientific  side  and  especially  in 
connection  with  the  application  of  the 
Electron  Theory  to  the  phenomenon  of 
electrical  resistance.  He  has  lectured  on 
"Electromagnets"  at  the  principal  colleges 
in  the  United  States,  including  the  Univer- 
sity of  California  and  the  Leland  Stanford, 
Junior,  University  in  California.  He  suc- 
cessfully placed  in  electrical  and  mechani- 
cal operation  the  Cobb  automatic  shock- 
less  railway  crossing,  in  Los  Angeles, 
California.  Captain  Underhill  is  inventor 
and  patentee  of  several  types  of  electro- 
magnetic coils,  processes  and  machines 
for  producing  such  coils.  He  is  author  of 
"The  Electromagnet,"  in  1903;  "Wireless 
Telegraphy  and  Telephony"  (with  W.  W. 
Massie),  1908;  "Solenoids,  Electromag- 
nets and  Electromagnetic  Windings"  in 
1910;  "Magnets,  Induction  Coils,  and 
Condensers,"  Section  5  of  the  Standard 
Handbook  for  Electrical  Engineers,  1915  ; 
and  has  written  many  articles  and  papers 
published  in  important  electrical  publica- 
tions and  in  the  transactions  and  proceed- 
ings of  engineering  societies.  In  his  spe- 
cialties he  is  regarded  as  a  leading 
authority,  and  his  researches  and  inven- 
tions have  added  much  to  the  efficiency 
and  increased  the  applications  of  elec- 
tromagnets to  various  purposes.  In  1905 
he  became  much  interested  in  the  problems 
of  wireless  telegraphy  and  telephony,  and 
devoted  considerable  attention  and  experi- 
ment to  the  subject.  He  invented,  pat- 
ented and  demonstrated  a  machine  for 
printing  "wireless"  Morse  or  Continental 
Code  messages  in  plain  English  characters 
on  tape  like  a  stock-ticker  and  demon- 
strated the  device  to  William  Marconi, 
Nikola  Tesla,  Dr.  Lee  de  Forest,  and 


434 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


many  other  notable  "wireless"  men;  and 
he  demonstrated  the  machine  at  sea  as  well 
as  on  land.  As  the  result  of  much  other 
electrical  experiment  he  was  at  the  time 
of  his  entering  the  service  bringing  out  new 
signaling  apparatus,  and  other  electrical 
apparatus  for  use  in  connection  with  auto- 
mobiles. He  has  applied  electromagnets 
to  a  large  number  of  mechanical  devices 
and  has  attained  recognition  as  a  leader  in 
that  work.  In  December,  1917,  he  was 
appointed  Captain  in  the  Aviation  Section 
of  the  Signal  Reserve  Corps,  U.  S.  Army, 
and  entered  active  service  on  January  14, 
1918.  He  was  released  from  service  on 


January  8,  1919,  and  returned  to  the 
Acme  Wire  Co.  as  chief  electrical  engineer. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers;  Member 
of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  associate  member 
of  the  Society  of  Automotive  Engineers, 
Institution  of  Radio  Engineers,  and  Ameri- 
can Physical  Society.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New  York,  and 
of  the  Quinnipiack  Club  of  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  the  United  Service  Club 
of  America,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 


CHARLES  JOSEPH  VAN  DEPOELE 


The  application  of  electricity  to  street 
railway  traction  forms  a  very  important 
item  in  the  story  of  electrical  development. 
Street  railways  are  an  American  develop- 
ment, and  were  all  run  by  horse  and  mule 
power  until  a  few  cities  adopted  the  cable 
method,  which  doubtless  would  have  spread 
to  many  other  places  had  it  not  been  for 
the  timely  invention  of  the  electric  trolley 
system  by  Charles  Joseph  Van  Depoele, 
who  lives  in  electrical  history  as  the 
"Father  of  the  Trolley  System."  He  lived 
to  put  it  on  a  firm  and  substantial  footing, 
but  died  before  he  had  received  the  larger 
reward  and  the  full  recognition  that  be- 
longs to  one  who  had  done  so  much  for  the 
advancement  of  electrical  science.  Mr. 
Van  Depoele  was  born  April  27,  1846,  in 
Lichtervelde,  Belgium.  The  family  name 
was  van  de  Poele,  and  thus  spelled  indi- 
cated a  title,  but  he  changed  it  to  the  form 
Van  Depoele,  as  he  was  democratic  in  his 
ideas.  His  ancestors  lived  in  and  around 
Bruges.  He  was  educated  at  the  College 
of  Poperinghe,  Belgium,  and  the  Imperial 
Lyceum,  Lille,  France.  His  father,  Peter 
Van  Depoele,  was  for  several  years  master 
mechanic  of  the  East  Flanders  railway 
shops  at  Poperinghe.  Young  Van  De- 
poele, brought  up  with  mechanical  sur- 
roundings, found  deepest  interest  in  ma- 
chinery and  especially  in  some  batteries 
and  other  electrical  apparatus  that  formed 
part  of  the  equipment  of  the  railway  shop. 
He  wanted  to  know  more  about  such 
things,  and  while  he  was  a  student  at  the 
local  college  in  Poperinghe,  he  not  only 


kept  up  with  the  studies  of  the  regular  cur- 
riculum, but  bought  books  and  took  private 
studies  in  physics,  mechanics  and  electricity, 
and  when  only  fifteen  years  old  had  suc- 
ceeded, through  the  use  of  about  forty 
Bunsen  cells,  in  generating  his  first  electric 
light.  The  boy's  father  regarded  his  son's 
experimental  work  as  a  waste  of  time  and 
the  pursuit  of  useless  knowledge,  so  that 
Charles  did  most  of  his  research  while  his 
father  was  away,  but  parental  solicitude 
that  the  boy  should  learn  a  real  trade  led  to 
his  being  apprenticed  to  a  Paris  wood-car- 
ver, who  made  church  furniture,  altars  and 
reredoses.  The  family  moved  to  Lille, 
and  the  young  man  took  a  special  course  in 
physics,  and  particularly  in  electricity,  in 
the  Imperial  Lyceum.  His  enthusiasm  for 
these  branches  of  study  was  so  great  that  it 
attracted  the  attention  of  Dr.  Patoir  and 
other  members  of  the  faculty  of  the  institu- 
tion. But  the  father's  attitude  towards  the 
son's  desire  to  experiment  with  electricity 
was  still  unfavorable,  so  the  young  man,  in 
1868,  went  quietly  away  from  home,  vis- 
ited an  aunt  at  Antwerp  for  two  weeks,  and 
then  set  sail  for  the  United  States,  locating 
in  Detroit.  He  did  not  start  an  electrical 
enterprise  at  first.  His  initial  business  ven- 
ture was  along  the  line  of  least  resistance. 
He  knew  the  church  furniture  business,  and 
with  a  compatriot,  Joseph  Artz,  he  started 
a  manufactory  in  that  line  which  had  much 
success,  at  times  employing  as  many  as  two 
hundred  operatives.  He  continued  in  that 
business  until  1877.  His  parents  had  joined 
him  not  long  after  his  arrival  in  Detroit, 


CHARLES    J.   VAN    DEPOELE 

(DECEASED) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


435 


and  in  1870  he  married  Miss  Mina  van 
Hoogstraten.  While  in  the  church  fur- 
niture business  Mr.  Van  Depoele  had 
continued  his  electrical  studies.  He 
completed  various  inventions,  but  found 
capital  shy  about  investing  money  in 
their  exploitation.  With  money  earned  in 
his  furniture  business,  he  constructed  a  bat- 
tery of  100  Bunsen  cells  with  which  he 
operated  electric  lights.  In  1877  he  turned 
over  the  furniture  business  to  his  father, 
constructed  a  laboratory,  and  devoted  his 
attention  entirely  to  electric  problems.  He 
constructed  a  dynamo  broadly  based  upon 
the  one  which  Gramme,  by  a  combination 
of  the  continuous  current  principle  of 
Pacinotti's  dynamo  with  the  self-excitation 
of  field  magnets  of  Wheatstone,  Varley, 
Siemens,  Ladd  and  Farmer,  had  formu- 
lated into  the  first  commercially  practical 
continuous  current  dynamo.  The  one  which 
Mr.  Van  Depoele  made  he  greatly  im- 
proved, and  he  soon  evolved  a  type  of  dyna- 
mos far  in  advance  of  any  other  then  in 
vogue.  He  devoted  much  study  to  the 
problem  of  arc  lighting,  and  in  1877,  when 
he  installed  an  arc  light  above  his  labora- 
tory, it  glared  so  luridly  through  an  over- 
hanging fog  that  a  nervous  citizen  turned 
in  a  fire  alarm  under  the  impression  that 
some  building  was  on  fire.  In  1878,  when 
Forepaugh's  Circus  visited  Detroit,  the  il- 
lumination of  the  grounds  in  which  the  cir- 
cus tent  was  pitched  formed  a  noteworthy 
added  attraction  for  the  visitors,  and  soon 
after  when  Recreation  Park  was  lighted  by 
Van  Depoele  lamps,  the  demonstration  was 
so  satisfactory  that  Mr.  Van  Depoele  was 
able  to  secure  many  lighting  contracts  and 
to  organize  in  1880  the  Van  Depoele  Elec- 
tric Light  Company,  with  new  shops  at 
Hamtranck,  a  suburb  of  Detroit.  An  im- 
portant business  was  done  in  dynamos,  mo- 
tors and  other  apparatus.  In  1880  the 
enterprise  was  removed  to  Chicago  and 
reorganized  in  1883,  with  Albert  Wahl 
and  A.  K.  Stiles  of  Chicago  as  investors, 
the  company  being  named  the  Van  Depoele 
Electrical  Manufacturing  Company.  In 
1882,  the  Van  Depoele  Electric  Light 
Company  made  arrangement  with  some  in- 
terested parties  to  put  up  a  plant  for  exhi- 
bition with  a  view  to  test  the  availability 
of  electric  propulsion  for  the  then  projected 
elevated  railway  at  Chicago.  Some  delays 
prevented  the  completion  of  the  prepara- 


tions for  the  test  until  February,  1883. 
The  track,  which  was  500  feet  in  length 
with  a  5  per  cent  grade  toward  the  centre 
of  its  length,  was  temporarily  equipped, 
and  a  car,  accommodating  twenty-five  peo- 
ple, was  kept  busy  for  several  weeks  with 
perfect  success.  In  the  summer  a  temporary 
elevated  track  was  built  on  the  roads  of  the 
Chicago  Inter-State  Fair,  opened  Septem- 
ber 10,  1883,  and  for  the  fifty  days  the  fair 
was  open  the  car  on  this  track  was  busy  car- 
rying people  around  the  grounds  without  a 
hitch.  A  similar  installation  and  exhibition 
on  the  grounds  of  the  Toronto  Annual  Ex- 
hibition was  made,  but  with  an  under- 
ground conduit  instead  of  an  overhead 
wire,  and  this  led  to  an  order  to  construct 
a  one-track  road  a  mile  in  length,  with 
overhead  wire,  for  the  Toronto  Industrial 
Exposition  in  1885,  connecting  the  street 
cars  with  the  exposition  grounds.  Orders 
came  for  the  installation  of  electric  railways 
in  New  Orleans  and  Minneapolis,  in  1885  ; 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  Appleton,  Wis.  (first 
complete  road),  Port  Huron,  Mich.,  De- 
troit, Mich.,  and  Windsor,  Ont.,  1886; 
Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  Lima,  Ohio,  Scranton, 
Pa.,  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  and  Ansonia, 
Conn.,  in  1887;  Dayton,  Ohio,  in  1888, 
and  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1889. 

There  have  been  many  patents  and  im- 
provements in  electric  railways  since  Mr. 
Van  Depoele's  day,  but  his  idea  of  the  little 
wheel  on  the  trolley  pole  running  under  the 
overhead  wire  still  survives  as  the  most 
economical  and  efficient  running  contact  for 
electric  railroads  so  situated  as  to  make  the 
mode  of  propulsion  available.  So  the 
designation  of  Mr.  Van  Depoele  as  the 
"Father  of  the  Trolley"  is  fully  deserved. 
Mr.  Van  Depoele  removed  to  Lynn,  Mass., 
about  1890,  and  remained  with  the  Thom- 
son-Houston Company  and  the  General 
Electric  Company,  its  successor,  until  his 
death  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  on  March  18,  1892. 
He  had  been  doing  experimental  work  on 
electric  mining  machinery  during  the  period 
immediately  previous  to  his  last  illness,  and 
also  on  some  new  developments  in  electric 
lighting  which  he  expected  to  be  his  crown- 
ing achievement,  but  of  which  the  secret 
died  with  him.  His  place  as  a  pioneer  in  the 
electric  railway  art  has  been  fully  sustained 
by  the  United  States  Courts,  but  the  rail- 
way work  was  by  no  means  his  sole  contri- 
bution to  the  electric  industry.  His  basic 


436 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


work  on  electric  power  in  the  improvement 
of  dynamos  and  motors  was  highly  valu- 
able, and  his  invention  of  the  carbon  brush, 
in  the  fall  of  1888,  brought  a  revolution  of 
the  efficiency  of  car  motors  and  electric 
motors  of  every  kind.  There  was  an  ap- 
palling expense  attached  to  the  use  of  the 
old-style  metal  brushes,  which  wore  out 
commutators  with  remarkable  rapidity. 
Professor  Elihu  Thomson  tells  how  at  a 
conference  in  Lynn,  the  question  of  this 
destruction  of  commutators  came  up,  and 
Mr.  Van  Depoele  suggested,  the  use  of  the 
carbon  brush  which  he  had  invented  in  Chi- 
cago. The  test  was  made  and  proved  so 
satisfactory  that  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany finally  adopted  the  carbon  brush  for 
use  on  both  dynamos  and  motors.  The 
wear  on  commutators  was  thereby  reduced 
to  inconsiderable  proportions,  the  reversals 
and  shiftings  required  with  the  copper 


brushes  were  entirely  eliminated  and  the 
saving  in  expense  was  as  great  as  the  in- 
crease in  efficiency.  Nearly  two  hundred 
and  fifty  patents  were  issued  by  the  United 
States  to  Mr.  Van  Depoele  during  his  fif- 
teen years  of  research  and  experiment. 
They  touch  almost  every  phase  of  electri- 
cal application,  and  their  wide  range  bears 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  depth  of  knowl- 
edge and  breadth  of  vision  of  this  world's 
pioneer  electric  railway  man.  His  patent 
rights  were  sold  to  the  General  Electric 
Company  about  three  years  after  his  death 
at  a  time  when  his  family  was  abroad.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  and  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association.  He  combined 
an  engaging  personality  with  great  genius 
and  an  optimistic  outlook  upon  the  possi- 
bilities of  electrical  progress. 


HERBERT  HAROLD  VREELAND 


H.    H.    Vreeland's    achievement   along 
steam    and   electric   surface   railway  lines 


HERBERT    H.    VREELAND 

shows  that  merit  alone  wins.  Mr. 
Vreeland  was  born  in  Glen,  N.  Y., 
October  29,  1856,  and  in  1875  was 


employed  as  a  gravel  shoveller  on  the 
Long  Island  Railroad.  He  rose  to 
the  position  of  conductor,  and  filled  a 
like  position  with  the  New  York  &  North- 
ern Railroad,  of  which  he  afterwards  be- 
came general  manager.  Following  this 
connection  he  was  made  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Metropolitan 
Traction  Company,  rising  in  eight  years 
from  a  subordinate  position  to  the  direc- 
tion of  the  greatest  system  of  surface  elec- 
tric roads  in  the  world.  He  developed  the 
change  of  motive  power  of  the  company's 
lines  from  horse  to  cable,  and  subsequently 
electrified  them.  As  president  he  took  a 
vigorous  stand  against  the  system  of  po- 
litical appointments  then  in  vogue  and 
gave  personal  interviews  to  all  employees 
with  grievances.  This  action  resulted  in 
the  discontinuance  of  strikes  and  better 
service  to  the  public.  Mr,  Vreeland  is 
interested  in  various  financial  and  commer- 
cial corporations  and  is  vice-president  of 
Interborough  Consolidated  Corporation 
and  a  director  in  a  dozen  transportation 
companies.  He  was  first  Chairman  of 
Welfare  of  the  National  Civic  Federa- 
tion, chairman  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  New  York  Railroad  Club,  and  is  a 
member  of  many  clubs  and  societies.  His 
offices  are  at  165  Broadway,  N.  Y.  City. 


FLOYD    L.VANDERPOEL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


437 


FLOYD  L.  VANDERPOEL 


In  a  history  of  electricity,  from  the  days 
of  Franklin,  up  to  the  time  of  the  commer- 
cialization of  the  mysterious  force,  and  the 
subsequent  development  which  has  made  it 
the  world's  leading  industry,  credit  must 
be  given  to  those  men  who  have,  either  by 
research  and  investigation,  or  by  manufac- 
turing and  exploiting  the  many  inventions 
and  discoveries,  aided  in  the  stupendous 
growth  of  the  industry.  Among  those 
prominent  in  electrical  manufacturing  is 
Floyd  L.  Vanderpoel,  president  of  the 
Trumbull-Vanderpoel  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company,  of  Bantam,  Conn.  Mr. 
Vanderpoel  was  born  in  Saugerties,  N.  Y., 
October  16,  1891,  the  son  of  John  A.  and 
Elizabeth  (Battelle)  Vanderpoel.  The 
first  Vanderpoel  to  come  to  this  country 
located  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  1651,  the  fam- 
ily later  moved  to  New  York  City.  Mr. 
Vanderpoel's  great-great-great-grandfather 
was  Benjamin  Tallmadge,  Colonel  in  the 
Continental  Army,  and  a  great  friend  of 
General  Washington.  Colonel  Tallmadge 
moved  to  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  from 
Long  Island  shortly  after  the  nation's  first 
conflict  at  arms,  and  resided  there  until  his 
death,  Colonel  Tallmadge's  homestead 
being  one  of  the  show-places  of  the  town. 
Mr.  Vanderpoel  received  a  preparatory 
education  in  England  and  at  the  Choate 
School,  Wallingford,  Conn.  He  subse- 
quently took  courses  in  chemistry  and  phy- 
sics at  Columbia  University,  and  then 
turned  his  attention  to  experimental  work 
along  electrical  lines.  He  had  a  nat- 
ural taste  for  mechanics,  and  in  1912, 
when  only  21  years  of  age,  organized 
the  present  company  in  connection  with 
George  Trumbull.  Upon  the  establish- 
ment of  the  business,  a  small  build- 
ing was  purchased  in  Bantam  and  con- 
verted to  the  uses  of  the  company  by  the 
installation  of  all  necessary  machinery. 
This  plant  was  completely  destroyed  by 
fire  February  19,  1913.  Preparations  for 
the  erection  of  the  present  factory  building 
were  immediately  commenced,  and  it  was 
erected  in  record  time.  It  is  40  x  80  feet, 
and  four  stories  high.  The  growth  of  the 
business  soon  necessitated  more  room  and 
a  four-story  addition,  25  x  30  feet,  was 
built,  giving  a  total  floor  space  of  15,800 


feet.  As  this  goes  to  press  the  company 
is  erecting  another  four-story  building 
which  will  give  them  12,800  more  feet  of 
floor  space,  which  is  necessitated  by  the 
volume  of  business.  The  buildings  were 
constructed  along  the  most  approved 
sanitary  lines,  particular  attention  being 
paid  to  light  and  ventilation  and  the 
installation  of  a  complete  sprinkler  sys- 
tem for  fire  protection.  The  equipment 
consists  of  the  latest  machinery  and  every- 
thing used  throughout  the  factory  is  the 
most  efficient  that  could  be  bought.  One 
hundred  people  are  employed,  and  the 
product  consists  of  switches,  switchboards, 
panel  boards,  fuses,  fuse  blocks,  weather- 
proof sockets,  steel  and  wood  cabinets, 
special  attention  being  paid  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  Trumbull-Vanderpoel  Patented 
Quick  Break  Switch,  the  invention  of  Ralph 
K.  Mason,  vice-president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  company.  The  switch  is  used 
mostly  in  connection  with  high  potentials 
and  wherever  a  quick  break  is  required. 
Mr.  Trumbull  retired  from  the  company 
in  1916,  since  which  time  Mr.  Vanderpoel 
has  been  the  active  head  of  the  business, 
the  growth  of  which  has  been  remarkable 
under  his  management.  The  company  has 
offices  located  in  the  following  cities :  New 
York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  St. 
Louis,  Detroit,  New  Orleans,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Birmingham  and  Toronto,  Canada. 
To  show  how  far  away  the  products  of  the 
company  go,  it  might  be  mentioned  that  a 
steadily  increasing  trade  carries  them  to  the 
Far  Eastern  countries,  and  one  of  the  larg- 
est switchboards  ever  built  by  the  company 
was  installed  and  is  now  in  service  in  Con- 
stantinople. The  remarkable  growth  of  the 
Trumbull-Vanderpoel  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company  has  been  in  the  short 
period  of  six  years,  and  Mr.  Vander- 
poel, now  only  twenty-seven  years  old, 
ranks  high  among  New  England  manufac- 
turers. He  was  married  August  29,  1914, 
to  Jane  Chester  Cunningham,  and  they 
have  one  son,  John  A.,  named  after  Mr. 
Vanderpoel's  father.  Mr.  Vanderpoel  is 
a  member  of  the  B.  P.  O.  Elks,  Litchfield 
Country  Club,  The  Sanctum,  Bantam  River 
Club  and  the  Institute  of  Radio  Engineers 
of  New  York.  He  resides  in  Litchfield, 
Conn. 


438 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


VIELE,   BLACKWELL  &  BUCK 


The  engineering  corporation  of  Viele, 
Blackwell  &  Buck  was  organized  in  New 
York,  in  1906,  to  carry  on  a  general  engi- 
neering business,  specializing  in  hydro- 
electric and  steam  power  plants,  electric 
transmission  and  distribution  systems. 

The  partners  in  this  corporation  have, 
either  as  individuals  or  as  a  corporation, 
acted  as  consulting  engineers,  and  in  most 
cases  as  constructors  also,  of  many  power 
plants,  among  which  are  those  of  the 
Great  Western  Power  Co.,  Appalachian 
Power  Co.,  Great  Northern  Power  Co., 
Schenectady  Power  Co.,  Arizona  Power 
Co.,  Butte  Electric  &  Power  Co.,  Califor- 


nia Electric  Generating  Co.,  Niagara  Falls 
Power  Co.,  Electrical  Development  Co., 
Northern  Ontario  Light  &  Power  Co., 
Northern  Canada  Power  Co.,  Mexican 
Light  &  Power  Co.,  Guanajuato  Light  & 
Power  Co.,  Cleveland-Cliffs  Iron  Co.,  and 
the  St.  Joseph  Lead  Co. 

The  partners  in  the  corporation  are  F. 
O.  Blackwell  and  H.  W.  Buck.  Mr.  M. 
A.  Viele,  one  of  the  original  partners  in 
the  Company,  died  of  pneumonia  in  New 
York  City  on  April  10,  1915. 

The  Company's  offices  are  at  49  Wall 
St.,  New  York  City. 


F.   O.   BLACKWELL 


Mr.  F.  O.  Blackwell,  on  graduating 
from  the  civil  engineering  school  at  Prince- 
ton in  1887,  was  employed  by  the  Bentley- 
Knight  Electric  Railway  Co.  and  had 
charge  of  the  construction  of  the  pioneer 
trolley  roads  at  Allegheny  City  and  Bos- 
ton. When  the  Bentley-Knight  Co.  was 
taken  over  by  the  Thomson-Houston  Co. 
he  was  made  assistant  engineer  of  the 
Railway  Dept.  On  the  combination  of  the 


Edison  and  Thomson-Houston  Cos.  he 
was  appointed  engineer  of  the  Power  and 
Mining  Dept.  of  the  General  Electric  Co. 
In  1904  he  left  the  General  Electric  Co. 
to  go  with  the  late  Dr.  F.  S.  Pearson,  with 
whom  he  remained  as  engineer  in  connec- 
tion with  the  construction  of  power, 
railway  and  lighting  plants,  until  the 
formation  of  the  firm  of  Viele,  Blackwell 
&  Buck. 


H.   W.    BUCK 


Mr.  Buck  graduated  from  Yale  Univer- 
sity in  1894  and  then  studied  at  Columbia 
University  for  one  year,  taking  the  degree 
of  E.E.  in  1895.  After  graduation  he  en- 
tered the  shops  of  the  General  Electric 
Co.  at  Schenectady  as  a  student  and  later 
became  assistant  to  the  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Lighting  Department  at  Schenectady. 
In  1900  he  was  appointed  Electrical  Engi- 
neer of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Co.  in 
charge  of  the  electrical  engineering  work 
of  that  Company  and  of  its  allied  compa- 
nies, the  Canadian  Niagara  Power  Co.  and 


the  Cataract  Power  &  Conduit  Co.  of  Buf- 
falo. He  remained  at  Niagara  during  the 
construction  of  the  Niagara  Company's 
No.  2  Power  House  on  the  American  side 
and  the  plant  on  the  Canadian  side  for 
the  Canadian  Co.  In  1907  he  moved  to 
New  York  and  joined  the  Corporation  of 
Viele,  Blackwell  &  Buck,  of  which  Com- 
pany he  is  now  Vice-President 

Mr.  Buck  was  elected  President  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
on  May  i6th,  1916,  for  the  term  of  1916- 
1917. 


THEODORE     N.   VAIL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


439 


THEODORE  NEWTON  VAIL 


Of  the  electrical  corporations  of  the 
country  the  one  of  largest  capital  is  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, of  which  Theodore  Newton  Vail  is 
President. 

Mr.  Vail  was  born  in  Carroll  County, 
Ohio,  July  1 6,  1845;  was  educated  in  the' 
Morristown  (New  Jersey)  Academy,  and 
studied  medicine  two  years  under  Dr.  Will- 
iam Quimby,  his  uncle.  But  another  rela- 
tive, Alfred  Vail,  who  was  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse's  associate  in  completing  and  put- 
ting into  operation  the  magnetic  telegraph, 
inspired  him  with  enthusiasm  for  things 
electrical.  He  learned  telegraphy,  was  an 
operator  in  New  York  for  a  time  and  in 
1869  became  telegraph  operator  and  sta- 
tion master  of  a  station  on  the  Union  Pa- 
cific Railway.  Later,  through  recom- 
mendation of  General  Grenville  M.  Dodge, 
he  became  a  railway  mail  clerk,  mak- 
ing such  a  record  for  efficient  work  that 
in  1873  he  was  advanced  to  assistant 
superintendent.  He  was  promoted  to 
assistant  general  superintendent  in  1874; 
and  from  1875  to  1878  he  was  general 
superintendent  of  Railway  Mail  Service  at 
Washington.  The  practical  ideas  he  had 
gathered  were  formulated  into  permanent 
improvements,  and  he  made  the  service 
famed  for  efficiency. 

Meanwhile,  beginning  with  the  exhibit 
of  the  Bell  Telephone  at  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  in  Philadelphia,  he  had  watched 
with  interest  the  development  of  the  tele- 
phone. Thousands  daily  saw  it  tested  at 
the  Exposition  and  admired  it  as  a  wonder- 
ful scientific  toy,  but  Mr.  Vail  saw  how 
it  might,  by  improvement  in  mechanism,  be 
developed  into  a  great  public  utility.  Be- 
tween the  date  of  the  Exhibition  in  1876 
and  the  time  of  his  resignation  of  his  office 
in  the  Railway  Mail  Service  he  had 
watched  the  experimental  stages  of  the 
telephone  business,  had  bought  shares  of 
telephone  stock  which  he  held  without  sell- 
ing in  days  that  were  dark  or  on  the  occa- 
sional strong  rises  when  speculators  were 
collecting  large  profits.  In  1878,  when  he 


resigned  from  the  Railway  Mail  Service  it 
was  to  accept  the  offered  position  of  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  American  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company,  the  reorganization  of 
several  Bell  telephone  companies.  As  gen- 
eral manager  until  1884  and  then  president 
until  1887,  Mr.  Vail  brought  the  company 
to  a  high  plane  of  physical,  administrative 
and  financial  efficiency.  Then  Mr.  Vail, 
feeling  that  he  was  entitled  to  some  rest, 
resigned  from  the  presidency  and  spent 
three  years  in  travel,  first  in  Europe,  with 
a  long  sojourn  in  Italy,  and  then  across  the 
Atlantic  to  Buenos  Aires.  Going  inland, 
he  was  interested,  near  the  City  of  Cor- 
doba, to  see  a  great  reservoir  of  water, 
collected  by  damming  the  outlet  of  a  wide 
canyon  with  a  narrow  neck,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  irrigating  an  arid  plain  below,  but 
with  a  surplus  of  thousands  of  units  of 
water  power  tumbling  over  the  parapet  of 
the  dam  every  hour.  To  his  electrically- 
equipped  mind  the  suggestion  of  this 
waterfall  was  such  that  he  soon  secured  a 
lease  of  the  use  of  this  waste  water,  in- 
stalled turbines  and  a  station  for  dynamos 
and  in  a  few  months  was  furnishing  light, 
traction  and  power  to  the  City  of  Cordoba. 
Going  back  to  Buenos  Aires,  he  found 
some  of  the  leading  thoroughfares  occu- 
pied by  the  tracks  of  a  dilapidated  horse- 
car  line.  The  line  and  franchise  were  for 
sale,  and  Mr.  Vail  secured  the  property  for 
a  small  sum.  Then  he  went  back,  by  way 
of  Brazil,  to  New  York.  He  decided  to 
retire  to  a  farm,  buying  700  acres  near 
Lyndonville,  Vermont,  which  has  since,  by 
additional  purchases,  increased  to  7,000 
acres.  So  pleased  was  he  with  his  farm 
that  for  two  years  he  forgot  about  his 
horse  railroad  in  Argentina;  but  one  day 
he  began  to  plan,  went  to  New  York  and 
got  some  friends  interested  with  him,  then 
sailed  for  Argentina  and  went  to  work 
buying  or  making  traffic  arrangements  with 
ten  other  small  roads.  He  placed  orders 
for  rails,  dynamos,  cars  and  equipment 
and  in  eighteen  months  had  a  modern  trac- 


440 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


tion  system  covering  Buenos  Aires.  Mr. 
Vail  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  all  the 
leading  British  capitalists  of  the  city,  and 
when  the  road  was  completed  he  sold  it  to 
an  English  syndicate  at  a  very  substantial 
profit  to  himself  and  his  associate  stock- 
holders. Mr.  Vail  returned  to  his  Ver- 
mont farm  with  the  idea  of  a  permanent 
retirement.  But  the  death  in  1905  of  his 


wife  and  only  son  changed  his  objective, 
and  when,  in  1907,  he  was  asked  to  under- 
take the  executive  duties  of  the  entire  Bell 
telephone  systems  as  President  of  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, he  accepted,  inaugurating  new  acqui- 
sitions and  alignments  which  make  it  one 
of  the  world's  greatest  and  most  influential 
business  organizations. 


WAPPLER  BROTHERS 


Among  the  pioneers  in  the  electro- 
medical  field,  the  Wappler  brothers  de- 
serve high  honor.  R.  H.  Wappler,  co- 
operating with  his  brother  Frederick  H. 
Wappler,  made  the  first  commercial  con- 
troller or  rheostat  by  means  of  which  it 
became  possible  to  utilize  the  no  volt  or 
220  volt  current  from  the  mains  ,for  the 
purpose  of  lighting  small  diagnostic  lamps. 
In  1896  they  worked  on  the  idea  of  exercis- 
ing the  muscles  by  electricity.  After  care- 
ful experimentation  they  invented  the  slow 
moving  sinusoidal  current  machine  which 
made  selective  muscle  exercise  possible 
without  mental  exertion.  The  slow  surg- 
ing wave  of  this  current  gently  contracts 
the  muscles,  forcing  out  the  stagnant  blood. 
Following  this  is  a  period  of  relaxation 
during  which  arterial  blood  flows  into  the 
muscular  tissue.  A  series  of  such  actions 
produces  wonderful  nutritive  changes; 
atony,  atrophy  and  paralysis  are  absolutely 
relieved,  and  in  many  cases  cured  where 
the  vital  fluid  reaches  the  affected  parts. 

Another  product  of  the  Wappler 
Brothers'  ingenuity  is  an  electric  surging 
wave  generator,  known  as  the  Kymo- 
generator. 

Medical  science  and  practice  has  been 
measurably  benefited  by  the  many  X-Ray 
machines  which  the  Wappler  Brothers 
have  designed  and  constructed  since  1899. 
Other  uses  of  these  remarkable  machines 
range  from  the  detection  of  flaws  in 
metals  to  the  conservation  of  oysters. 
In  1905  two  of  their  machines  were 
successfully  used  in  Ceylon  for  the  purpose 
of  determining  whether  live  oysters  were 
pearl-bearing. 

Later  they  invented  the  well-known  King 
model  interrupterless  X-ray  machine 


which  was  of  great  power  and  which  is 
used  extensively  by  the  United  States  and 
other  governments.  This  new  machine 
was  a  radical  departure  from  the  existing 
state  of  the  art.  Whereas  formerly,  all 
X-ray  machines  had  been  constructed  on 
the  Rhumkorff  Coil  principle,  the  Wappler 
Brothers  employed  in  this  new  type  a 
closed  magnetic  core  transformer  by  means 
of  which  220  volts  alternating  current  was 
stepped  up  to  120,000  volts.  Efficient  op- 
eration of  an  X-ray  tube  demands  high- 
tension  unidirectional  current.  The  prob- 
lem of  furnishing  such  current  was  solved 
by  a  simple  rectifying  device  consisting  of 
a  disc,  having  metallic  contacts,  which  is 
rotated  by  a  synchronous  motor.  For  this 
invention  a  gold  medal  was  awarded  them 
by  the  American  Institute  of  New  York. 

Much  of  the  activities  of  the  Wappler 
Brothers  has  been  devoted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  electrically  lighted  diagnostic  in- 
struments of  which  the  Cystoscope  is  the 
most  important,  inasmuch  as  it  permits 
exact  examination  of  and  operation  within 
the  human  bladder  without  the  need  for  a 
major  operation.  With  the  aid  of  Dr. 
Otis  Brown,  Dr.  Cabot,  and  Dr.  Leo 
Buerger,  the  Wappler  Brothers  firmly 
established  this  industry  in  the  United 
States,  so  that  these  American  made  in- 
struments are  now  sent  to  all  parts  of  the 
civilized  world. 

Concurrently  with  the  development  of 
the  Cystoscope,  a  new  therapeutic  agent 
was  being  carefully  developed.  The  proper 
use  of  high  frequency  currents  in  medi- 
cal and  surgical  practice  has  had  many 
and  far-reaching  effects.  The  Wappler 
Brothers  designed  and  constructed  many 
forms  of  high  frequency  machines,  the 


REINHOLD     H.WAPPLER 


FREDERICK     H.WAPPLER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


441 


atest  of  which  furnished  the  high  fre- 
[uency  current  in  various  forms  including 
hat  by  which  tissue  may  be  desiccated  even 
hough  immersed  in  water.  This  action 
'orms  the  basis  of  one  of  the  greatest 
ichievements  in  therapeutics,  because  ves- 
cle  tumors  can  now  be  destroyed  electric- 
lily  through  the  Cystoscope.  The  later 
ugh  frequency  machines  of  the  Wappler 
brothers  are  being  used  for  heating 
hrough  the  chest  in  pneumonary  tubercu- 
osis.  This  method  is  recorded  as  having 
Welded  four  times  higher  percentage  of 
:ures  than  serum  and  other  methods, 
rhese  machines  also  supply  a  current  to 
harge  the  surgeon's  knife.  When  making 
in  incision,  the  divided  tissues  are  desic- 
ated  by  the  current,  thus  making  the  op- 
Tation  bloodless  and  aseptic,  a  great 
idvantage  in  the  removal  of  malignant 
growths. 

Reinhold  H.  Wappler,  president  of  the 
ompany,  was  born  February  19,  1870,  in 
he  Duchy  of  Anhalt,  Germany.  He  was 
ducated  at  Wittenberg  and  Berlin,  where 
ic  took  special  courses  in  Physics  and 
Electrical  Engineering.  Coming  to  New 
fork  a  few  years  after  graduation  he  en- 
ered  the  employ  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  as  instrument  maker  and  was 
ater  associated  with  the  J.  C.  Vetter  Com- 
•any,  and  E.  B.  Meyrowitz  as  superin- 
endent.  He  later  joined  his  brother  Fred- 
rick H.  Wappler,  who  had  some  months 
ireviously  begun  the  manufacture  of  elec- 


trical apparatus  for  the  treatment  of 
diseases. 

Frederick  H.  Wappler,  who  is  treasurer 
of  the  company,  was  also  born  in  Germany 
on  April  3,  1872.  After  being  educated 
at  Wittenberg  he  came  to  New  York  in 
June,  1891,  and  took  up  electrical  work 
with  the  John  C.  Vetter  Company,  and  was 
later  employed  by  the  Edison  Company  of 
San  Francisco  in  installation  work.  In 
connection  with  C.  H.  Fayer,  he  organized 
the  firm  of  Wappler  &  Fayer  and  began 
the  manufacture  of  electrical  instruments. 
The  business  was  a  success  from  its  incep- 
tion and  nine  months  after  its  establish- 
ment, Reinhold  H.  Wappler  joined  the 
organization,  the  name  of  which  was 
changed  to  the  Wappler  Electric  Con- 
troller Company  in  1898.  The  present 
company  was  incorporated  in  1910,  and  in 
addition  to  the  Wappler  brothers  includes 
C.  H.  Fayer,  the  original  partner,  as  vice- 
president. 

The  knowledge  and  ability  of  the 
brothers,  R.  H.  and  F.  H.  Wappler,  are 
deserving  of  the  highest  recognition  and 
thanks  of  humanity.  Their  untiring  ef- 
forts throughout  a  generation  have  re- 
sulted in  applying  the  power  of  electricity 
very  successfully  in  the  cure  of  the  sick 
and  the  relief  of  the  suffering.  The 
factory  of  the  Wappler  Electric  Co.  is 
located  at  173-175  East  87th  Street,  with 
a  branch  at  1871  Ogden  Avenue,  Chicago, 
Illinois. 


ARTHUR   E.   WATSON 


The  Department  of  Electrical  Engi- 
icering  of  Brown  University  has  from  its 
•rganization  in  1899  been  under  direction 
if  Professor  Arthur  Eugene  Watson, 
Jh.D. 

He  was  born  in  Providence,  R.  I., 
vlarch  4,  1866.  On  the  paternal  side  his 
rst  American  ancestor,  a  Scot,  after  fight- 
ng  under  Cromwell  in  Ireland,  came  to 
America ;  his  maternal  ancestry  is  Hugue- 
ot.  After  graduation  from  Waltham 
Mass.)  High  School,  Mr.  Watson  en- 
ered  Brown  University,  from  which  he 
fas  graduated  A.B.,  1888,  and  Ph.D.  in 
905.  He  is  a  member  of  Delta  Phi  fra- 


ternity and  of  the  honor  societies  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  and  Sigma  XI. 

He  had  read  and  experimented  exten- 
sively along  electrical  lines  as  a  boy,  was 
ambitious  to  enter  the  electrical  field,  and 
through  H.  B.  Chubbock,  assistant  elec- 
trician of  the  Narragansett  Electric  Light 
Company  (whom  he  had,  in  his  senior 
year,  tutored  in  mathematics),  he  secured 
introductions  to  Professor  Elihu  Thom- 
son and  Messrs.  Rice  and  Rohrer  of  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  at 
Lynn,  and  a  position  in  that  company's 
drafting-room  at  Lynn,  Mass.,  beginning 
work  there  the  day  following  his  gradua- 
tion in  June,  1888.  After  working  as 


442 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


PROF.    ARTHUR    E.    WATSON 


draftsman  for  six  months  he  became  assis- 
tant foreman  of  the  Drafting  Department 
of  that  company  and  its  successor,  the 
General  Electric  Company,  until  1895, 
when  he  resigned  to  organize  and  conduct 
a  course  of  study  in  electrical  engineering 
in  Brown  University,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Department  of  Physics. 

During  his  second  year  at  Lynn  he  be- 
came teacher  of  mathematics  in  the  Eve- 
ning High  School,  organized  at  the  request 
of  employees  of  the  Thomson-Houston 


Company.  He  was  lecturer  on  electrical 
subjects  in  the  Brown  University  extension 
course,  1892-1893;  entered  the  Physics 
Department  as  instructor  in  physics,  1895, 
later  Assistant  Professor  of  Physics,  and 
since  1899  Assistant  Professor  of  Electri- 
cal Engineering,  but  has  always  been  the 
responsible  head  of  that  sub-department. 
He  has  an  annual  evening  course  of  lec- 
tures in  University  Extension  and  con- 
tributes articles  on  electrical  engineering 
in  general  or  dynamo  design  and  construe- 


PHILIP    D.  WAGONER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


443 


tion  to  various  popular  or  technical  maga- 
zines. Prof.  Watson  is  the  author  of  sev- 
eral books  on  Dynamos,  Storage  Batteries, 
etc.,  and  is  a  member  of  the  American  In- 


stitute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  associ- 
ate member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Radio  Engineers,  besides  local  and  college 
societies. 


PHILIP  DAKIN  WAGONER 


A    thorough     technical     and    practical 
training  fitted  Philip  D.  Wagoner  for  any 
engineering  position  in  the  electrical  field, 
but  inherent  executive  ability  and  aggres- 
sive business   qualifications   eventually  di- 
verted his  activities  from  the  technical  end 
of  the  industry  to  its  commercial  develop- 
ment.    Mr.  Wagoner  was  born  July  24, 
1876,   in  Somerville,  N.  J.,  and  received 
his   preparatory   education    in   the   public 
and  high  schools  there.     He  afterwards 
attended    the     Stevens    School    and    the 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology,  graduat- 
ing   from    the   last   named    institution    in 
1896,  with  the  M.E.  degree.      There  was 
no  electric  course  at  the  Institute  but  the 
instruction    was    such    that   he    was    ably 
equipped  for  his  later  work  in  the  electrical 
field.      After   graduation,    Mr.    Wagoner 
became  associated  with  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  and   entered  the   Students' 
Course  for  additional  training  in  the  line 
he  had  selected  for  his  future  work.     His 
interest  and  aptitude  for  mechanical  mat- 
ters and  a  strong  desire  to  enter  the  ex- 
panding field  of  electric  development,  were 
the   factors  that  enabled  him   to   quickly 
grasp   the   intricacies   of   the   science   and 
win  the  approval  of  the  department  heads. 
After  a  short  time  in  the  Students'  Course, 
Mr.    Wagoner    was    transferred    to    the 
Transformer  Engineering  Department  at 
Lynn,    Mass.,    where    he    remained    until 
May,   1900.     Thence  he  was  sent  to  the 
:ompany's   plant   at   Schenectady,    N.   Y., 
tvhere  he  was  assigned  to  the  office  of  the 
Engineer     of     the     Supply     Department, 
specializing    in    transformer    work.       In 
[901,    Mr.    Wagoner,    who   had   become 
Droficient  in  all  the  details  of  this  branch  of 
:he  business,   was   delegated   to   organize 
md  manage   the  Transformer  Sales   De- 
Dartment.      The  activities  of  this  depart- 
ment   continuously    expanded   under    Mr. 
Wagoner's  direction,  and  in  1907  it  man- 
iged    technical    and    executive    sales    ac- 


tivities   in    constant   potential   distribution 
and  power  transformers,  constant  current 
transformers   for  alternating  current  arc 
lighting  systems,   lighting  arresters,   mer- 
cury arc  rectifiers,  Tirrill  and  feeder  regu- 
lators, rheostats  and  various  other  electri- 
cal appliances.     In  the  early  part  of  1908, 
Mr.   Wagoner,  whom  the  company  had 
come  to  recognize  as  a  most  valuable  aid 
and  asset,  was  transferred  to  the  executive 
offices  of  the  General  Electric  Company  in 
New  York  City,  where  his  duties  were  of 
a  highly  executive  character.     In  1910,  he 
was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  Gen- 
eral   Vehicle    Company,    an    organization 
that  has   been   a   pioneer   of   the   electric 
vehicle   industry  and   a  leading  manufac- 
turer of  electric  commercial  vehicles  in  the 
world.    In   1918  he  became  president  of 
the  Elliott-Fisher  Company  of  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  manufacturers  of  writing-adding  ma- 
chines.  Mr.  Wagoner  is  the  son  of  Henry 
Gatzmer  and  Rachel  Line  (Dakin)  Wag- 
oner.     His    ancestors    on    the    maternal 
side    were    among    the    oldest    and    most 
illustrious  in  England,  several  of  the  male 
members   serving  with   William   of  Nor- 
mandy and  fighting  valiantly  at  the  Battle 
of  Hastings.     Mr.  Wagoner  was  married 
in  1904,  to  Effie  Nichols.     He  is  deeply 
interested   in   all   matters   connected  with 
the  electrical  industry  and  automobile  trade 
and  his  affiliations  are  largely  with  techni- 
cal    organizations     connected     with     the 
science.     Among  these   are  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  Society  of 
Automotive  Engineers,   American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers  and  he  is  a  rep- 
resentative member  in  the  National  Auto- 
mobile   Chamber   of   Commerce.      He    is 
also   a   member  of  the   Engineers'   Club, 
Railroad  Club  of  New  York,  the  Clove 
Valley  Rod  and  Gun  Club,  and  the  Alpha 
Tau  Omega  fraternity. 


444 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE  WESTERN  ELECTRIC    COMPANY 


As  a  corollary  to  the  story  of  the  de- 
velopment of  the  telegraph  and  telephone 
there  is  a  place  for  the  history  of  the 
Western  Electric  Company,  a  history 
which  is  coincident  with  this  development. 

The  Western  Electric  Company  had 
its  beginnings  in  1869,  when  the  partner- 


Barton,  and  take  over  the  telegraph  com- 
pany's shop.  This  entailed  a  move  to  a 
new  three-story  building  at  Kinzie  Street, 
near  State,  which  was  the  company's  home 
for  about  twelve  years. 

In    1879,   three  years   after  Alexander 
Graham  Bell  invented  the  telephone,  the 


First  Plant  of  the  Western  Electric  Company  at  Kinzie  Street,  Chicago,    Illinois,  from  1872  to  1883 


ship  of  Gray  and  Barton  was  formed  by 
Elisha  Gray,  the  inventor,  and  Enos  M. 
Barton,  at  that  time  chief  operator  of  the 
Western  Union  office  at  Rochester,  New 
York.  Their  first  shop  was  devoted  to 
the  manufacture  of  telegraph  apparatus, 
bells,  and  buzzers.  It  was  located  at 
Cleveland,  but  removed  to  Chicago  in 
1870. 

In  1872,  when  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company  abandoned  its  big  Illi- 
nois shop,  a  corporation,  The  Western 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  was  or- 
ganized to  succeed  the  firm  of  Gray  and 


Western  Electric  Manufacturing  Company 
took  over  the  New  York  shop  of  the  West- 
ern Union  Telegraph  Company.  Up  to 
this  time  the  Western  Electric  had  manu- 
factured telephones'  for  the  Western 
Union,  but  this  year  saw  the  end  of  the 
latter's  participation  in  the  telephone  busi- 
ness. The  Bell  Telephone  Company 
thereupon  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
Western  Electric  Company  covering  the 
manufacture  of  telephones  and  telephonic 
equipment  under  license  exclusively  for 
the  Bell  Telephone  Company.  This  has 
been  a  continuing  contract,  and  in  connec- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


445 


tion  with  its  operation  the  Western  Elec- 
tric Company  grew  to  be  the  world's  larg- 
est manufacturer  of  telephone  equipment 
and  cable.  As  the  business  grew,  a  build- 
ing was  erected  in  Chicago  in  1883  on 
Clinton  Street  near  Van  Buren.  Further 
growth  of  the  New  York  end  of  the  busi- 
ness by  1889  made  necessary  a  new  build- 
ing at  Thames  and  Greenwich  Streets,  and 
this  in  turn  was  abandoned  in  1897  for 
the  larger  edifice  at  West  and  Bethune 
Streets. 


In  1908  H.  B.  Thayer  was  elected 
President  of  the  company  and  still  holds 
that  office.  Enos  M.  Barton,  its  president 
for  the  years  previous,  thereupon  became 
chairman  of  the  board  of  directors,  retain- 
ing the  chairmanship  until  his  death  in 
1916. 

Many  notable  contributions  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  telephone  and  telephonic 
equipment  have  originated  in  the  research 
and  development  branches  of  the  com- 
pany's engineering  department.  Western 


Aeroplane  View  of  Present  Plant  of  the  Western  Electric  Company  at  Hawthorne,  Illinois 


Even  this  plant  equipment  did  not  suf- 
fice long  and  in  1903  a  new  factory  was 
started  at  Hawthorne,  Illinois,  six  miles 
from  the  center  of  Chicago.  At  present 
all  of  the  company's  manufacturing  activi- 
ties are  centered  in  this  plant,  which  occu- 
pies approximately  210  acres  of  land, 
while  the  large  thirteen-story  structure  at 
463  West  Street,  New  York,  is  now  de- 
voted principally  to  the  activities  of  the 
company's  engineering  department.  The 
company  employed  in  1918  upwards  of 
30,000  people. 


Electric  engineers  have  been  largely  in- 
strumental in  working  out  the  problems  of 
the  multiple  switchboard,  the  loading  of 
transmission  lines ;  and  they  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  bringing  about  the  comple- 
tion of  the  transcontinental  telephone  line 
and  the  development  of  the  transoceanic 
wireless  telephone.  Another  compara- 
tively recent  achievement  of  great  practical 
value  is  the  multiplex  printing  telegraph 
by  means  of  which  eight  messages  can  be 
sent  simultaneously  over  one  telegraph 
wire. 


446 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


In  addition  to  its  engineering  and  manu- 
facturing activities,  the  Western  Electric 
Company  is  the  world's  largest  jobber  of 
electrical  supplies.  In  this  category  are 
included  appliances  that  make  it  possible 
to  use  electricity  for  turning  the  wheels  of 
industry  and  performing  the  tasks  of  the 
home. 

The  company  has  during  the  past  two 
decades  built  up  a  country-wide  distribut- 
ing organization  consisting  at  present  of 


thirty-nine  houses,  operating  in  the  princi- 
pal business  centers  of  the  United  States. 

Through  its  foreign  affiliations,  the 
company  has  taken  on  an  international 
character.  It  has  allied  manufacturing 
organizations  in  Canada,  in  many  of  the 
European  capitals  and  in  Japan,  while 
there  is  also  a  chain  of  foreign  sales  agen- 
cies which  carries  the  Western  Electric 
Company's  products  to  all  parts  of  the 
civilized  world. 


COL.  FRANK  B.  JEWETT 


Lieut.-Colonel  Frank  B.  Jewett,   Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Western  Electric   Com- 
pany, who  has  devoted  his  entire  profes- 
sional  career  to   electrical   research,   was 
born  in  Pasadena,   California,  September 
5,   1879.     After  a  thorough  preparatory 
education  he  took  a  course  in  electrical  en- 
gineering at  Throop  Polytechnic  Institute, 
Pasadena,  California,  graduating  in  1898 
with  the  A.B.  degree.     From  1898  until 
1902,  he  was  a  graduate  student  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  devoting  his  time  to 
physics,   mathematics  and  chemistry,   and 
obtained  the  Ph.D.  degree  in  1902.     From 
Chicago  he  went  to  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  and  during  1902  and  1903 
gave  his  entire  attention  to  electrical  en- 
gineering.     During   the   years    1901    and 
1902  he  was  Research  Assistant  to  Pro- 
fessor A.  A.  Michelson,  head  of  the  De- 
partment of  Physics  at  the  University  of 
Chicago,  and  during  the  time  he  was  tak- 
ing graduate  work  at  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  he  was  Instructor 
in  Physics  and  Electrical  Engineering  at 
that  institution.     Early  in  his  career  Dr. 
Jewett   became    vitally    interested    in    the 
problem  of  speech  transmission   and  the 
possibilities  of  the  application  of  industrial 
research  in  the  telephone  field  led  him  to 
enter  that  field  for  his  life  work.     Late  in 
1904  he  entered  the  Engineering  Depart- 
ment of  the  American  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph  Company   and   shortly   afterwards 
became  head  of  its  Research  Department. 
In  1908  Dr.  Jewett  became  Transmission 
and  Protection  Engineer  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  and 
remained  in  that  position  until  the  spring 


of  1912,  when  he  was  appointed  Assistant 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Western  Electric 
Company,  of  which  he  became  the  Chief 
Engineer   four  years   later.      During  the 
period  he  was  with  the  American  Tele- 
phone    and    Telegraph     Company,     Dr. 
Jewett  was  in   responsible  charge,   under 
the  direction  of  the  Chief  Engineer,  John 
J.  Carty,  of  the  work  leading  up  to  the 
commercial  introduction  of  phantom  load- 
ing and  loading  of  large-gauge  open-wire 
circuits,  the  development  of  phantom   or 
duplex  cables,  and  the  introduction  of  tele- 
phone amplifiers  in  a  commercial  way  on 
loaded  lines.      In   the   latter  part  of  his 
work  as  Transmission  and  Protection  En- 
gineer and  during  the   first  part  of   the 
time  he  was  Assistant  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Western  Electric  Company,  he  was  in 
full  charge  of  the  work  which  resulted  in 
the    transcontinental    telephone    line    and 
the    general    improvement    in    telephone 
transmission  to  the  point  where  commercial 
service    could    be    given    over    the    entire 
United  States.      During   1914  and   1915, 
Dr.  Jewett  was  in  responsible  charge  and 
directed  the  work  which  resulted  in  suc- 
cessful   wireless     telephone     transmission 
from  the  Arlington  Station,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  to  Panama,  San  Francisco,  Honolulu 
and  Paris.      During  his  service  with  the 
American  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Com- 
pany and  the  Western  Electric  Company, 
and  particularly  during  the  last  eight  or 
nine  years,  Dr.  Jewett  has  been  extremely 
active  in  introducing  the  use  of  scientific 
research  methods  as  a  means  of  expediting 
the  solution  of  the  problems  which  con- 
front the  telephone  and  telegraph  indus- 


FRANh,     B-JEWETT 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


447 


try  of  today.  In  this  work  he  has  con- 
stantly acted  as  assistant  to  Col.  John  J. 
Carty,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  and 
the  results  are  shown  by  the  very  large 
departments  of  scientifically  trained  men 
in  the  engineering  forces  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company  and 
the  Western  Electric  Company  and  also  in 
the  huge  industrial  research  laboratories 
of  the  Bell  Telephone  system  located  at 
the  Western  Electric  Company's  plant. 
While  born  on  the  Pacific  slope,  Dr. 
Jewett  is  of  New  England  ancestry,  his 
direct  ancestors  founding  the  American 
branch  of  the  family  at  Rowley,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1632,  to  which  place  they  came 
from  England.  During  the  Colonial  and 
Revolutionary  days,  and  the  early  days  of 
the  Republic,  the  Jewetts  were  very  prom- 
inent in  all  civic,  religious  and  social  mat- 
ters in  New  England.  Latterly,  descend- 
ants of  the  original  settlers  scattered 
throughout  the  entire  United  States  and 
have  been  active  in  civic  and  literary  work. 
Dr.  Jewett's  great-uncle  was  for  many 
years  Librarian  of  the  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary, while  another  grand-uncle  and  his 
grandfather  were  the  original  publishers  of 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe's  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin."  Dr.  Jewett  is  a  member  of 
the  Engineers'  Club  and  the  Ma- 
chinery Club  of  New  York  City,  also 
the  University  Club  of  Chicago.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  April,  1918. 
He  was  also  recently  elected  Vice- 
President  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Physical  Society,  the  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  the  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education, 
the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity  and  the 
Telephone  Society  of  New  York,  of  which 
he  was  Vice-President  for  two  years  and 
President  for  two  years.  Dr.  Jewett 
resides  in  Wyoming,  Millburn  Township, 
Essex  County,  New  Jersey,  and  for  the 
last  ten  years  has  taken  great  interest  in 
civic  matters  there.  He  has  been  a  mem- 


ber of  the  Board  of  Education  for  six 
years  and  its  President  for  two  years.  The 
Western  Electric  Company,  of  which  he 
is  Chief  Engineer,  is  the  largest  manufac- 
turer of  signaling  apparatus  in  the  world 
and  makes  practically  all  the  telephone 
material  for  the  entire  Bell  System.  The 
Company's  factory  is  located  in  Chicago 
and  the  immense  plant  there,  together  with 
the  various  branches  in  other  cities,  give 
employment  to  30,000  people.  The  En- 
gineering Department,  located  at  463  West 
Street,  corner  of  Bethune  Street,  New  York 
City,  has  3,600  employees  on  its  roll,  and 
in  the  large  building,  covering  the  major 
portion  of  a  city  block,  is  located  one  of 
the  most  complete  research  laboratories  in 
the  country.  The  Government  virtually 
took  over  this  plant  when  this  country  en- 
tered the  war,  and  in  view  of  the  extensive 
and  particular  knowledge  which  Dr.  Jewett 
possessed  on  signaling  matters  and  on  the 
methods  of  attaclurfg  new  problems,  which 
would  render  him  of  inestimable  value  to 
the  Government,  commissioned  him  on 
May  ist,  1917,  with  the  rank  of  Major,  to 
direct  the  research  and  other  activities  of 
the  Engineering  Department.  On  Decem- 
ber 15,  1917,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  Regular 
Army,  thus  clothing  him  with  additional 
power  to  conduct  the  work,  which  has  been 
carried  out  with  great  satisfaction  to  the 
Washington  officials.  Subsequent  to  the 
declaration  of  war  with  Germany,  Col. 
Jewett  was  instrumental  in  the  raising  of 
signal  troops  for  the  Army.  He  has  also 
been  actively  engaged  in  securing  groups 
of  specialists  to  go  to  France  in  connection 
with  the  Signal  Corps  work.  In  addition 
to  the  national  duties  mentioned  above 
which  have  been  placed  on  him,  Col.  Jewett 
has  been  made  a  member  of  the  Physics 
Committee,  the  Engineering  Committee, 
and  the  Industrial  Research  Committee  of 
the  National  Research  Council  and  he  is 
one  of  the  four  advisory  members  of  the 
Navy  Department's  Special  Board  on  Sub- 
marine Problems. 


448 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


JAMES    L.    McQUARRIE 


^  James  L.  McQuarrie,  Assistant  Chief 
Engineer  of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany, was  born  in  Bath,  Maine,  August 
15,  1867,  and  educated  in  the  public 
schools  there.  In  1882  he  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  Bell  Telephone  Company 
of  Maine,  which  was  later  absorbed  by 
the  New  England  Telephone  and  Tele- 
graph Company,  remaining  with  that  com- 
pany until  1894.  Starting  as  night  oper- 
ator at  the  telephone  exchange  in  Bath, 


he  successfully  filled  the  positions  of  oper- 
ator, inspector,  manager  and  engineer  in 
that  service.  During  the  early  period  of 
his  career  he  was  actively  engaged  in  the 
introduction  of  telephone  protective  devices 
made  necessary  by  the  rapid  introduction  of 
electric  power  circuits.  Mr.  McQuarrie's 
engineering  activities  have  been  chiefly 
along  lines  of  development  of  apparatus 
for  telephone  central  offices  and  sub-sta- 
tions and  he  collaborated  with  Mr.  C.  E. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


449 


Scribner  in  designing  the  original  common 
battery  multiple  type  of  telephone  switch- 
board now  in  universal  use;  it  was,  in  fact, 
in  connection  with  and  largely  because  of 
this  work  that  he  became  associated  with 
the  Western  Electric  Company.  During 
his  period  of  service  with  that  company  he 
was  active  among  other  things  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  engineering  staff,  which 


resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Engi- 
neering Department  of  the  Western  Elec- 
tric Company.  In  1903  he  was  given  the 
post  of  Assistant  Chief  Engineer.  He  is 
now  in  charge  of  the  development  of  me- 
chanical switching  systems  for  the  Western 
Electric  Company,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
work  has  made  ninety  inventions  relating 
principally  to  telephone  devices. 


EDWARD    BEECH    CRAFT 


Major  Edward  Beech  Craft  was  born  in 
Cortland,  Ohio,  September  12,  1881,  and 
his  education  in  the  public  schools  of  War- 


ren, Ohio,  was  followed  by  work  in  phys- 
ics, chemistry  and  machine  design  under 
private  instructors.  From  1898  until  1902 


450 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


he  was  associated  with  the  Warren  Elec- 
tric &  Specialty  Company,  in  connection 
with  the  technical  side  of  incandescent  lamp 
manufacture,  and  from  1900  to  1902  he 
was  superintendent  of  the  Lamp  Depart- 
ment of  that  company.  In  1902,  he  be^- 
came  associated  with  the  Western  Electric 
Company  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  in  the  Engi- 
neering Department.  Since  1904  he  has 
been  engaged  in  experimental  and  develop- 
ment work  in  connection  with  the  produc- 
tion of  telephone  and  telegraph  apparatus 
and  systems.  In  1907  he  was  transferred 
to  the  New  York  office  of  the  Company 
as  Development  Engineer  in  the  Central 
Engineering  Department,  which  was  or- 
ganized at  that  time,  and  in  December, 
1917,  he  was  made  Assistant  Chief  Engi- 
neer in  charge  of  development  and  design. 
As  Development  Engineer  he  has  been  in- 
timately associated  with  the  development 
of  so-called  mechanical  switching  telephone 
exchange  systems  under  the  early  direction 
of  former  Chief  Engineer  C.  E.  Scribner. 


He  has  given  special  study  to  the  mechani- 
cal and  electrical  design  of  apparatus  to 
adapt  it  to  the  modern  factory  methods  of 
quantity  production  and  has  taken  out  more 
than  sixty  patents  in  connection  with  this 
work. 

Major  Craft  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Telephony  and  Telegraphy  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers and  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Telephone  Society  of  New  York.  In  the 
summer  of  1916  he  attended  the  Officers' 
Training  Camp,  Plattsburg,  New  York, 
and  in  March,  1917,  was  commissioned 
Captain,  in  the  Signal  Officers'  Reserve 
Corps.  He  was  called  to  active  service 
May  21,  1917,  and  was  promoted  to 
Major  on  December  22,  1917.  He  now 
serves  under  Lieut-Col.  Jewett,  who  is 
Chief  Engineer  and  in  Government  charge 
of  the  Western  Electric  Company's  Engi- 
neering Department. 


EDWIN  H.  COLPITTS 


Edwin  H.  Colpitts,  another  of  the  group 
of  Assistant  Chief  Engineers  of  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company,  was  born  in  Pointe 
de  Bute,  N.  B.,  Canada,  January  19,  1872. 
He  graduated  from  Mount  Allison  Uni- 
versity, Sackville,  N.  B.,  with  honors  in 
science  and  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and  the 
same  degree  was  conferred  upon  him  by 
Harvard  University  upon  his  graduation 
from  that  institution  in  1896.  He  took  a 
post-graduate  course  in  physics,  mathemat- 
ics and  engineering  at  Harvard  and  was 
awarded  the  M.A.  degree  in  1897.  From 
1897  to  l$99  he  was  assistant  to  Professor 
Trowbridge  in  physics  at  Jefferson  Physi- 
cal Laboratory,  Harvard  University.  He 
entered  the  Engineering  Department  of  the 
American  Bell  Telephone  Company  in 
1899,  and  from  that  time  until  1907  was 
engaged  on  investigations  relating  to  the 
loading  of  telephone  lines,  interference  be- 
tween power  circuits  and  telephone  cir- 
cuits, and  other  matters  relating  to 


telephone  and  telegraph  engineering.  In 
1907  he  became  head  of  the  Physi- 
cal Laboratory  in  the  Engineering  De- 
partment of  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany. Four  years  later  he  was  made 
Research  Engineer  of  the  company  and 
retained  thatposition  until  he  was  appointed 
Assistant  Chief  Engineer  in  1917.  During 
his  early  connection  with  the  company  he 
was  in  responsible  charge,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Charles  E.  Scribner,  then  Chief  En- 
gineer, of  the  physical  research  and  devel- 
opment work  involved  in  the  furnishing  of 
phantom  loading,  applied  both  to  large- 
gauge  open-wire  circuits  and  to  large  un- 
derground cables.  He  was  also  respon- 
sible for  the  physical  research  involved  in 
the  design  of  phantom  or  duplex  cables. 
Later,  under  F.  B.  Jewett,  who  was  then 
Assistant  Chief  Engineer  of  the  company, 
he  was  in  direct  control  of  the  work  result- 
ing in  long-distance  wire  and  radio  teleph- 
ony. During  the  past  year,  under  Lieut- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


451 


EDWIN    H.    COLPITTS 


Col.  Jewett,  who  is  also  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  Western  Electric  Company,  Mr.  Col- 
pitts  has  been  largely  interested  in  Signal 
Corps  matters,  and  during  1917  spent 
some  months  in  France,  in  connection  with 
the  establishment  of  a  Signal  Corps  re- 
search laboratory  for  the  American  Expe- 


ditionary Forces.  Mr.  Colpitts  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers and  the  American  Physical  Society, 
and  a  member  of  the  Telephone  Society  of 
New  York,  the  Harvard  Engineering  So- 
ciety of  New  York  and  the  East  Orange 
Rifle  Club. 


452 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIS  RODNEY  WHITNEY 


Professor  Willis  R.  Whitney,  Director 
of  the  Research  Laboratory  of  the  General 
Electric  Co.,  and  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  American  scientists,  was  born 
in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  August  22,  1868,  the 
son  of  John  J.  and  Agnes  (Reynolds) 
Whitney.  He  was  graduated  from  Mas- 
sachusetts Institute  of  Technology,  S.  B., 
in  1890,  became  assistant  and  instructor 
in  chemistry  in  that  institution,  1890-1892, 


WILLIS    R.    WHITNEY 

then  went  to  the  University  of  Leipzig, 
1892-1894,  receiving  the  degree  of  Ph.D. 
in  1894,  and  returned  to  his  former  posi- 
tion in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology 1895-1900,  and  became  assistant 
professor  of  chemistry  in  that  Institute, 
1900-1904.  Since  1904  he  has  continued 
his  connection  with  the  Institute  as  non- 
resident professor  of  Theoretical  Chem- 
istry, and  is  term  member  of  the  Corpora- 
tion, 1918-1922. 

Through  his  college  career  and  after- 
ward he  was  always  interested  in  the  va- 
rious departments  of  chemical  and  physical 
research  and  in  his  teaching  positions  was 
always  an  exponent  of  laboratory  methods 


and  an  advocate  of  research  as  the  strong- 
est factor  of  scientific  education.  His  own 
successful  researches  developed  several 
new  discoveries  of  scientific  value,  and  his 
close  daily  connection  with  laboratory  ac- 
tivities gave  him  a  strongly  held  belief  in 
the  future  and  significance  to  humanity  of 
research,  and  an  equally  strong  conviction 
of  the  necessity  for  the  development  of  re- 
search in  American  industry. 

It  was  in  1904  that  Prof.  Whitney  ac- 
cepted his  present  position  as  Director  of 
the  Research  Laboratory  of  the  General 
Electric  Co.  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  The 
equipment  of  that  laboratory  as  it  has  been 
developed  under  Mr.  Whitney's  direction 
is  probably  the  most  complete  in  the  world 
for  the  purposes  of  research  in  the  prob- 
lems and  applications  of  electricity  and  al- 
lied departments  mof  chemical  and  metal- 
lurgical science.  He  has  associated  with 
him  men  of  specially  valuable  experience 
and  high  attainments,  and  the  laboratory 
is  constantly  evolving  new  and  important 
discoveries  which  can  be  practically  applied 
in  electric  and  related  industries.  It  was 
in  this  laboratory  that  tungsten,  one  of  the 
most  valuable  adjuncts  of  modern  electric 
lighting,  and  one  of  the  most  brittle  and 
unstable  of  metals,  was  by  patient  re- 
search transformed  by  new  processes  and 
discoveries  into  a  ductile  and  non-fragile 
metal — and  other  discoveries  of  equal  or 
almost  equal  importance  have  been  added 
year  by  year  for  the  improvement  of  Amer- 
ican industries. 

Prof.  Whitney  has  been  a  member  of 
the  United  States  Naval  Consulting  Board 
since  1915,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Research  Council.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Chemical  Society,  the 
American  Electro-Chemical  Society,  Amer- 
ican Physical  Society,  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Association  for  the1  Advance- 
ment of  Science  and  of  the  American  Acad- 
emy of  Arts  and  Sciences.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  National  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, the  American  Institute  of  Mining 
Engineers,  the  British  Institute  of  Met- 
als, and  Associate  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers.  He  was  pres- 
ident of  the  American  Chemical  Society  in 
1910,  and  received  from  it  the  Willard 


HARRY    M.  WARREN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


453 


Gibbs  Medal  in  1916.  He  was  president 
of  the  American  Electrochemical  Society 
in  1911.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Albany 
Medical  College,  a  member  of  the  Chem- 
ists and  Technology  clubs  of  New  York, 
the  Cosmos  Club  of  Washington,  and  of 
the  Mohawk  Club  of  Schenectady,  and  he 


has   a   pleasant  home   in   the   suburbs   of 
Schenectady. 

He  is  ardently  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  science,  and  outside  of  his  professional 
work  he  finds  recreation  in  researches  in 
physical  and  colloid  chemistry  and  other 
physiological  processes. 


There  are  few,  if  any,  industries  to 
which  the  ministrations  of  electricity  in  the 
form  of  light,  power  or  motion  are  not 
applicable,  or,  where  applied  with  proper 
installation,  are  not  preferable  to  any 
other  agency  they  may  supplant.  The 
horse  for  speed,  the  underground  cable 
for  traction,  steam  for  many  and  multi- 
plying forms  of  motive  power,  and  many 
other  agencies  each  accounted  best  in  its 
day  and  sphere,  have  either  abdicated  or 
become  secondary  to  electricity.  This  is  the 
Electric  Age,  and  the  electrical  engineer 
is  making  over  the  world  and  its  forms  of 
motion. 

An  industry  which  has  been  especially 
benefited  by  electrical  equipment  is  mining, 
which  in  many  of  its  operations  has  found 
greater  safety  and  enhanced  efficiency 
through  the  introduction  of  various  kinds 
of  electrical  installation.  Railroads,  also, 
have  been  transformed  in  many  ways  by 
adopting  electrical  methods  not  only  for 
the  work  of  traction  in  place  of  or  as  an 
auxiliary  to  steam,  but  also  in  many  road 
and  track  operations,  in  locomotive  and 
car  shops,  terminals,  docks,  etc.,  the  work- 
ing of  signals,  and  in  other  ways. 

With  a  professional  practice  that  has 
largely  specialized  in  mining  and  railroad 
work,  Harry  Munson  Warren,  electrical 
engineer  of  the  (Delaware,  Lackawanna 
&  Western  Railroad  Company,  has  won 
his  way  to  a  place  of  distinction. 

He  was  born  in  Worcester,  Mass.,  No- 
vember 22,  1875,  was  educated  in  Wor- 
cester Polytechnic  Institute,  being  gradu- 
ated B.S.  in  1896,  took  post-graduate 
work  in  the  same  institution,  specializing 
in  electrical  engineering  in  1897,  received 
the  degree  of  M.S.  in  1899  and  E.E.  in 
1905.  He  was  engaged  in  electrical  con- 
tracting at  Montclair,  New  Jersey,  about 
two  years,  and  spent  one  year  in  the  Test- 


ing Department  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  at  Schenectady,  New  York. 

It  was  in  April,  1900,  when  Mr.  War- 
ren was  appointed  electrical  engineer  in 
the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western 
Railroad  Coal  Mining  Department,  begin- 
ning a  career  of  constructive  and  progres- 
sive usefulness  in  the  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  coal-mining  operations  and  for 
various  new  features  of  efficiency  in  the 
work  of  mining.  He  conceived  and  was 
responsible  for  the  installation  of  an  800- 
H.P.  automatic  water  hoisting  equipment 
for  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  West- 
ern Railroad  Company,  Coal  Mining  De- 
partment, at  Scranton,  Pa.,  for  hoisting 
water  out  of  the  mine  at  a  depth  of  five 
hundred  feet.  He  has  made  a  special  study 
for  the  past  ten  years  of  burning  small  size 
anthracite  fuel  in  the  boiler  plants  of  the 
Coal  Mining  Department,  and  has  made 
more  progress  than  any  one  along  this  line. 
This  greatly  conserves  the  nation's  fuel  sup- 
ply as  well  as  introducing  a  valuable 
economy.  In  1905  Mr.  Warren  was 
appointed  electrical  engineer  of  the  Dela- 
ware, Lackawanna  &  Western  Railroad 
Company,  including  the  Coal  Mining 
Department,  and  in  this  larger  and  more 
comprehensive  charge  has  been  in  touch 
with  all  the  varied  electrical  problems  of 
railroading  as  well  as  of  coal  mining. 

His  efforts  have  been  directed  more  par- 
ticularly to  the  problems  of  electrical  haul- 
age, pumping,  hoisting,  generating  and 
power  equipment  of  coal  mines,  including 
the  generation  of  steam  and  electricity  and 
its  utilization;  and  also  railroad  electrical 
equipment  of  locomotive  and  car  shops, 
terminal  yards,  etc. 

As  a  specialist  in  the  electrical  equip- 
ment of  coal  mines  he  is  well  known  in  the 
profession.  In  1911  he  was  the  electrical 
member  of  a  commission  of  six  organized 


454 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


by  Joseph  H.  Holmes,  chief  of  the  Bureau 
of  Mines  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, to  study  the  coal-mining  conditions 
abroad.  The  Commission  visited  and  in- 
spected coal  mines  in  England,  Wales, 
France,  Belgium  and  Germany,  Mr.  War- 
ren's attention  being  concentrated  on  the 
progress  that  had  been  made  in  those 
countries  toward  the  electrical  equip- 
ment of  mines.  His  special  knowledge 
and  experience  along  these  lines  has  led 
to  his  appointment  on  many  important 
committees,  and  he  is  now  member  of  the 
Mines  Committee  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Commit- 
tee on  the  Use  of  Electricity  in  Mines  of 
the  American  -Institute  of  Mining  Engi- 
neers, the  Committee  on  Electrical  Work- 
ings of  the  American  Railway  Association, 
the  Electric  Light  Committee  of  the 
New  York  Railway  Club,  and  the  Com- 
mittee on  Standardization  of  Electrical 
Equipment  in  Mines  of  the  American 
Mining  Congress.  In  these  organizations 
and  in  his  regular  professional  work  for 
the  Lackawanna  System  Mr.  Warren  has 
been  a  leader  in  the  work  for  a  larger  and 
better  application  of  electricity  to  the  ope- 
ration of  mines  and  railways  in  the  direc- 
tion of  efficiency. 

He  is  an  associate  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, member  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Mining  Engineers,  American  Railway 
Guild,  the  American  Mining  Congress,  and 
the  New  York  Railroad  Club.  He  has  his 
office  and  residence  at  Scranton,  Pa., 
where  he  is  a  member  and  past  President 
of  the  Engineers'  Society  of  Northeastern 
Pennsylvania,  the  Rotary  Club  of  Scran- 
ton  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation. 


HOWARD  SEARS  WILSON 

Howard  Sears  Wilson,  of  Waterbury, 
Conn.,  consulting  engineer,  was  born  in 
Baltimore,  June  30,  1871,  and  is  of  dis- 
tinguished New  England  lineage.  He  was 
educated  in  public  schools  and  Maryland 
Institute,  and  attended  special  lectures  at 
Johns  Hopkins  University.  He  was  con- 
secutively employed  with  the  Baxter  Elec- 
tric Manufacturing  Co.,  Baltimore,  1889, 
Wenstrom  Electric  Co.,  Baltimore,  1890; 


HOWARD   S.  WILSON 

Railway  department,  Thomson- Houston 
Co.,  Lynn,  Mass.,  1891;  took  the  regular 
expert  course  in  construction  and  engineer- 
ing work,  also  special  testing  of  railway 
and  polyphase  apparatus,  General  Electric 
Co.,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  was  one  of  the 
two  men  assigned  to  install  the  Baltic-Taft- 
ville  3  phase  transmission  plant,  March, 
1894,  and  in  June,  189:4,  was  appointed 
engineer  in  charge  of  the  Columbia  Mills 
plant,  Columbia,  S.  C.,  the  first  electrically 
operated  cotton  mill  in  the  South.  He  was 
with  the  Puebla  (Mexico)  Electric  Co., 
1897-1904,  as  engineer  of  their  properties 
and  10,000  volt,  60  cycle,  10  mile  trans- 
mission plants;  equipped  in  1904-1905  the 
first  all-electric  operated  nitrate  plant  for 
the  W.  R.  Grace  Co.,  in  the  Province  of 
Antofagasta,  Chile,  and  other  important 
installations;  then,  1907-1916  with  the 
New  England  Engineering  Co.,  Water- 
bury,  Conn.,  as  Manager  of  the  Power 
Equipment  Department,  building  and  in- 
stalling many  isolated  industrial  electric 
plants.  He  now  conducts  a  similar  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  at  Waterbury, 
Conn. 

Mr.  Wilson  is  a  member  of  the  Water- 
bury  Club  and  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 


GEORGE     WEIDERMAN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


455 


GEORGE  WEIDERMAN 


The  electrical  industry  includes  among 
its  representatives  many  men  who  have 
come  into  its  later  developments  by  the  way 
of  a  practical  experience  in  telegraphy. 
Among  these  is  George  Weiderman,  now 
head  of  the  George  Weiderman  Electric 
Company  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
He  was  born  in  New  York  City  in  1864, 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  that 
city,  being  graduated  in  1878.  He  later 
entered  upon  a  telegraphic  career  in  the 
service  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  first  as  a  clerk  and  afterwards  as 
a  telegraph  operator  and  manager  in  New 
York  and  Brooklyn  for  ten  years.  It  was  a 
time  of  great  development  and  initiative  in 
the  electrical  industry,  and  during  his  entire 
period  of  telegraph  service  Mr.  Weider- 
man was  a  devoted  and  eager  student,  not 
only  of  the  art  of  telegraphy,  in  which 
he  early  became  an  expert  of  much  skill, 
but  also  of  the  scientific  principles  and  prac- 
tice of  electrical  science  and  engineering. 
In  the  managerial  positions  which  he  filled 
under  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Weiderman  had  demonstrated 
his  business  acumen  and  executive  ability 
by  steadily  increasing  the  business  of  the 
offices  placed  in  his  charge.  He  had  the 
natural  ambition  of  a  man  of  those  quali- 
fications to  get  into  a  business  of  his  own, 
and  having  qualified  himself  by  study  and 
research,  he  established  himself  in  1891 
in  an  electrical  business  as  an  individual 
venture.  He  soon  built  up  a  successful 
business  in  the  installing  of  electric  light 
and  power  systems  in  industrial  plants, 
gaining  a  reputation  for  careful  efficiency 
in  work  that  brought  him  contracts  for  such 
installations  not  only  from  all  sections  of 
the  Greater  City,  but  from  surrounding 
towns  as  well,  the  area  of  his  activity  con- 
stantly widening.  The  firm  later  became 
Weiderman  &  Conkling,  but  twelve  years 
ago  was  incorporated  as  the  George  Wei- 
derman Electric  Company.  Two  years 
later  he  added  to  the  business  that  of  the 
manufacture  of  electrical  appliances,  for 
the  prosecution  of  which  the  company  has  a 
capacious  and  well-equipped  factory  at  35- 
37  Rose  Street,  New  York,  turning  out 


products  to  suit  the  most  exacting  modern 
requirements  of  electrical  practice.  The 
company's  display  rooms,  warehouse  and 
offices  are  at  191  Flatbush  Avenue  in 
Brooklyn,  occupying  the  entire  building 
through  the  block  to  Pacific  Street,  and  car- 
rying there  large  and  constantly  replenished 
stocks.  Mr.  Weiderman  still  makes  a 
prominent  feature  of  electrical  work  for 
industrial  plants,  installing  power,  light 
and  telephones  in  plants  of  every  kind  and 
using  the  best  and  most  improved  fixtures, 
material,  and  insulations.  He  also  ex- 
ecutes contracts  for  the  complete  electrical 
equipment  of  buildings  of  every  kind  and 
for  all  purposes.  Mr.  Weiderman  has  de- 
veloped his  business  along  lines  of  constant 
progress,  and  has  kept  pace  with  the  many 
new  inventions  and  improvements  which 
have  so  broadened  the  scope  and  expanded 
the  activities  of  the  workers  in  the  elec- 
trical field,  and  as  engineer,  contractor  and 
manufacturer  has  kept  up  with  the  times. 
He  is  identified  with  many  of  the  leading 
and  most  important  electrical  organiza- 
tions and  societies,  is  a  life  member  of  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  the  oldest  of 
American  electrical  societies,  and  a  member 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, the  National  Electric  Light  Asso- 
ciation, the  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety, the  Jovian  Order,  Merchants  Associ- 
ation of  New  York  City,  the  Rotary 
Club  of  Brooklyn,  Brooklyn  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Brooklyn  Engineers  Club,  and 
the  Electrical  Development  Society.  He 
is  in  complete  accord  with  the  modern 
spirit  of  co-operative  effort  and  union 
of  purpose  for  the  further  advance- 
ment of  the  electrical  industry  both  from 
a  technical  and  commercial  standpoint 
He  has  met  with  a  marked  and 
gratifying  success  in  his  business  enter- 
prise because  he  has  brought  to  it  the 
benefit  of  his  close  personal  supervision, 
and  because  he  has  kept  up  with  the  pro- 
gressive development  of  the  art  in  its  rapid 
evolution.  He  has  watched  that  develop- 
ment, so  far  as  the  applications  of  elec- 
tricity to  light  and  power  are  concerned, 
from  their  earliest  commercial  manifesta- 


456 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


tions  and  has  always  had  faith  in  the  elec- 
trical business  as  one  of  the  most  stable, 
and  as  having  a  future  of  progress  more 
strongly  secured  than  any  other.  Mr. 
Weiderman  is  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  and 
his  social  and  club  connections  are  chiefly 
in  that  borough.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Crescent  Club  of  Brooklyn,  the  Long 


Island  Automobile  Club  and  the  Building 
Trades  Club;  and  he  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Marine  and  Field  Club,  the  Knicker- 
bocker Club  of  New  York,  St.  John  Lodge, 
F.  and  A.M.  and  Kismet  Temple.  Outside 
of  business  his  chief  interests  are  church 
and  charity  work,  and  his  favorite  recrea- 
tion is  golf. 


WALTER  FARRINGTON  WELLS 


Walter  Farrington  Wells,  Vice-Presi- 
dent  and  General  Manager  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  Brook- 
lyn, was  born  in  Rahway,  N.  J.,  January 
10,  1870,  and  joined  the  staff  of  the 
Brooklyn  Edison  Company  in  1892,  as  a 
draftsman,  after  completing  a  special 
course  in  engineering,  higher  mathematics 
and  chemistry  at  Rutgers  College.  He 
progressed  from  the  position  of  drafts- 
man to  that  of  electrical  superintendent, 
which  post  he  occupied  from  1 894  to  1897, 
when  he  left  the  company  to  become  assist- 
ant general  manager  of  the  Manhattan 
Electric  Light  Company.  The  next  four 
years  comprised  the  period  during  which 
the  several  central  station  companies  in 
New  York  City  were  being  merged  to 
form  the  present  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, and  to  Mr.  Wells  fell  the  responsi- 
bility of  arranging  many  of  the  physical 
details  of  the  transaction.  The  Manhat- 
tan company  being  included  in  the  mer- 
ger, Mr.  Wells  then  became  one  of  the  dis- 
trict superintendents  of  the  Operating  De- 
partment of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, and  as  such  co-operated  in  the  prep- 
aration of  the  plans,  and  superintended  the 
installation  of  the  electrical  plant  at  the 
Waterside  Station  of  the  company,  38th 
Street  and  East  River.  Upon  completion 
of  this  station  in  October,  1901,  Mr.  Wells 
was  appointed  superintendent  in  general 
charge  of  its  operation. 


In  1905,  he  was  offered  the  newly  cre- 
ated position  of  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Brooklyn  Edison  Company,  and  in  this 
capacity  re-entered  the  service  of  that 
company,  and  on  January  3,  1913,  was 
elected  Vice-President,  General  Manager 
and  Director.  He  is  likewise  Vice-Presi- 
dent, General  Manager  and  Director  of 
the  Kings  County  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company;  Vice-President  and  Director  of 
the  Amsterdam  Electric  Light,  Heat  and 
Power  Company,  and  Director  of  the  Na- 
tional City  Bank  of  Brooklyn. 

Mr.  Wells  has  been  actively  connected 
with  the  technical  work  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  and  after  twice 
holding  the  office  of  Treasurer,  was  in  suc- 
cessive years  elected  2nd  Vice-President, 
Vice-President  and  President  of  this  body. 
During  the  years  1915  and  1916  he  held 
the  presidency  of  the  Association  of  Edison 
Illuminating  Companies.  In  June,  1915, 
Rutgers  College  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  Electrical  Engineer. 
He  is  a  fellow  of  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers;  member  of  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  Frank- 
lin Institute,  Illuminating  Engineering  So- 
ciety, Merchants  Association  of  New  York, 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  and  Brook- 
lyn Engineers'  Club.  His  social  clubs  are 
Crescent,  Brooklyn,  Rotary,  Engineers, 
Engineers  Country  and  Delta  Kappa 
Epsilon. 


ARTHUR    WILLIAMS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


457 


ARTHUR    WILLIAMS 


Arthur  Williams,  Federal  Food  Admin- 
istrator of  the  City  of  New  York,  whose 
versatility  is  shown  by  his  career  in  the 
electrical  field  and  the  executive  ability  dis- 
played in  the  position  to  which  the  Govern- 
ment wisely  appointed  him,  is  a  native  of 
Norfolk,  Va.,  where  he  was  born  August 
14,  1868,  the  son  of  Rev.  Christopher  S. 
and  Hannah  Sanford  (Rogers)  Williams. 
He  was  educated  in  the  public  and  private 
schools  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  New 
York  City,  and  when  sixteen  years  of  age 
began  his  business  career  with  an  electrical 
contractor.  He  remained  in  this  position 
from  August,  1884,  until  February,  1885, 
when  he  became  an  employee  of  the  Edison 
Electric  Illuminating  Company  of  New 
York,  which  was  afterwards  succeeded  by 
the  New  York  Edison  Company.  He  was 
assigned  to  duty  as  assistant  in  the  chemical 
meter  department.  From  this  period  his 
advancement  was  rapid,  due  to  his  speedy 
grasp  of  conditions  and  the  energy  he  dis- 
played. He  was  made  superintendent  of 
interior  construction  in  18.87,  and  was  elec- 
trician of  the  company  from,  that  time  until 
!,  when  he  was  advanced  to  the  posi- 


tion of  superintendent  of  the  underground 
department,  general  inspector  in  1890  and 
general  agent  in  1893.  He  was  made  the 
general  commercial  manager  in  1915,  a 
position  he  still  retains.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  Spanish- American  War,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams was  in  charge  of  the  Volunteer 
Forces  which  mined  New  York  harbor. 
This  work  was  done  under  the  direction 
of  the  regular  army,  and  he  commanded 
a  volunteer  electrical  force  organized 
from  members  of  local  electrical  compa- 
nies. He  served  under  Colonel  William 
Ludlow,  who  was  in  charge  of  fortifications 
and  torpedo  defenses  at  Sandy  Hook,  N. 
J.,  and  Major  Henry  M.  Adams,  who  oc- 
cupied a  similar  position  at  Forts  Wads- 
worth  and  Hamilton.  Mr.  Williams  has 
always  taken  an  active  part  in  accident  pre- 
vention, a  work  that  is  carried  on  under 
the  direction  of  the  American  Museum  of 
Safety,  of  which  he  is  president,  and  is 
deeply  interested  in  various  charity  and 
philanthropic  organizations.  His  con- 


nections with  commercial  enterprises  are 
many  and  varied.  He  is  president  of 
the  Electrical  Show  Company,  New  York 
Electric  Garage  Corporation,  New  York 
Electric  Vehicle  Association,  Edison  Sav- 
ings and  Loan  Association,  vice-president 
of  the  Yonkers  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company,  and  director  of  the  Metro- 
politan Life  Insurance  Company,  and  the 
Morris  Plan  of  New  York.  He  is  a  direc- 
tor of  the  New  York  Association  for  the 
Blind,  Chrystie  Street  House,  Upanin 
Club  of  Brooklyn,  Municipal  Art  Society, 
National  Employment  Exchange  and  the 
National  Safety  Council.  Other  societies 
in  which  Mr.  Williams  holds  member- 
ship include  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  of  which  he  is  a 
Fellow;  New  York  Electrical  Society 
(past  president),  Electric  Vehicle  Asso- 
ciation of  America  (past  president),  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association  (past 
president),  Illuminating  Engineers'  So- 
ciety, Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies  (past  president) ,  National  As- 
sociation of  Corporation  Schools  (past 
president),  Technical  Publicity  Associa- 
tion, American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  American  Society 
of  Political  and  Social  Science,  Municipal 
Art  Society,  Metropolitan  Museum  of 
Art,  Society  for  the  Protection  of  the 
Adirondacks,  Electro -Chemical  Society, 
International  Engineering  Congress,  New 
York  Zoological  Society,  Broadway  As- 
,  sociation,  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  New  England  So- 
ciety, International  Law  Association,  of 
London,  England.  For  the  interest  Mr. 
Williams  has  shown  in  French  affairs, 
the  Government  of  that  country  deco- 
rated him  as  an  officer  de  la  L'lnstruc- 
tion  Publique,  and  for  his  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  American  Museum  of  Safety 
the  King  of  Spain  made  him  a  Knight  of 
the  Royal  Order  of  Isabel  the  Catholic. 
Mr.  Williams  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club,  Press  Club,  National  Arts 
Club,  Squash  Club,  Engineers'  Country 
Club,  Nassau  Country  Club,  Lake  Placid 


458 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Club,  Lawyers'  Club,  Lotos  Club,  Aero 
Club  of  America,  Union  League  Club, 
City  Club  of  Yonkers,  the  Pilgrims,  and 
Touring  Club  of  France.  Mr.  Williams 
resides  at  531  Fifth  Avenue,  and  his  of- 
fice address  is  Irving  Place  and  I5th 
street,  New  York  City.  As  Federal  Food 


Administrator  for  New  York  City,  Mr. 
Williams  rendered  valuable  assistance  to 
Mr.  Herbert  Hoover,  under  whose  di- 
rection he  furthered  the  efforts  of  the 
Government  for  the  conservation  of  food 
and  the  prevention  of  profiteering  during 
the  war. 


ALBERT  EDWARD  WINCHESTER 


A  number  of  striking  characteristics  dis- 
tinguish the  part  that  Albert  E.  Winchester 
has  taken  in  the  advancement  of  electrical 
science.  His  has  been  the  rare  fortune  to 
have  participated  in  early  pioneering  en- 
deavors, to  have  been  associated  with  men 
and  movements  which  made  electrical  his- 
tory, and  to  have  striven  for  ideals  which 
he  has  seen  realized  in  a  measure,  and 
which  have  earned  him  an  honored  place  in 
the  estimation  of  all  who  recognize  unsel- 
fish service  to  the  public  weal  as  above  the 
acquisition  of  wealth.  To  that  vital  issue, 
the  relative  merits  of  public  and  private 
ownership  of  public  utilities,  he  has  devoted 
a  study  of  years'  duration.  He  approached 
the  question  without  prejudice  on  either 
side  and  was  well  qualified  to  have  the  voice 
that  he  gained  among  the  representative 
public  men  who  were  convened  by  the  Na- 
tional Civic  Federation  in  New  York  in 
1905.  Among  the  results  of  that  conven- 
tion was  the  formation  of  a  commission  on 
public  utility  service,  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  when  with  other  electric  light, 
power  and  civic  service  experts  he  was  sent 
to  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  with  a 
corps  of  assistants  at  their  command.  An 
exhaustive  investigation  was  made  of  the 
gas,  electric,  and  street  railway  systems  of 
those  lands,  while  similar  work  was  being 
performed  in  the  United  States.  The  re- 
sulting voluminous  report  stands  as  the 
most  authoritative  word  on  public  utilities 
yet  produced.  Mr.  Winchester's  private 
opinion  has  been  that  the  success  of  public 
utilities,  whether  publicly  or  privately 
owned,  depends  solely  upon  honest,  busi- 
nesslike methods.  He  has  proved  his  con- 
victions practically  by  his  success  in  build- 
ing up  the  publicly  owned  South  Norwalk 
(Conn.)  Electric  Works — which  he  de- 
signed and  supervised  the  construction  of 


in  1892,  and  is  its  General  Superintendent 
— while  in  the  meantime  he  was  President 
for  several  years  of  the  privately  owned 
water  and  electric  service  company  in  the 
adjoining  town  of  Westport. 

Back  in  1886  Mr.  Winchester  was  the 


ALBERT    EDWARD    WINCHESTER 

youngest  member  of  the  parent  Edison 
Company's  engineering  staff.  In  the  ranks 
of  the  Edison  organizations  he  progressed 
from  draughtsman  to  constructing  engineer 
until  the  formation  of  the  General  Electric 
Company,  with  which  he  remained  until 
1893,  when  he  became  superintendent  of 
construction  and  a  director  of  the  Electri- 
cal &  Mechanical  Engineering  Company  of 
New  York,  and  for  about  two  years  until 
late  in  1897  he  was  connected  with  the 


HARRISON     WILLIAMS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


459 


engineering  work  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Co.  Throughout  this  time  he  had  charge 
of  many  important  undertakings,  designing 
and  participating  in  the  construction  of 
over  one  hundred  electric  lighting  and 
street  railway  generating  stations,  including 
Edison  stations  at  New  York,  Boston, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia  and  other  large  cen- 
ters. Mr.  Winchester  values  highly  his  ex- 
perience in  working  under  the  personal  di- 
rection of  Thomas  A.  Edison.  He  is  him- 
self an  inventor  who,  though  not  having 
taken  out  patents,  has  originated  many  ap- 
pliances of  practical  consequence  which 
were  contributed  to  those  whom  he  served, 
such  as  one  of  the  first  quick-break  switches 


for  heavy  electric  currents,  a  sectional  iron 
bracket  pole  for  supporting  trolley  wires, 
and  an  automatic  trolley  pole  and  contact 
for  electric  train  service.  In  1918,  in  col- 
laboration with  the  General  Electric  Co., 
he  helped  to  evolve  a  new  economic  electric 
street  lighting  unit  now  in  use  in  his  home 
city,  South  Norwalk,  Conn.  Mr.  Win- 
chester was  born  April  19,  1867,  at  Mari- 
etta, Ohio.  He  is  a  Founder  Member  of 
the  Edison  Pioneers  and  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
an  honorary  member  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Stationary  Engineers,  a  Mason 
of  high  standing,  an  Elk,  a  Redman,  and  a 
member  of  numerous  other  societies. 


HARRISON  WILLIAMS 


To  do  justice  to  the  story  of  how  the 
name  of  Harrison  Williams  has  become 
known  throughout  the  public  utility  field 
would  require  more  latitude  than  space 
limitations  here  permit,  even  if  the  subject 
were  inclined  to  help  the  historian.  But 
one  of  the  conspicuous  traits  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liams' character  is  that  he  insists  upon  his 
accomplishments  standing  in  place  of 
words  and  leaves  the  world  to  draw  its 
own  conclusions.  Public  and  professional 
opinion  record  as  matters  of  fact  that 
beneficent,  constructive  effect  of  his  excep- 
tional organizing  and  administrative  abil- 
ity in  all  of  the  many  industries  he  has 
touched.  It  is  as  a  financier,  a  capitalist 
whose  wise  supervision  over  the  financial 
structure  of  great  enterprises  has  opened 
avenues  of  success  to  others,  that  he  comes 
into  relation  with  the  electrical  industry. 
The  scientist,  the  inventor,  the  engineer, 
the  electrician,  the  whole  army  of  workers 
who  make  the  wonderful  forces  of  elec- 
tricity serve  the  common  purposes  of  daily 
life,  all  must  depend  upon  commercially 
and  financially  trained  men  to  direct  their 
energies  into  profitable  channels.  Harri- 
son Williams  is  not  one  of  the  old-timers 
or  veterans  about  whom  a  web  of  remi- 
niscence may  be  woven;  in  contrast,  he 
belongs  to  the  decade  just  passed,  to  the 
present,  and  still  more  to  the  future.  The 
astonishing  element  in  reviewing  his  career 


is  that,  arriving  in  New  York  fifteen  years 
ago,  unheralded  and  unheeded,  he  should 
have  risen  so  rapidly  in  the  trust  and  con- 
fidence of  the  business  world  as  to  make 
his  name  today  a  password  into  the  inner- 
most circles  of  America's  financial  center. 
If  there  is  such  a  thing  as  romance  in  busi- 
ness, this  is  surely  a  striking  example  of 
it.  Mr.  Williams  comes  from  Ohio.  He 
got  his  public  school  education  at  Elyria; 
the  family  had  removed  from  Avon,  where 
he  was  born  March  16,  1873,  and  his 
father  was  filling  the  position  of  County 
Treasurer  of  Lorain  County.  In  1892,  at 
the  age  of  19,  when  most  boys  have  not 
begun  to  think  of  responsibility,  he  became 
a  manufacturer,  and  a  successful  one,  by 
taking  charge  of  a  small  concern  employ- 
ing a  few  men,  known  as  the  Fay  Manu- 
facturing Company,  and  making  of  it  a 
large  paying  and  producing  factory.  The 
list  of  commodities  that  he  has  since  as- 
sisted in  putting  upon  the  market  is  a  long 
one,  but  the  reiterated  item  is  electric 
power,  heat,  light  and  traction  companies 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  begin- 
ning of  his  dealings  in  public  utilities  may 
be  traceable  to  the  influence  of  his  friends, 
Charles  A.  Coffin  and  Anson  W.  Bur- 
chard,  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 
However  that  may  be,  his  interest  in  elec- 
trical power  propagation  has  steadily  in- 
creased within  recent  years,  and  it  is  prob- 


460 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


able  that  the  future  may  find  him  in  close 
personal  touch  with  the  more  strictly  engi- 
neering as  well  as  financial  factors  of  the 
industry.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the 
executive  committees  and  directorates  of 
the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  the 
Electric  Investment  Corporation,  the  Gen- 
eral Vehicle  Company,  the  Mahoning  & 
Shenango  Railway  &  Light  Co.,  the  Peer- 
less Truck  &  Motor  Corporation,  and  the 
Motor  Car  Co.,  the  Peerless  Worthing- 
ton  Pump  &  Machinery  Corporation; 
president  of  the  Cleveland  Electric  Illum- 
inating Co. ;  president,  member  of  the 
executive  committee  and  director  of  the 
Republic  Railway  &  Light  Co. ;  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Cen- 
tral States  Electric  Corporation,  and  the 
Federal  Utilities,  Inc. ;  director  of  the 
Denver  &  Rio  Grande  Railroad,  etc.,  etc. 
The  enumeration  might  be  continued  to 
the  extent  of  several  score  companies  in 
the  policies  of  which  he  has  been  con- 
cerned. While  it  is  obviously  impossible 
for  any  man  to  divide  his  time  between 
such  a  multiplication  of  demands,  it  is  pos- 
sible for  a  man  of  Mr.  Williams'  calibre  to 
indirectly  accomplish  the  same  results 
through  the  medium  of  other  men.  In- 
deed, if  his  success  could  be  attributed  to 
any  one  principle,  it  would  be  to  that  of 
the  correct  judgment  of  human  nature. 
He  knows  how  to  appraise  the  value  and 
needs  of  a  business  and  then  how  to  find 


the  right  men  to  attend  to  them.  This 
same  faculty  has  made  his  aid  invaluable 
to  the  great  philanthropic  movement  em- 
bodied in  the  Charity  Organization  So- 
ciety of  New  York.  His  co-operation  in 
the  society's  efforts  to  put  its  affairs  on  a 
sound  financial  basis  was  the  beginning  of 
his  connection  with  it,  and  he  has  since 
acted  as  trustee  and  chairman  of  the  Fi- 
nance Committee.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Neurological  Institute  of 
New  York  and  is  the  present  treasurer  and 
a  trustee.  During  the  war  Mr.  Williams 
had  the  distinctive  honor  of  being  a  dollar- 
a-year  man.  He  acted  as  assistant  to 
Bernard  M.  Baruch  in  the  executive  of- 
fices of  the  War  Industries  Board.  Away 
from  business  Mr.  Williams  is  an  ardent 
devotee  of  sports,  especially  riding,  motor- 
ing and  golfing,  belonging  to  the  Riding, 
Automobile  of  America,  and  National 
Golf  Links  of  America  clubs;  the  Metro- 
politan Club  and  Riding  and  Hunt  Club 
of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  also  the  Metro- 
politan, the  City  Midday,  Recess,  Blind 
Brook,  Morris  County,  Piping  Rock,  Sea 
View,  and  Sleepy  Hollow  Country  clubs. 
It  is  a  pleasure  to  present  in  connection 
with  this  biography  a  very  good  likeness 
of  Mr.  Williams,  a  rare  privilege  because 
of  his  habitual  avoidance  of  the  limelight. 
Mr.  Williams'  New  York  offices  are  at  60 
Broadway. 


C.  GRIFFITH     YOUNG 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


461 


CHARLES  GRIFFITH  YOUNG 


C.  Griffith  Young  was  born  in  Bath, 
Steuben  County,  New  York,  November  i, 
1866.  He  was  graduated  from  Haverling 
Academy  in  1885  and  began  his  business 
career  in  1886  with  the  Schuyler  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Co.,  of  Hartford,  Conn. 

Mr.  Young  had  always  been  interested 
in  mechanics  and  chemistry,  and  it  was  a 
question  of  opportunity  with  him  whether 
he  should  take  up  the  practice  of  electrical 
engineering  or  manufacturing  chemistry. 
The  opportunity  presenting  itself,  Mr. 
Young  accepted  the  position  with  the  Schuy- 
ler Company,  having  before  1886  invented 
some  new  electrical  devices,  and  believing 
that  electrical  enterprise  was  certain  to 
have  a  great  development.  Outside  of  the 
several  ideas  which  were  covered  in  patents 
granted  to  Mr.  Young,  his  chief  interest 
and  endeavor  was  in  the  commercial  ap- 
plication of  engineering  problems,  rather 
than  in  the  manufacture  of  apparatus,  and, 
therefore,  in  December,  1887,  he  accepted 
a  position  as  General  Superintendent  of 
the  Mount  Morris  Electric  Lighting  Com- 
pany in  the  City  of  New  York,  which 
granted  him  a  wide  opportunity  for  exe- 
cuting some  of  the  pioneer  work  in  under- 
ground electric  cable  distribution  on  high 
tension,  alternating  current.  Within  three 
years  this  company,  which  had  only  a  char- 
ter when  Mr.  Young  identified  himself 
with  it,  had  two  steam  power  stations  and  a 
distributing  system  extending  from  the  Bat- 
tery to  1 8 ist  Street  on  the  West  Side. 
Some  of  the  earlier  principles  in  connec- 
tion with  governmental  control  of  electri- 
cal utilities  were  developed  in  this  period, 
as  this  work  and  its  establishment  had  to 
be  done  under  the  approval  of  the  Electri- 
cal Commission  of  the  State  of  New  York 
(New  York  Board  of  Electrical  Control), 
believed  to  be  the  first  governmental  au- 
thority on  public  utilities.  During  this 
oeriod  the  feasibility  of  underground  cables 
and  conduit  systems  for  large  cities  was 
practically  demonstrated.  So  thoroughly 
was  some  of  this  work  done  that  high 
tension  cables  installed  in  1889  are  still 
giving  satisfactory  service. 

After  having  this  broad  experience  in 


the  electric  lighting  and  power  field,  Mr. 
Young  desired  to  enter  the  electric  railway 
field  and  he  joined  forces  in  1902  with  J. 
G.  White,  taking  complete  charge  of  the 
construction  work  in  the  City  of  Baltimore, 
involving  the  electrification  of  over  250 
miles  of  horse  railways.  So  extensive  and 
successful  was  the  work  that  the  Com- 
pany's headquarters  were  moved  from 
New  York  City  to  Baltimore. 

Mr.  Young  has  been  very  active  in  the 
construction  of  electric  railways  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  having  had  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  construction  and  equip- 
ment of  over  2,600  miles  of  electric  rail- 
ways. He  constructed  one  electric  rail- 
way complete  and  put  cars  in  operation  in 
22  hours'  time  in  1907.  This  is  still  the 
record  for  quick  work. 

In  1895  Mr.  Young's  first  business 
trips  on  foreign  experience  began,  and  his 
knowledge  of  electric  railways  and  electric 
lighting  and  power  in  their  every  phase 
has  been  the  occasion  of  his  being  called 
to  all  parts  of  the  world,  including  two 
entire  circuits  of  the  globe,  three  trips  to 
China  and  the  Far  East,  South  America, 
New  Zealand,  Australia,  Philippine 
Islands,  Hawaiian  Islands,  etc. 

The  nature  and  extent  of  Mr.  Young's 
work  and  experience  has  prevented  his  de- 
voting to  the  purely  technical  engineering 
development  the  time  he  had  always  hoped 
to  give,  but  has  brought  him  into  intimate 
contact  with  the  practical  engineering 
experience  of  the  various  engineering 
branches,  including  mining  engineering, 
hydraulic  engineering,  civil  engineering,  as 
well  as  mechanical  and  electrical  engineer- 
ing. His  first  work,  however,  was  that  of 
electrical  engineering;  he  joined  the  Amer- 
ican Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  in 
1889  and  was  elected  a  Fellow  in  1913. 

Mr.  Young  has  been  particularly  inter- 
ested in  and  is  an  authority  on  the  com- 
mercial application  and  solution  of  engi- 
neering problems  and  for  developing  the 
earning  ability  of  public  utilities  and  in- 
dustrials. 

The  many  countries  Mr.  Young  has 
visited  and  his  broad  experience  and 


462 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


acquaintance  has  given  him  a  storehouse  of 
facts  and  information  which  is  invaluable 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession  as  a  gen- 
eral consulting  engineer,  since  1909.  He 
is  identified  with  the  following  clubs  and 
societies:  Fellow,  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers;  Associate,  American 
Society  of  Civil  Engineers;  Member, 
American  Electric  Railway  Association, 


National  Electric  Light  Association,  New 
York  Electrical  Society,  'New  York  Rail- 
road Club,  Engineers  Club,  New  York 
City;  India  House,  New  York  City;  Pan- 
American  Society  of  the  United  States, 
The  Academy  of  Political  Science  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  Circumnavigators 
Club  and  the  National  Foreign  Trade 
Council. 


OWEN    D.    YOUNG- 


Owen  D.  Young,  vice-president  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  is  a  lawyer  by 
profession  and  was  a  member  of  the  legal 


firm  of  Tyler  &  Young,  Boston,  Mass., 
before  forming  his  present  connection. 
He  was  born  in  Van  Hornesville,  N.  Y., 


A-  A.  ZIEGLER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


463 


October  27,  1874,  and  educated  at  St. 
Lawrence  University,  Boston  University 
Law  School.  He  received  the  A.B.  degree 
upon  graduation  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
institution  in  1894,  and  Boston  University 
Law  School  conferred  the  LL.B.  degree 
upon  him  when  he  finished  its  course  in 
1896.  Mr.  Young  was  lecturer  at  the 
Law  School  of  Boston  University  from 
1897  until  1904.  In  addition  to  his  in- 
terest in  the  General  Electric  Company, 
he  is  a  director  and  member  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Electric  Bond  & 


Share  Company,  Director  Bankers'  Trust 
Company  and  a  trustee  of  St.  Law- 
rence University.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Bar  Association,  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bar  Association  and  the  Beta 
Theta  Pi  and  Phi  Delta  Phi  fraternities. 
His  clubs  are  the  Bankers',  India  House, 
Lotos  and  Railroad  Clubs  of  New  York, 
Greenwich  Country  Club  and  the  Union 
Club  of  Boston.  Mr.  Young  was  mar- 
ried June  30,  1898,  to  Josephine  Sheldon 
Edmonds,  of  Southbridge,  Mass. 


ALFRED    ARTHUR    ZIEGLER 


Contact  and  association  with  some  of 
the  noted  scientists  who  were  prominent 
in  the  early  adaptation  of  electrical  energy 
to  the  many  uses  which  has  made  it  one 
of  the  greatest  known  forces,  was  of  in- 
calculable value  to  Alfred  A.  Ziegler,  for 
the  research  of  these  eminent  men  led  his 
thoughts  from  ordinary  mechanical  work 
to  other  branches  of  the  industry  and  in  a 
few  years  transformed  him  from  a  journey- 
man electrician  to  a  leading  position  in  the 
manufacture  of  electrical  apparatus.  Mr. 
Ziegler  was  born  October  4,  1864,  in  the 
city  of  Arbon,  Lake  Constance,  Switzer- 
land, the  son  of  F.  Jacob  and  Emilie 
(Habisreutinger)  Ziegler.  His  grand- 
father was  an  agriculturist  and  a  large 
manufacturer  of  cotton  and  worsted  goods, 
which  were  exported  to  Italy,  Turkey  and 
America.  The  factories  and  farms  had 
1,000  employees  and  Mr.  Ziegler's  father 
continued  the  business  for  some  years 
after  the  elder  Ziegler's  death.  Mr.  Zie- 
gler's father  was  also  in  public  life,  being 
a  member  of  the  Swiss  Legislature  for 
fifteen  years  and  holding  various  other 
offices.  In  1847,  ne  was  a  lieutenant  in 
the  Swiss  military  service,  during  the  short 
war  in  behalf  of  an  undivided  confedera- 
tion against  the  secessionist  cantons.  Mr. 
Ziegler  was  brought  to  America  when  a 
small  boy,  and  the  family  locating  in  Bos- 
ton, entered  him  as  a  pupil  at  one  of  the 


city's  public  schools.  His  preliminary  edu- 
cation was  finished  in  the  schools  of 
Maiden,  Mass.,  in  1879,  after  which  he 
attended  lectures  at  the  evening  school 
of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  for  several  years.  His  first 
employment  was  as  an  apprentice  with 
Charles  Williams,  Jr.,  manufacturer  of 
telephone  and  telegraph  signals  and  sci- 
entific apparatus.  Mr.  Williams  was 
located  at  109  Court  Street,  Boston,  in 
the  building  where  Prof.  Bell  invented  the 
telephone,  and  it  was  there  Mr.  Ziegler 
was  brought  in  close  touch  with  such 
famous  men  as  Prof.  Bell,  Prof.  Blake, 
of  transmitter  fame;  Emil  Berliner, 
transmitter  and  graphophone  inventor; 
Moses  G.  Farmer,  of  the  electric  locomo- 
tive; Mr.  Anders,  of  the  printing  tele- 
graph; Thomas  D.  Lockwood,  famous  for 
his  telephone  connection  work;  Thomas  A. 
Watson,  also  a  telephone  expert,  and  E. 
T.  Holmes,  who  was  in  the  same  field. 
Mr.  Holmes  conducted  the  first  tele- 
phone exchange  in  Boston  and  was  the 
originator  of  the  electric  protective  burglar 
alarm  system  which  bears  his  name.1 

Mr.  Ziegler  was  four  years  as  an  ap- 
prentice with  Mr.  Williams  and  one  year 
with  the  Western  Electric  Co.,  which  suc- 
ceeded to  the  business.  He  then  spent 
some  time  in  the  South  Boston  Iron  Works 
to  familiarize  himself  with  the  handling  of 


464 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


large  machinery.  During  this  period  he 
studied  engineering  at  nights  and  in  his 
spare  time  during  the  day.  In  1886,  he 
entered  the  electric  lighting  business,  mak- 
ing the  first  experiments  with  the  Schaefer 
Electric  Manufacturing  Co.  on  incan- 
descent lamps  and  other  apparatus.  He 
then  returned  to  the  Williams  Works,  then 
operated  by  the  Western  Electric  Co.  Up- 
on the  removal  of  that  company  to  New 
York  City,  Albert  L.  Russell  assumed  the 
local  business  and  he  was  in  turn  succeeded 
by  the  Holtzer-Cabot  Electric  Co.  After 
a  term  spent  in  the  service  of  the  Western 
Electric  Co.,  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Co.,  and  the  Holmes  Electric  Protection 
Co.,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  his 
brother,  J.  Oscar  Ziegler,  in  May,  1889, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Ziegler  Brothers, 
and  began  the  manufacture  of  fine 
electrical  and  mechanical  instruments.  The 
venture  was  successful  and  the-  business 
of  A.  P.  Gage  &  Co.,  dealers  chiefly  in 
physical  and  chemical  apparatus,  was 
absorbed.  The  Ziegler  Electric  Company 
was  then  incorporated,  with  A.  A.  Ziegler 
as  president,  and  the  new  organization 
started  out  fully  equipped  to  furnish  the 
highest-grade  apparatus  for  colleges,  high, 
grammar  and  graduating  schools.  It  also 
handled  electric  lighting  paraphernalia, 
telephone  and  telegraph  instruments  and 
dynamos  for  power  and  hand  use.  In  ad- 
dition all  the  apparatus  called  for  in  Prof. 
A.  P.  Gage's  series  of  textbooks  on 
physics  were  among  the  specialties  manu- 
factured, as  well  as  the  so-called  Harvard 
apparatus.  In  1897  Mr.  Ziegler  sev- 
ered his  connection  with  the  firm  and  or- 
ganized the  Ziegler  Apparatus  Company. 
He  finally  established  the  United  Electric 
Apparatus  Company  and  since  1910  has 
been  located  at  his  present  address,  Col- 
umbus Avenue  and  Centre  Street,  Boston, 
Mass.  He  is  treasurer  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  company,  which  is  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone instruments  and  their  allied  con- 
nections, burglar  alarms  and  signal  appar- 
atus for  many  of  the  railroads  of  the 
country,  public  service  corporations  and 
the  United  States  Government.  Mr. 


Ziegler  occupies  an  envied  position  in  the 
electrical  field  by  reason  of  his  having  been 
in  such  close  touch  with  the  birth  of  the 
telephone  and  on  such  intimate  terms  with 
Prof.  Bell  and  other  noted  scientists.  It 
was  at  this  period,  1872,  that  his  brother 
made  the  original  model  for  a  multiple 
telegraph,  and  later  worked  on  the  tele- 
phone for  Prof.  Bell,  the  Blake  Trans- 
mitter and  the  magneto  bell.  Mr.  Ziegler 
relates  some  experiences  he  had  when  em- 
ployed by  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company.  He  was  engaged  in  some  unique 
investigation  and  detective  work  in  the 
early  days  of  the  telephone  to  ferret 
out  the  infringers  on  its  patents  and  it 
required  great  vigilance  to  secure  results. 
On  one  occasion  Mr.  Ziegler  was  sent  by 
the  American  Bell  Telephone  Co.  to  locate 
a  complete  set  of  apparatus  consisting  of 
telephone  transmitter,  bells  and  switch- 
ing devices  that  were  being  used  by  private 
parties,  furnished  by  the  telephone  com- 
pany for  exchange  systems  which  they 
were  operating  through  several  cities  in 
Maine.  Starting  from  Boston  he  went  to 
Portland,  at  which  place  he  could  not  locate 
any.  He  went  to  Lewiston  next,  locating 
several;  then  to  Livermore  Falls,  where 
he  was  unable  to  find  any.  From  there 
he  went  to  Farmington,  where  he  found 
several  in  stores  and  offices.  Finally  he 
went  to  Leeds  and  Phillips,  Maine.  At 
Leeds  he  got  possession  of  evidence  and 
saw  instruments  in  operation,  that  enabled 
him,  after  two  weeks'  search,  to  get  full 
data.  Coming  back,  he  was  able  to  make  a 
complete  outfit  which  resembled  the  ones 
used  by  this  company  so  closely  that  they 
could  not  be  distinguished  and  were  used 
by  the  American  Bell  Co.  in  their  suit 
against  the  infringers.  Another  incident 
was  at  the  death  of  President  Garfield, 
when  Mr.  Ziegler  helped  Professor  Alex- 
ander Graham  Bell  in  making  parts  for 
an  apparatus  called  the  induction  balance, 
with  which  Prof.  Bell  figured  he  would 
be  able  to  locate  the  fatal  bullet.  In  the 
early  8o's  he  also  aided  Prof.  Bell  in  set- 
ting up  and  making  connections  for  the 
apparatus  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  where  the  Professor  gave 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


465 


a  lecture  and  demonstrated  the  first  exper- 
iment on  wireless  telephony  by  the  rays 
of  the  sun.  This  was  called  the  photo- 
phone  and  messages  could  be  heard  for 
distances  of  about  300  feet  from  the  re- 
ceiving instrument.  Mr.  Ziegler  is  a  char- 


ter member  of  the  Boston  Electric  Club 
and  a  member  of  the  Transportation  Club 
of  New  York  City,  the  Bay  State  Automo- 
bile Association  and  the  Central  Club  of 
Boston.  His  New  York  City  office  is  lo- 
cated at  30  Church  Street. 


CHAPTER    X 
ELECTRICITY  IN  THE  HOME 


NOT  only  in  the  aggregate  volume, 
but  also  in  its  diversity  of  applica- 
tions, the  progress  of  electricity  has 
far  outrun  the  rosiest  hopes  of  its  inventors 
and  exploiters  of  the  Seventies  and  Eigh- 
ties, when  its  first  excursions  into  the  realm 
of  production  of  light,  heat  and  power 
began,  though  they  all  appeared  extrava- 
gantly optimistic  to  their  lay  contempo- 
raries. 

Even  men  of  science,  duly  appreciative 
of  the  wonderful  scientific  value  of  the  ex- 
perimentation and  application  of  electric 
light  and  power,  were  for  years  imbued 
with  pessimistic  ideas  about  the  commercial 
success  of  such  electric  service.  Few,  how- 
ever, as  late  as  1879,  were  willing  to  go 
as  far  as  W.  M.  Williams,  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Science  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, who  in  a  paper  entitled  "Contribution 
to  the  History  of  Electric  Lighting,"  pub- 
lished that  year,  after  narrating  some  early 
lighting  experiments,  wrote: 

"During  the  intervening  thirty  years  I 
have  abstained  from  further  meddling  with 
the  electric  light,  because  all  that  I  had 
seen  then,  and  have  heard  of  since,  has 
convinced  me  that  although  as  a  scientific 
achievement  the  electric  light  is  a  splendid 
success,  its  practical  application  to  all  pur- 
poses where  cost  is  a  matter  of  serious  con- 
sideration, is  a  complete  and  hopeless  fail- 
ure and  must  of  necessity  continue  to  be  so." 

But  this  was  only  a  few  years  before  the 
permanent  value  of  the  electric  light  and 
its  commercial  success  had  been  placed  be- 
yond controversy.  Like  the  telegraph  and 


the  telephone,  it  took  years  to  educate  the 
people  in  its  use,  but  when  the  prejudices 
of  conservatism  had  been  overcome  it  be- 
came a  necessity  to  those  desiring  the  best 
and  most  dependable  form  of  illumination. 

Electric  power  for  the  industries  came 
next.  It  was  much  longer  coming  to  its 
own.  The  dynamo  and  motor  took  a  con- 
siderable time  in  evolution.  Even  after  it 
had  reached  a  satisfactory  degree  of  effi- 
ciency and  reliability  and  the  users  of 
power  were  convinced  of  the  greater  de- 
sirability of  electrical  equipment,  many  of 
them  kept  the  steam  plant  because  it  rep- 
resented a  considerable  investment  which 
they  felt  that  they  could  not  afford  to  dis- 
card. But  as  new  equipment  was  needed 
it  would  be  electrical,  and  finally  the  entire 
plant  would  be  transformed  from  steam  to 
electricity. 

The  fact  that  heat  can  be  produced  by 
electric  energy  has  been  known  for  at  least 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  but  the  prac- 
tical applications  of  that  principle  to  the 
uses  of  the  home  was  long  in  coming.  The 
first  public  exhibit  along  that  line  was  at 
the  International  Exposition  at  Vienna  in 
1883,  where  water  was  boiled  by  electric 
heat,  first  by  means  of  a  spiral  of  platinum 
wire  made  red  hot  by  electric  current  and 
then  immersed  in  the  water,  and  at  another 
time  by  winding  the  platinum  wire  around 
the  vessel  which  contained  the  water. 

Since  the  use  of  electrical  energy  for 
light  and  power  has  been  developed  there 
has  been  no  question  of  the  possibility  of 
electric  cooking  and  heating.  The  prob- 


466 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


467 


lem  of  their  use  has  been  economic  rather 
than  technical  or  mechanical.  From  the 
side  of  central  station  management,  it  has 
been  whether  electric  energy  for  these  pur- 
poses can  be  supplied  at  a  profit  to  the  sta- 
tion, at  a  price  low  enough  to  put  electricity 
in  anything  like  even  competition  with 
other  kinds  of  fuel.  Scientific  and  mechan- 
ical demonstrations  clearly  established  the 
fact  that  electric  heat  could  be  obtained, 
and  that  for  cooking  and  many  other  oper- 
ations it  was  ideal,  but  the  question  of 
profit  in  its  generation  and  distribution  on 
the  one  hand,  and  from  the  consumers' 
side  that  of  the  cost  of  installation  and 
maintenance,  served  to  retard  the  develop- 
ment of  electrical  applications,  other  than 
lighting,  in  the  home. 

From  about  1890  electrically  heated 
cooking  utensils,  such  as  hot  plates,  tea 
kettles  and  chafing  dishes  began  to  be 
shown  at  various  exhibitions  in  this  coun- 
try and  abroad.  The  commercial  use  of 
electric  heating  in  England  dates  from  an 
exhibition  of  such  appliances  made  at  the 
Crystal  Palace  at  Sydenham,  near  London, 
in  1890,  by  the  Carpenter  Company,  Amer- 
ican manufacturers.  After  that  many 
patents  were  taken  out  in  England  by  sev- 
eral inventors  of  such  appliances.  One  of 
these  inventors,  H.  J.  Dowsing,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Crompton  Company, 
manufacturers  of  electric  appliances  at 
Chelmsford,  England,  organized  a  banquet 
given  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  on 
Friday,  June  15,  1894,  at  the"  Cannon 
Street  Hotel,  London.  At  this  banquet  the 
food  was  all  electrically  cooked,  and  the 
visitors  were  invited  to  see  the  cooking 
operations  in  progress.  The  interest 
aroused  in  London  and  through  England 
by  that  banquet  had  a  very  stimulating  ef- 
fect on  the  sale  of  such  culinary  apparatus 
as  were  then  available  for  household  use. 

But  the  progress  of  the  adoption  of 
these  devices  was  chiefly  among  restaur- 
ants and  hotels  for  several  years,  though 
it  was  not  until  1904  that  a  European  hotel 
became  the  first  in  the  world  to  be  equipped 
exclusively  with  electrical  cooking  appa- 
ratus. In  England  the  development  of  the 
use  of  electricity  for  home  cooking  upon 
any  important  scale  began  with  the  in- 
troduction of  the  "Tricity  Cooker,"  the 
introduction  of  which,  in  1908,  was  suc- 


cessfully exploited  by  clever  publicity 
campaigns,  including  a  series  of  largely  at- 
tended electric  cooking  demonstrations 
which  started  many  homes  in  that  country 
as  users  of  electricity  in  their  kitchens. 

The  use  of  electric  ranges  began  in  the 
United  States  about  the  same  time  as  in 
England.  The  smaller  cooking  apparatus, 
operated  by  hitching  on  to  an  electric  light 
socket,  came  earlier.  The  last  few  years 
have  seen  the  movement  toward  electric 
cooking  advance  coincidently  with  elec- 
trical and  mechanical  improvement  in  elec- 
tric ranges,  until  in  the  past  year  or  two 
the  demand  has  so  grown  that  it  seems 
probable  that  electricity  will  become  a  very 
strong  competitor  of  coal,  gas  and  other 
fuels  in  American  homes. 

The  most  serious  of  the  technical  im- 
pediments to  the  general  adoption  of  elec- 
tric cooking,  and  which  for  some  years 
made  it  impractical  for  extensive  adoption 
because  of  a  cost  prohibitive  to  the  average 
consumer  of  heat  for  cookery,  was  that 
platinum,  one  of  the  costliest  of  metals,  was 
the  only  known  material  which  could  with- 
stand the  heat  needed  for  electric  cooking. 
It  is  very  seldom  that  the  preparing  of 
food  actually  needs  a  greater  temperature 
than  five  hundred  degrees  (Fahrenheit), 
but  an  electric  heater  must  be  designed  for 
much  higher  temperatures,  because  one  of 
its  greatest  advantages  is  that  it  not  only 
generates  heat  sufficient  to  accomplish  its 
purpose,  but  also  that  it  gives  much  quicker 
action  and  radiant  heat. 

Experiments  were  crowned  with  success 
when  it  was  found,  in  1892,  that  certain 
nickel-steel  alloys  would  resist  heat  of  as 
high  as  one  thousand  degrees  (Fahren- 
heit) without  chemical  or  physical  deteri- 
oration of  the  metal,  a  degree  of  resistance 
which  still  satisfies  many  demands,  and  this 
material  is  in  use  in  many  appliances.  But 
in  1904  nickel-chromium  alloys  had  been 
evolved  which  will  operate  at  a  tempera- 
ture reaching  as  high  as  1750  to  2000 
degrees  (Fahrenheit)  without  injuring  the 
material.  There  is  scarcely  any  use  in 
homes  for  which  such  temperatures  are  not 
sufficiently  high,  and  the  discovery  of  these 
nickel-chromium  alloys  has  removed  the 
principal  technical  deterrent  to  the  general 
adoption  of  electrical  heat  for  cooking 
purposes.  Other  substances  of  similar 


468 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


heat-resisting  properties  have  been  discov- 
ered, but  the  nickel-chromium  alloys  are 
now  in  general  use  for  the  more  modern 
designs  of  electrical  cooking  appliances. 

Early  makes  of  such  apparatus  were 
often  found  to  be  defective  because  of  poor 
terminals  and  inadequate  insulation,  but 
manufacturing  practice  has  improved 
greatly,  and  complaints  of  such  defects  are 
now  very  rare.  The  electric  range  has 
reached  a  high  degree  of  development,  and 
while  certain  changes  and  modifications  of 
range  construction  practice  are  to  be  de- 
sired, they  apply  not  so  much  to  the  merit 
of  the  ranges  themselves  as  to  need  for 
uniformity  and  interchangeability.  In  other 
words  there  are  many  points  in  connection 
with  ranges  where  standardization  is  de- 
sired. The  range  situation  is  very  well 
known.  There  is  a  large  and  growing  de- 
mand from  consumers  for  ranges  and  ap- 
pliances for  cooking  purposes,  and  this 
demand  is  based,  naturally,  on  a  process 
of  education  of  the  public  as  to  the  advan- 
tages which  electric  ranges  possess  over  all 
other  ways  of  cooking.  This  education  it 
is  the  business  of  the  manufacturer,  who 
makes  the  ranges,  and  of  the  central  sta- 
tion, which  supplies  the  energy  to  keep  the 
range  going,  to  furnish.  In  order  that  such 
work  shall  be  done  effectually  it  is  requisite 
that  there  should  be  co-ordination  of  ob- 
jective and  co-operation  of  endeavor  be- 
tween the  manufacturers  and  the  central 
stations.  There  was  a  widespread  idea 
that  the  best  way  to  accomplish  this  was 
by  the  creation  of  a  new  manufacturers' 
organization,  but  as  those  who  would  be 
the  members  of  such  an  organization  are 
already  members  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  and  a  Range  Committee 
exists  in  that  association  which  has  made 
important  investigations  and  reports  in  re- 
gard to  the  various  features  of  trade,  pro- 
duction, promotion  and  installation  of 
range  service,  it  has  been  found  an  efficient 
medium  for  co-operation  in  the  campaigns 
that  are  bringing  about  a  constantly  en- 
larging adoption  of  electrical  methods  for 
cooking. 

At  the  Fortieth  Convention  of  the  Na- 
tional Electric  Light  Association,  held  in 
New  York  City  in  1917,  several  reports 
were  made  by  the  Electric  Range  Com- 
mittee of  the  Commercial  Section  and  its 
various  sub-committees,  covering  the  sub- 


ject of  the  condition  of  the  industry,  its 
growth,  the  means  of  further  promotion, 
the  obstacles  to  be  overcome  and  the  im- 
pediments to  be  removed.  The  reports 
give  much  valuable  information  about  this 
most  interesting  feature  of  electric  in- 
dustry. 

In  this  country,  we  glean  from  these  re- 
ports, "the  history  of  electric  range  selling 
by  central  stations  dates  back  to  1905, 
when  a  few  ranges,  of  design  now  obsolete, 
were  on  the  market.  A  few  aggressive 
spirits  saw  a  future  in  the  appliance  and 
began  the  work  of  demonstrating  to  cen- 
tral stations  the  value  of  electric  ranges  as 
a  load  builder."  By  1908  the  interest  in 
rates  and  cooking  apparatus  began  to  be 
shown  by  discussions  in  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  Question  Box. 

Like  most  new  departures  in  electricity 
there  was  at  first  a  tendency  to  look  upon 
the  electric  range  as  an  electric  toy,  very 
interesting  as  a  wonderful  scientific  experi- 
ment, but  scarcely  within  range  of  practical 
things.  At  first  even  central  stations  in 
many  cases  found  little  about  the  idea  of 
electrical  cooking  likely  to  add  much  to 
their  business,  but  during  the  past  few 
years  the  central  stations  have  become 
more  widely  awake  to  this  electric  range 
service  as  offering  a  new  outlet  for  energy 
sales,  and  a  report  of  the  sub-committee, 
dated  March  27,  1917,  on  commercial  in- 
formation and  recommendation  showed 
that  3,964  communities  had  rates  from 
their  central  stations  which  permit  of  the 
commercial  use  of  electric  ranges.  These 
rates  ranged  from  5  cents  down  to  i  YZ 
cents  per  kw-hr.  of  which  total  76.2  per 
cent  were  4  cents  or  under  and  31.5  per 
cent  were  3  cents  or  less  per  kw-hr.  These 
rates  applied  of  course,  to  electric  heating 
or  cooking.  The  year  1916  was  much 
larger  in  its  electric  range  output  than  any 
previous  year,  the  demand  compelling  sev- 
eral manufacturers  to  greatly  augment 
their  plant.  The  output  for  that  year  of 
electric  ranges  amounted  in  value  to  $i,- 
500,000,  but  the  next  year  it  was  about 
100  per  cent  larger. 

Each  year  increases  the  number  of  cen- 
tral stations  which  enter  into  active  cam- 
paigns to  secure  electric  range  business.  In 
order  to  make  customers  see  it  to  their 
advantage  to  adopt  electric  cooking  it  is 
necessary,  of  course,  first  to  convince  them 


469 


that  electric  cooking  has  decided  advan- 
tage over  cooking  with  any  other  kind  of 
fuel.  In  this  respect  much  good  work  has 
been  done  by  circulars  and  booklets — some 
issued  by  manufacturers  of  ranges  and 
others  by  the  Society  for  Electrical  De- 
velopment, and  in  the  larger  cities  electric 
light  companies  also  issue  valuable  cata- 
logues, leaflets  and  pamphlets  concerning 
electric  ranges  and  all  the  other  electrical 
appliances  for  use  in  the  homes.  Some  of 
these  larger  companies  also  make  very 
practical  expositions  of  electric  ranges  and 
other  electrical  apparatus  for  the  house- 
hold, such  as  that  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company  at  the  Edison  Show  Rooms, 
where  experts  in  domestic  science  and  able 
demonstrators  keep  busy  with  prospective 
buyers,  showing  them  the  advantages  of 
cookery  and  other  housekeeping  work  by 
wire. 

Given  a  range  of  designated  wattage, 
with  ovens,  broilers  and  other  connections 
of  standardized  size  and  capacity,  and  it 
will  soon  be  possible  for  the  housewife  to 
know  just  exactly  what  results  come  from 
the  turning  on  of  current  within  a  cer- 
tain time.  The  quality,  amount  and  action 
of  this  ideal  fuel  is  constant  and  the  results 
are  unvaried,  and  there  is  none  of  the  hap- 
hazard dependence  on  an  oven  which  is 
controlled  by  the  temperature  of  the  room, 
the  quality  of  the  coal,  the  draft  of  the 
chimney  and  other  varying  conditions  that 
affect  the  ordinary  range;  none  of  the 
blackening*  of  utensils,  none  of  the  dirt, 
heat  and  discomfort  of  cooking.  The  most 
important  thing  to  the  housewife  is  that  it 
is  not  only  the  better  but  the  easier  way, 
releasing  her  from  the  discomforts  of 
kitchen  work  and  at  the  same  time  furnish- 
ing better  and  quicker  meals.  These  facts 
known  in  a  community,  a  demand  is  soon 
found. 

Then  comes  the  question  of  expense — 
purchase,  upkeep,  and  repairs.  The  initial 
cost  for  purchase  and  installation  is  higher 
than  for  other  fuels,  and  prices  of  ranges, 
like  other  prices,  have  advanced  during  the 
war  period.  Doubtless  these  higher  prices 
deter  many  from  undertaking  electric  cook- 
ing. But  they  have  not  prevented  an  in- 
crease of  the  number  of  new  range  cus- 
tomers every  year  which  taxes  the  capacity 
of  the  manufacturers. 

The  thing  of  all  others  on  which  de- 


pends the  success  of  campaigns  for  the 
adoption  of  electric  ranges  and  water  heat- 
ers in  any  city,  is  the  central  station  rate 
for  supplying  current  for  such  installations. 
Where,  as  in  many  of  the  states  of  the 
Great  West,  current  is  obtained  cheaply 
because  the  source  of  the  current  is  hydro- 
electric, there  has  been  a  comparatively 
rapid  introduction  of  electric  conveniences 
in  the  household.  Small  electric  appliances 
of  only  occasional  use,  which  can  be  at- 
tached to  a  lighting  socket  and  for  which 
current  is  paid  for  at  electric  light  rates, 
have  been  long  in  use  because  such  articles 
as  toaster,  vacuum  cleaner,  electric  ironer, 
etc.,  consume  so  little  current  that  they 
make  little  impress  on  the  monthly  bill. 
But  a  range,  to  cook  three  meals  a  day,  or 
a  water  heater,  consume  a  much  larger 
amount  of  current,  and  a  consumer  who 
has  been  sufficiently  convinced  of  the  great 
desirability  and  superiority  of  electric 
ranges  to  be  willing  to  meet  the  cost  of 
purchase  and  installation,  will  frequently 
decide  not  to  do  so  when  he  discovers  what 
the  monthly  rate  is  likely  to  be  to  procure 
the  energy  to  run  it.  Even  now  there  are 
many  places  where  the  rate  is  not  suffi- 
ciently low  to  encourage  rapid  progress  in 
domestic  adoption  of  electricity,  though  on 
the  average  there  has  been  a  very  consid- 
erable progress. 

As  a  general  thing  central  stations  have 
awakened  quite  fully  to  the  value  of  the 
cooking  load  as  an  "off-peak"  load  which 
adds  materially  to  the  income  account  of 
the  station.  In  many  cases  low  rates  are 
made  for  separate  installation  with  electric 
ranges,  and  where  the  current  is  produced 
by  water  power  or  modern  steam  plants 
the  rates  are  often  as  low  as  for  gas. 

Various  statistics  as  to  expense  to  con- 
sumer are  published  in  the  electric  range 
reports  (1917)  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association.  One  central  station  re- 
ports an  average  of  poc.  per  person  on  a 
rate  of  4  cents  per  kw-hr.  Another  makes 
a  rate  of  3  cents  per  kw-hr.  with  a  mini- 
mum of  $i  per  month.  The  average  rate 
in  the  entire  country  is  now  said  to  be  a 
little  more  than  three  cents  per  kw-hr.  At 
this  rate,  while  the  fuel  expense  may  be 
slightly  higher  than  gas  in  cities  where  the 
gas  rate  is  under  a  dollar  per  1,000  feet, 
there  are  other  economies  which  more  than 
counterbalance  the  cost  difference  without 


470 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


taking  into  account  the  cleanliness,  cool- 
ness, comfort  and  better  food  which  always 
accompany  the  practice  of  "cooking  by 
wire,"  besides  many  other  advantages 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  consumer. 

To  the  central  station,  largely  because 
the  cooking  load  is  almost  entirely  an  "off- 
peak"  load,  the  building  up  of  a  large 
household  clientele  of  range  patrons  means 
a  most  substantial  addition  to  the  net  in- 
come. The  experience  of  one  of  the  cen- 
tral stations  as  reported  in  the  Electric 
Range  Reports  of  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association  illustrates  this.  The 
station,  up  to  August,  1916,  had  installed 
250  ranges.  From  their  records  the  aver- 
age bill  for  cooking  and  lighting  in  164 
range  installations  on  which  accurate  data 
were  kept  was  $3.97,  whereas  before  elec- 
tric cooking  was  introduced  the  average 
lighting  bill  was  only  $1.10,  thus  showing 
a  gain  in  revenue,  due  to  the  range  load, 
of  261  per  cent. 

A  companion  installation  to  the  electric 
range  is  the  electric  water  heater,  many  of 
which  are  being  installed  at  the  same 
kw-hr.  rate  and  on  the  same  circuit  as  the 
electric  range.  The  service  given  on  the 
modern  electric  water  heater  is  prompt  and 
thorough.  The  most  improved  form  of 
electric  water  heater  is  instantaneous  in 
effect.  Water  of  almost  any  temperature 
up  to  boiling  can  be  obtained  instantane- 
ously. Besides  the  advantage  of  instant 
heating,  the  passage  of  the  electric  current 
through  the  water  acts  as  a  germicide,  and 
bacteria,  which  are  contained  in  all  waters, 
are  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Electricity  is  daily  assuming  greater  im- 
portance in  its  capacity  as  a  household  ser- 
vant. Beginning  about  a  hundred  years 
ago  with  the  electric  bell,  households  began 
about  three-quarters  of  a  century  later  to 
be  electrically  equipped  by  adopting  the 
telephone  and  the  incandescent  lamp  and 
the  electric  fan.  Then  in  the  last  decade 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century  began  the  use  of 
the  various  devices  which  are  one  by  one 
revolutionizing  the  technique  of  household 
management,  such  as  vacuum  cleaners,  elec- 
tric irons  and  small  cooking  utensils  for 
use  at  the  dining  room  table  (toaster, 
chafing-dish,  samovar,  coffee  percolator, 
electric  tea  urn,  and  the  like).  These  are 


all  in  very  wide  use,  and  among  vacuum 
cleaners  the  majority  are  those  operated  by 
electricity. 

Washing  machines  were  'among  the 
early  motor-driven  appliances  to  be  intro- 
duced into  American  homes.  They  are  no 
longer  a  new  thing  except  in  the  sense  that 
they  have  been  developed  and  perfected 
to  such  a  high  degree  that  they  are  now 
made  in  types  designed  for  a  family  of  two 
and  from  that  to  the  largest  family  sizes. 
The  modern  types  absolutely  relieve  wash- 
day from  heavy  work,  perfectly  cleansing 
not  only  ordinary  garments  but  the  finest 
lingerie  without  the  slightest  injury  and 
in  short  time,  at  an  energy  cost  of  a  few 
cents.  These  machines,  equipped  with 
wringers,  also  motor-operated,  deliver  the 
cleansed  articles  ready  for  the  line.  Among 
late  developments  is  a  machine  ironer  or 
mangle  in  sizes  suited  for  household  needs. 

In  like  manner  types  of  electric  dish- 
washers which  in  larger  sizes  are  being 
used  successfully  in  large  city  hotels  have 
been  made  in  smaller  sizes  and  especially 
adapted  to  household  use.  The  dishes 
are  placed  in  a  revolving  drum  set  in  a 
reservoir  of  hot  suds  agitated  by  a  paddle 
device.  At  the  same  time  a  heavy  spray  of 
hot  water  descends  on  the  dishes  from 
above,  not  only  cleaning  them  but  also 
sterilizing  them.  An  electric  motor  serves 
both  to  operate  this  spray  and  the  paddler 
and  revolve  the  drum.  The  machine  itself 
is  at  present  rather  expensive  and  the  first 
cost  is  likely  to  deter  families*  that  must 
practice  economy  from  investing  in  it,  but 
once  possessed  it  is  not  expensive  to  run 
and  can  be  operated  at  a  rate  of  about 
three  cents  per  hour.  Doubtless  these  de- 
vices will  become  much  cheaper  as  the  de- 
mand comes  for  quantity  production. 

There  is  great  variety  in  the  degree  of 
electrical  equipment  to  be  found  in  modern 
houses.  Some  of  the  newer  apartment 
houses  in  the  larger  cities  are  wired  for  the 
most  extensive  installation  of  light,  heat 
and  power.  Many  modern  houses  are 
planned  and  built  with  a  view  to  the  very 
largest  use  of  electric  current,  and  the  most 
convenient  architectural  arrangement  for 
such  use. 

The  services  of  electricity  in  the  home 
reach  every  part  of  the  house.  Besides 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


471 


lights  and  the  telephone,  the  electric  fan 
and  the  vacuum  cleaner,  a  couple  of  re- 
ceptacles under  the  dining  table  afford 
connections  for  percolator,  toaster,  grill, 
chafing-dish,  candelabra  and  other  table 
appliances  for  general  use.  The  modern 
electrically  equipped  kitchen  has  one  or 
more  outlets  provided  for  the  use  of  the 
electric  iron,  fan,  portable  electric  range  or 
fireless  cooker,  electric  washing  machine 
and  a  large  number  of  other  electric  labor 
saving  devices.  Among  the  most  useful  of 
these  are  various  makes  of  utility  motor, 
for  such  activities  as  egg  beating,  dough 
mixing,  coffee  grinding,  meat  grinding, 
cleaning  silver,  sharpening  knives,  which 
can,  indeed,  be  attached  to  almost  any 
kitchen  implement  to  save  the  housewife 
from  many  arm-wearying  tasks.  The  sew- 
ing room  of  the  house  is  greatly  benefited 
by  an  electric  sewing  machine  motor. 

The  bedrooms  also  have  their  appliances 
of  novel  efficiency  and  merit,  including  an 
electric  curling  iron,  an  electric  vibrator 
which  fills  the  place  of  an  expert  masseuse, 
an  electric  hair  dryer  which  dries  the  lady's 
hair  in  a  few  minutes  after  washing  it  and 
an  immersion  heater  for  instantly  warming 
water,  make  valuable  additions  to  the  list 
of  bathroom  comforts.  To  these  may  be 
added  an  electric  radiator  for  quickly  elim- 
inating the  chill  from  the  temperature. 
The  electric  heating  pad  to  do  the  work  of 
the  hot  water  bottle  without  water  is  a 
great  improvement. 

Even  the  baby  of  the  house  is  not  for- 
gotten in  the  list  of  electric  conveniences, 
for  its  interest  is  remembered  by  the  elec- 
tric milk  warmer  which  does  its  work  in 
the  shortest  possible  time  at  any  hour  of 
the  day  or  night  by  the  turning  of  a  switch. 

Evejything  that  has  been  said  in  this 
chapter  so  far  has  been  written  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  city  or  suburban  home 
which  can  be  served  by  the  central  station. 
It  applies  also,  of  course,  to  any  house 
which  can  be  reached  by  similar  service 
although,  if  it  be  a  farm  house,  there  will 
be  added  to  what  may  be  termed  the  house- 


hold conveniences  those  of  the  dairy  in  run- 
ning the  separator,  churn  and  other  devices. 

The  owner  of  a  farm  who  is  in  touch 
with  modern  conditions  needs  the  service 
of  electricity  in  his  home  as  much  as  the 
city  man,  and  has  added  to  it  the  needs  of 
the  farm,  which  are  many  for  many  forms 
of  motor  service.  If  the  farm  is  so  situ- 
ated that  it  can  be  done  without  too 
excessive  initial  expense  he  will  do  well  to 
hitch  up  to  a  central  station  for  his  elec- 
trical service. 

But  for  those  not  so  favorably  located 
with  respect  to  service  lines,  there  have 
been  created  means  for  the  installation  of 
small  isolated  plants  which  perform  very 
efficient  work  in  lighting  the  home  and 
doing  a  vast  number  of  things  that  can  be 
accomplished  by  the  use  of  a  small  motor. 

Several  large  manufacturers  of  electric 
appliances  have  placed  on  the  market  com- 
plete electric  light  outfits  which  are  in- 
tended to  be  used  in  the  generation  of 
electricity  for  light  or  power,  such  as  is 
needed  in  and  about  the  house,  barns  or 
other  parts  of  a  farm.  The  use  is  required 
of  an  oil  or  gasoline  engine,  water  wheel 
or  other  means  of  driving  a  generator 
which  is  used  for  charging  batteries.  By 
these  outfits  of  varied  capacities  to  suit  the 
individual  needs,  the  farm  house  may  be 
sufficiently  equipped  for  all  desired  elec- 
trical conveniences,  and  country  homes  of 
any  kind  are  made  to  furnish  all  the  com- 
forts that  electricity  can  provide  for  the 
city  home.  While  the  connection  with  the 
central  station  is  better  where  it  can  be  had, 
the  farm  or  country  house  can  find  in  the 
electric  outfits  made  for  isolated  places  a 
great  labor  saving  convenience.  The  work 
of  the  housewife  in  the  country  home  or 
farm  house  is  more  burdensome  than  in  the 
city  home  or  apartment,  and  there  is  all 
the  more  need  there  for  taking  the  heavy 
load  from  her  arms  and  shoulders  and 
carrying  it  by  wire;  and  in  the  case  of 
the  farm,  there  is  also  a  great  reduction 
in  the  farm  labor  itself  by  using  electrical 
equipment. 


472 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 

IWJTII, 
f    i 


CHAPTER    XI 
STEAM    RAILROAD   ELECTRIFICATION  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


A^TER  a  business  has  been  conducted 
along  certain  standard  lines  for  a 
number  of  years,  any  changes  requir- 
ing the  introduction  of  new  conditions  are 
viewed  more  or  less  with  disfavor. 

This  was  the  situation  the  railroads 
had  confronting  them,  when  it  was  first 
proposed  to  substitute  electric  operation 
for  steam  operation. 

The  pioneer  work  of  electrifying  steam 
roads  was  not  due  to  any  economic  gains, 
but  was  done  principally  to  overcome  cer- 
tain conditions  that  existed  in  steam  opera- 
tion, and  which  had  to  be  eliminated. 

Thus  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  and  New  York 
Central  Railroads  were  forced  into  elec- 
tric operation  in  order  that  the  smoke  and 
gas  nuisances  might  be  abolished  in  the 
tunnels  on  their  respective  roads. 

When  the  successful  operation  of  trains 
by  electricity  had  become  assured,  other 
railroads  took  up  the  matter  of  elec- 
trification in  order  that  large  terminals 
might  be  built  and  facilities  be  increased, 
which  only  could  be  undertaken  by  utiliz- 
ing some  motive  power  other  than  steam. 
In  such  a  class  would  come  the  New  York 
Terminal  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
and  the  Michigan  Central  Terminal  and 
Connections  in  Detroit,  where  trains  have 
to  pass  under  the  Detroit  River. 

The  handling  of  heavy  trains  over 
grades  through  Mountain  Divisions  was 
next  considered,  and  it  was  found  that  in 


addition  to  hauling  heavier  trains,  with 
electric  locomotives,  the  running  time  could 
be  decreased,  thereby  showing  a  marked 
saving,  reducing  the  consumption  of  coal 
and  increasing  the  track  capacity  of  the 
road. 

The  fact  of  being  able  to  brake  the 
trains  with  electric  locomotives,  as  well  as 
haul  them,  immediately  presented  itself, 
making  this  feature  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant on  such  mountain  grades.  The  Nor- 
folk &  Western  installation  comes  under 
this  class,  as  well  as  the  installation  of  the 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Road. 
This  system  has  been  able  to  utilize  the 
necessary  electric  current  from  hydraulic 
power  plants  driven  by  the  mountain 
streams. 

The  saving  in  coal  by  this  road  on  one 
of  its  divisions  each  year  is  estimated  to 
be  more  than  200,000  tons.  This  saving  of 
coal  if  utilized  for  ocean  steamers,  would 
handle  90  steamers  of  13,000  tons  displace- 
ment, to  carry  supplies  from  New  York  to 
France. 

On  another  division  of  this  road  the 
consumption  of  oil  for  oil-burning  locomo- 
tives was  formerly  425,000  barrels  per 
year.  This  amount  of  oil  is  now  available 
for  other  purposes. 

The  electrification  of  Branch  Lines  in 
connection  with  the  Main  Lines  has  be- 
come a  very  important  factor  with  some  of 
the  roads. 

The  saving  that  can  be  obtained  by  elec- 


473 


474 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


trifying   large    freight   terminals    is    most 
satisfying. 

It   has    been    demonstrated    that    three 
electric    locomotives    can    replace     seven 
steam  locomotives,  and  perform  the  same 
work  without  causing  any  complaint  of  the 
smoke  nuisance  from  residential  or  indus- 
trial sections  in  which  such  terminal  plants 
are    located.     The     principal     saving     is 
brought  about  by  the  fact  that  an  electric 
locomotive  can  work  every  hour  of  the 


miles  of  route  track  through  the  Baltimore 
Tunnel. 

Six  locomotives  were  used  through  this 
tunnel,  to  pull  trains,  for  the  purpose  of 
eliminating  the  gases  and  smoke  due  to  the 
steam  engines. 

The  operation  of  electric  locomotives  on 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  proved  fairly  suc- 
cessful, although  a  number  of  defects  de- 
veloped due  to  the  newness  of  this  form  of 
electric  application. 


An  Eleven  Car  Multiple-Unit  Motor  Car  Train  on  the  Long  Island   Railroad,  Each  Car  of  Which 
Is  Equipped  With  Two  Motors  and  Unit  Switch  Control 


twenty-four,  without  stopping  to  be  coaled, 
tanks  filled  with  water  or  the  cleaning  of 
fires  which  was  formerly  necessary  when 
steam  engines  were  used  in  switching  ser- 
vice. 

The  use  of  electricity  as  a  motive  power 
for  operating  trains  on  steam  roads  dates 
back  to  the  first  installation  of  this  nature 
in  the  year  1895,  at  which  time  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  Railroad  electrified  seven 
and  one-half  miles  of  single  track,  for  650 
volt  direct  current,  which  covered  three 


One  of  the  first  steam  lines  to  take  up 
the  operation  of  its  trains  by  electricity  was 
the  Long  Island  Railroad,  which  inaugu- 
rated electric  service  on  some  of  its 
branches  in  1905. 

At  the  present  time  it  has  approximately 
200  miles  of  electrified  track,  over  which 
are  operated  two  hundred  or  more  trains 
per  day,  a  number  of  these  trains  running 
in  and  out  of  the  Pennsylvania  Station  in 
the  City  of  New  York. 

The  Long  Island  Railroad  adopted  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


475 


650  volt  D.  C.  third  rail  system,  and  its 
equipment  in  the  electric  service  consists 
of  cars  electrically  equipped  and  designed 
to  operate  a  multiple  unit  service. 

The  Act  of  Legislature  of  May  yth, 
1903,  of  the  State  of  New  York  provided 
certain  regulations  for  the  terminals  on  the 
New  York  &  Harlem  Railroad,  and  by 
this  Act  the  New  York  Central  &  Hud- 
son River  Railroad  and  the  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  were 


The  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hart- 
ford Railroad,  which  uses  the  New  York 
Central  Company's  tracks  from  Wood- 
lawn  to  Grand  Central  Terminal,  a  dis- 
tance of  twelve  miles,  arranged  its  plans 
and  adopted  a  system  that  would  ulti- 
mately enable  it  to  operate  trains  on  its 
main  trunk  lines  through  to  Boston,  a 
distance  of  229  miles.  The  first  step  con- 
sisted in  equipping  the  main  line  between 
Stamford  and  Woodlawn  with  an  overhead 


Trains  on  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Which  Uses  the  Tracks  of  the  New  York 
Central  Company  into  the  Grand  Central  Station  at  New  York 


required  to  "run  their  trains  by  Electric- 
ity" or  by  some  motive  power  other  than 
steam  over  certain  tracks  and  through  the 
tunnels  approaching  Grand  Central  Sta- 
tion. 

The  Act  required  the  change  of  motive 
power  on  or  before  July  ist,  1908. 

To  meet  the  order  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  various  forms  of  motive  power 
were  considered,  and  it  was  decided  that 
electrically  operated  trains  would  best 
meet  the  conditions.  An  infinite  amount  of 
study  and  experiment  became  necessary. 


single  phase  alternating  current  trolley  sys- 
tem and  then  utilizing  the  third  rail  direct 
current  system  of  the  New  York  Central 
Company  from  Woodlawn  to  Grand  Cen- 
tral Terminal.  This  work  was  started  in 
1905. 

Next  the  Harlem  River  Branch,  a  six- 
track  road,  extending  from  New  Rochelle 
Junction  to  Harlem  River  Station,  a  dis- 
tance of  1 1  y2  route  miles,  was  electrified, 
together  with  its  freight  yards  at  West- 
chester,  Oak  Point  and  Harlem  River, 


476 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


these  yards  having  a  track  mileage  of  15, 
40  and  20  miles  respectively. 

The  main  line  from  Stamford  to  New 
Haven  was  next  electrically  equipped,  giv- 
ing a  main  line  of  73  route  miles  electri- 
cally operated,  with  a  total  of  550  track 
miles  over  which  electric  trains  operate 
and,  together  with  its  yards,  makes  a  total 
of  approximately  700  miles.  All  this  is  al- 
ternating current. 

The     New     York     Central     Company 


brought  about  principally  with  the  idea  of 
overcoming  the  gases  and  smoke  in  the 
tunnel.  The  idea  of  economic  gains  was 
at  first  less  significant. 

A  study  of  the  results  of  operation  dem- 
onstrated that  there  were  a  great  many 
benefits  that  could  be  made  which  at  first 
did  not  appeal  to  the  railroads.  In  addi- 
tion to  eliminating  gases  and  smoke  in  the 
tunnels  which  caused  great  discomfort  to 
the  passengers,  the  hazard  of  operating 


Six  Trunk-Line  Section  of  the  New  Haven  Railroad,  Illustrating  the  Overhead  Construction 


adopted  that  method  known  as  the  third 
rail,  650  volt  d.  c.  system  and  electrified 
that  portion  of  their  tracks  from  a  short 
distance  beyond  Woodlawn  to  Grand  Cen- 
tral Terminal — a  distance  of  approxi- 
mately 15  miles.  The  work  which  was 
started  in  1906  has  since  been  extended  to 
Harmon,  a  distance  of  33  miles  from  New 
York  City  on  the  main  line  to  Albany. 

The  adoption  of  electricity  as  a  motive 
power  by  these  two  railroads  was  the 
first  steam  road  electrification  of  any  mag- 
nitude that  was  attempted  and  was 


trains  through  the  tunnel  due  to  the  inabil- 
ity of  the  engineers  to  see  the  signals  was 
done  away  with  and  a  greater  number  of 
trains  could  be  run  through  the  tunnel  in 
a  given  time  than  when  formerly  operated 
with  steam. 

The  elimination  of  smoke  and  gases  also 
immediately  presented  the  opportunity  to 
use  one  or  more  levels  for  the  loading  and 
unloading  of  trains  in  the  Station,  thereby 
utilizing  space  valuable  in  a  terminal  such 
as  the  Grand  Central. 

The  problems  of  disposing  of  the  ashes, 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


477 


filling  the  tanks  with  water  and  cleaning 
the  fires  that  had  been  experienced  with 
the  steam  locomotives  were  entirely  done 
away  with,  in  addition  to  the  saving  in 
time.  Moreover,  with  electric  locomotives, 
the  locomotive  was  available  for  service 
for  another  train  as  soon  as  the  passengers 
could  be  discharged  from  the  train  it 
brought  in,  and  these  quick  turns  with  elec- 
tric locomotives  reduced  the  number  of  lo- 
comotives required  for  the  trains  running 
in  and  out  of  Grand  Central  Terminal 
about  one-half. 

In  1906  the  Spokane  &  Inland  Railroad, 


that  vicinity,  and  also  on  account  of 
the  scarcity  of  coal.  Also,  when  operating 
with  steam  locomotives  at  an  extremely 
low  temperature  the  efficiency  of  the  steam 
engine  decreased  very  rapidly,  whereas, 
when  operating  with  an  electric  locomotive, 
the  efficiency  increased,  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  rating  of  an  electric  locomotive  is 
based  on  the  temperature. 

The  Erie  Railroad  on  its  Rochester  Di- 
vision electrified  for  n,ooo  volts,  single 
phase,  in  1907,  having  34  route  miles  and 
extending  between  Rochester  and  Mount 
Morris.  This  branch  line  was  electrified 


Freight    Train    on    the    Spokane   &    Inland    Empire    Railroad    Drawn    by    Two    Fifty-two    Baldwin- 

Westinghouse  Locomotives 


which  serves  the  country  in  a  region  of  the 
Northwest,  was  built  and  electrified  for 
6,600  volts,  single  phase,  and  from  time 
to  time  extended  until  it  now  covers  186 
miles  of  route. 

This  road,  in  addition  to  its  passenger 
service,  operates  a  freight  service  extend- 
ing into  the  grain  country,  and,  due  to  the 
flexibility  of  the  system,  the  electrically  op- 
erated freight  locomotives  closely  approxi- 
mate a  ton  mileage  of  3,000,000  per 
month. 

The  electrification  of  this  road  was 
brought  about  by  the  economies  that  could 
be  obtained  from  the  use  of  electricity 
generated  in  hydraulic  plants  located  in 


for  economic  purposes,  it  having  been  esti- 
mated and  afterwards  proven  that  electric 
operation  resulted  in  an  increase  of  50% 
in  the  passenger  travel,  with  a  considerable 
saving  in  roundhouse  and  other  expenses 
incidental  to  steam  operation. 

Prior  to  1908  the  Grand  Trunk  Rail- 
way investigated  the  advisability  of  elec- 
trifying with  3,300  volts,  single  phase, 
system  the  St.  Clair  tunnel,  which  con- 
nects the  town  of  Port  Huron,  Michigan, 
with  Sarnia,  Ontario,  by  passing  under  the 
St.  Clair  River. 

The  gases  and  smoke  limited  the  ope- 
ration of  trains  which  moved  through  this 
tunnel,  and  the  operation  of  steam  locomo- 


478 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


tives  on  the  heavy  grades  at  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  tunnel  was  more  or  less  in- 
efficient. 

In  1908  electric  service  was  inaugu- 
rated, which  resulted  in  the  elimination  of 
the  trouble  experienced  in  the  past  as  to 
smoke  and  gases,  and,  in  addition,  the  elec- 
tric locomotives  were  built  to  negotiate  the 
grades  without  loss  of  time  or  stalling. 
This  application  of  electricity  has  been  one 


trolley  wires.     Electric  service  was  inau- 
gurated in  May,  1908. 

When  formerly  operated  with  steam, 
comparatively  a  small  amount  of  business 
was  done  over  this  road,  but  since  changed 
to  electric  operation,  thereby  giving  a  reli- 
able and  pleasant  service,  the  property  has 
been  developed  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
make  the  shore  front  an  attractive  location 
for  a  large  residential  population. 


The   St.   Clair   Tunnel   on   the   Grand   Trunk   Railway   Between    Sarnia,    Ontario,    and   Port    Huron, 
Michigan,  Forty  Feet   Below  the   St.  Clair  River,   Whitewashed    and   Lighted   by  Electricity 


of  the  most  successful  from  all  standpoints 
of  any  steam  railroad  electrification. 

The  Maryland  Electric  Railway,  which 
is  known  as  the  Annapolis  Short  Line  and 
which  extends  from  Baltimore  to  Annapo- 
lis, Md.,  has  a  route  mileage  of  25  miles 
and  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  steam 
roads  located  in  the  South  to  fully  realize 
the  possibilities  of  electrification.  This 
road,  which  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
South,  decided  to  change  to  electrically 
operated  trains,  using  1,200  volt  direct 
current  system,  taking  its  current  from 


In  1909  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad, 
having  built  and  equipped  its  terminal  in 
the  City  of  New  York,  inaugurated  its 
electrically  operated  train  service,  using 
650  volts  d.  c.  system. 

The  electrification  of  this  terminal  was 
an  important  factor  in  the  successful  solu- 
tion of  the  Pennsylvania  problems,  as  it 
made  it  possible  for  the  use  of  tube  tun- 
nels under  both  the  North  River  and  the 
East  River,  thereby  forming  a  physical 
connection  between  the  Long  Island  Rail- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


479 


road  on  Long  Island  and  the  main  line  in 
New  Jersey. 

By  eliminating  the  steam  engine  in  this 
terminal,  the  noise,  smoke  and  gases,  also 
fire  dangers,  have  been  entirely  done  away 
with,  and  the  500  trains  that  are  handled 
through  this  terminal  daily  are  electrically 
operated,  using  electric  locomotives  to  con- 
vey trains  from  New  York  City  to  Man- 
hattan Transfer,  N.  J.,  and  using  multiple 
unit  cars  for  operation  from  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Terminal  to  the  Long  Island  Rail- 
road. 


river,  which  was  to  be  electrically  ope- 
rated, thereby  doing  away  with  the  objec- 
tionable delays  due  to  the  ferrying  of 
trains. 

Such  a  tunnel  was  built  and  electric  ope- 
ration inaugurated  in  1910,  using  the  650 
volts  d.  c.  current  third  rail  system, 
there  being  19^  miles  of  single  track  elec- 
trically equipped. 

The  Rock  Island  and  Southern  Railroad 
in  1916  electrified  78  miles  of  single  track, 
adopting  the  11,000  volt  single  phase  sys- 
tem, with  the  idea  of  developing  the  re- 


r 


An  Electric  Train  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Entering   the    New   York   City   Terminal    of   that 

Company 


The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  has  a  total 
of  132  miles  of  single  track  electrified  in 
connection  with  this  installation. 

The  electrification  of  a  section  of  the 
Michigan  Central  Railroad  was  author- 
ized, to  overcome  the  difficulty  of  ferrying 
•trains  across  the  Detroit  River  from  the 
Canadian  shores  to  the  City  of  Detroit, 
on  account  of  the  ice  in  the  river  obstruct- 
ing the  passage  of  the  ferryboats. 

After  the  successful  application  of  elec- 
trically operated  trains  on  other  roads,  it 
was  decided  to  build  a  tunnel  under  the 


sources  of  the  territory  through  which 
this  line  passes,  thereby  reaching  the 
stock  yards,  grain  elevators  and  new 
towns  which  were  springing  up  along  its 
route. 

The  physical  conditions  of  this  electri- 
fication made  possible  the  location  of  the 
power  house  in  the  center  of  the  electrified 
zone  and  by  the  use  of  a  1 1,000  volt  single 
phase  system  no  feeders  or  sub-stations 
are  required.  The  operating  results  show 
a  good  return  on  the  investment.  In  addi- 
tion to  establishing  a  reliable  service,  it 


480 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


not  only  provides  a  good  passenger  sched- 
ule but  also  permits  of  quick  delivery  of 
way-freight  material. 

The  Boston  &  Maine  Railroad  built  the 
famous  Hoosac  Tunnel  in  1875,  which  is 
located  just  east  of  North  Adams  on  its 
main  line.  This  long  tunnel  formed  a  very 
serious  obstruction  to  the  operation  of  its 
trains  due  to  the  accumulation  of  smoke 
and  gases,  and  it  was  necessary  to  hold 
trains  at  each  end  of  the  tunnel  for  a  con- 
siderable length  of  time  in  order  to  allow 
the  tunnel  to  clear  itself  of  smoke,  etc. 


The  New  York,  Westchester  &  Boston 
Railway,  which  is  strictly  a  suburban  ser- 
vice, had  the  advantage  when  building  its 
road  of  laying  it  out  with  only  the  idea 
of  electrically  operating  the  track,  and  its 
whole  construction  had  in  mind  only  elec- 
trically propelled  trains. 

The  service  is  the  same  as  that  which 
would  be  operated  under  steam  operating 
conditions,  and  it  directly  connects  White 
Plains,  New  Rochelle  and  Mt.  Vernon 
with  the  Third  Avenue  Elevated  system 
in  New  York  City. 


Typical   Passenger  Train   in   Electric   Operation   at    Hoosac    Tunnel.     The    Steam   Locomotives   Are 
Hauled  Through  with   Banked  Fires.     Three    Trains    in    Each    Direction   Are    Now 

Allowed    in    the    Tunnel 


The  conditions  under  which  it  was  neces- 
sary at  times  to  operate  through  this  tun- 
nel, although  having  double  tracks,  made 
it  necessary  to  issue  an  order  to  allow  only 
one  train  at  a  time  to  pass  through  the 
tunnel  during  the  period  of  steam  opera- 
tion. 

It  was  decided  to  electrify,  using  1 1,000 
volts  single  phase  system  for  this  tunnel, 
to  do  away  with  these  objections,  and  in 
1911  electric  operation  was  inaugurated, 
and  the  results  obtained  were  even  greater 
than  had  been  expected.  The  miles  of  sin- 
gle track  electrified  on  this  system  are  22. 


The  system  adopted  was  the  same  as- 
the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
R.  R.  Co.,  namely  11,000  volts,  single 
phase  alternating,  using  overhead  contact 
wires,  and  49  miles  of  route  track  have 
been  equipped — the  service  being  inaugu- 
rated in  1913. 

The  Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad  elec- 
trified that  section  of  its  system  known  as 
the  Elkhorn  Grade,  in  order  to  obtain  an 
increase  in  the  capacity  of  the  existing 
tracks,  also  increased  speed  in  hauling 
heavy  trains,  thereby  eliminating  the  con- 
gestion of  trains  on  that  section  of  their 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


481 


High  Speed  Car  Employed  by  the  New  York,  Westchester  &  Boston  Railway  in  Its  Suburban  Service 


Train    Descending    the    Elkhorn    Grade    on    Norfolk    &    Western   Railroad.     The   Front  Locomotive 
Automatically  Holds  the  Entire  Train  by  Means  of   Electric  Regeneration  Without  Use 

of  the  Air  Brakes 


482 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


tracks — at  the  same  time  doing  away  with 
the  delays  caused  by  coaling  and  watering 
steam  engines. 

The  substitution  of  electricity  also  con- 
templated the  reduction  of  unusual  oper- 
ating expenses  caused  by  additional  main- 
tenance crews,  etc.  Thirty  miles  of  main 
line  covering  85  miles  of  single  track 
were  electrified,  using  the  11,000  volt 
single  phase  system;  and  electric  service 
was  inaugurated  in  1914. 

The  handling  of  heavily  laden  coal 
trains  down  the  grade  was  almost  as  great 


Yard.  The  congestion  consequent  on  the 
arrival  of  these  trains  through  the  throat 
of  the  yard  was  very  serious  and  the  track 
capacity  of  the  Broad  Street  Station  having 
been  reached,  it  was  found  that  only  by 
electrifying  the  lines  could  the  conditions 
be  remedied. 

With  steam  operation,  it  was  necessary, 
after  having  unloaded  passengers,  to  back 
the  train  out  of  the  station,  turn  the  engine, 
renew  the  coal  and  water  supply  and  then 
make  up  the  train  and  back  it  into  the  sta- 
tion for  outgoing  service.  With  electric- 


A   Section   of  the  Line   Construction   of   the   Philadelphia-Paoli   Electrification   on  the   Pennsylvania 

Railroad 


a  factor  as  hauling  the  trains  up  the  grade. 
Thus,  by  utilizing  electric  current  for  regen- 
eration in  the  electric  locomotives,  a  train 
is  held  and  speed  regulated  without  the 
use  of  air  brakes  —  the  air  not  being 
used  at  all  but  simply  maintained  as  an 
emergency  feature. 

In  1915  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  in- 
augurated electric  operation  on  its  Paoli 
Division,  which  has  its  terminus  in  the 
Broad  Street  Station  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
This  electric  installation  covered  the  sub- 
urban service  and  was  brought  about  by 
the  fact  that  six  suburban  routes  met  at 
the  entrance  of  the  Broad  Street  Station 


ally  operated  trains,  all  shifting  and  turn- 
ing of  trains  was  done  away  with,  the  train 
being  ready  to  receive  a  load  of  passengers 
for  outgoing  service  as  soon  as  the  incom- 
ing load  could  be  discharged. 

The  Paoli  Division  has  100  route  miles 
of  track  electrified  and  the  Chestnut  Hill 
Branch  50  miles,  and  this  suburban  ser- 
vice is  taken  care  of  with  trains  operated 
in  multiple  unit  service. 

The  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul 
Railroad  considered  substituting  electric 
operation  over  certain  of  its  Divisions 
with  special  reference  to  that  part  of  the 
line  that  passes  over  the  Great  Divide, 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


483 


with  the  idea  of  overcoming  the  loss  of 
time  that  was  necessary  when  steam  op- 
eration was  used. 

The  Rocky  Mountain  Division  was  elec- 
trified with  energy  derived  from  adjacent 
waterpowers,  and  electrical  operation  was 
started  in  April,  1916. 

Similar  operation  was  inaugurated  on 
the  Missoula  Division  in  1917.  This  road 


has  at  present  588  miles  of  single  track 
electrified,  with  a  route  mileage  of  438 
miles. 

The  distributing  system  consists  of  two 
overhead  contact  wires  having  an  initial 
voltage  of  3,000  volts  d.  c.  The  current 
is  collected  from  the  contact  wires  by 
means  of  pantagraph  shoes  of  the  sliding 
type. 


ELECTRIFIED   STEAM    RAILROADS    IN    THE   UNITED    STATES 


Miles 

of  Miles  Loco- 
Single  of           mo- 
Date      Track  Route  tives  Cars 


Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.  1895 
N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.R.  1905 

Long  Island  R.  R 1905 

N.  Y.  Central  R.  R....  1906 

Erie  Railroad 1907 

Annapolis  Short  Line.  1908 
Grand  Trunk  Railway  1908 
Great  Northern  R.  R..  1909 
New  York  Terminal — • 

Pennsylvania  R.  R..  1910 
Rock  Island  Southern 

Railway   1910 


jy2 

3 

6  ... 

550 

88 

100   70 

250 

100 

...  509 

235 

53 

61  200 

40 

34 

8 

30 

25 

12 

12 

3/2 

6  ... 

6 

6 

4  ... 

132 

78 


20 

50 


33        8 


Date 

Michigan  Central  R.  R.  1910 

Boston  &  Maine 1911 

Norfolk  &  Western 
R.  R.... 1914 

Philadelphia  Terminal 
—Pennsylvania  R.  R.  1914 

Chicago,  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul 1916 

Paoli  Div.,  Pennsylva- 
nia R.  R 1915  150 

N.  Y.,  Westchester  & 
Boston  R.  R...  .  1913  50 


Miles 
of 
Single 
Track 

Miles 
of 
Route 

Loco- 
mo- 
tives Cars 

19*/2 

22 

4 
8 

10     ... 
6     ... 

85 

30 

12     ... 

90 

20 

33     ... 

588 

438 

44 

16.2 


120 
49 


The  Most  Powerful  Electric  Locomotive  in  the  World,  7,000  H.P.    Built  by  the  Westinghouse  Company 
for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company's  Altoona  Grade  Electrification 


484 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE   WESTINGHOUSE   ELECTRIC  &  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 


The  Westinghouse  Electric  Company 
was  founded  in  1886,  not  simply  to  be  a 
competitor  of  the  electrical  concerns  then 
in  existence,  but  to  be  the  means  of  trans- 
forming into  reality  a  vision  of  the  future. 

In  1884  electrical  progress  was  well 
under  way.  Several  central  stations  and 
private  plants  were  in  operation,  and  the 
immense  possibilities  that  lay  in  the  new 
power  were  beginning  to  be  dimly  appar- 


amount  by  the  use  of  simple,  motionless 
coils. 

The  relation  between  voltage  and  the 
distance  through  which  electricity  can  be 
economically  transmitted  was  already 
understood,  and  since  230  volts  was  then 
believed  to  be  about  the  highest  voltage 
feasible  with  direct  current,  the  general 
concensus  of  opinion  was  that  the  distribu- 
tion of  electric  energy  was  restricted  to 


East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Works  of  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company 


eat.  But,  while  engineers  were  familiar 
with  both  direct  current  and  alternating 
current,  direct  current  alone  was  consid- 
ered commercially  useful,  alternating  cur- 
rent being  regarded  as  a  scientific  curiosity 
applicable  to  a  few  minor  purposes  only. 

At  this  time,  George  Westinghouse, 
who  had  already  organized  the  Westing- 
house  Air  Brake  Co.,  the  Westinghouse 
Machine  Co.  and  the  Union  Switch  &  Sig- 
nal Co.,  was  abroad  on  business  connected 
with  his  air  brake.  While  there,  his  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  Gaulard  &  Gibbs 
system  of  distributing  alternating  current, 
with  its  remarkable  transformers  that 
could  raise  or  lower  voltage  any  desired 


distances  of  a  few  thousand  feet.  But  Mr. 
Westinghouse  realized  that  alternating 
current,  with  its  easy  voltage  transforma- 
tions, transcended  all  limitations  of  dis- 
tance. His  imagination  saw  the  cataract 
in  the  wilderness  lighting  cities  hundreds 
of  miles  away,  and  inspired  by  a  faith  in 
which  he  never  faltered,  he  bought  the 
Gaulard  &  Gibbs  patents,  and  on  his 
return  to  America  organized  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  Company  to  develop  what 
he  felt  to  be  the  true  power  of  the  future. 

The  new  system  was  brought  rapidly 
into  practical  shape.  By  October,  1886, 
300  incandescent  lamps  were  kept  lighted 
by  alternating  current  transmitted  over 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


485 


two  miles  at  1000  volts.  Shortly  after- 
wards a  complete  plant  was  installed  at 
Greensburg,  Pa.,  and  the  history  of  both 
alternating  current  and  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  Company  was  fairly  begun. 

At  first  it  appeared  that  alternating  cur- 
rent was  to  be  useful  for  lighting  only. 
Attempts  had  been  made  to  devise  a  satis- 
factory alternating-current  motor,  but  the 
problem  seemed  insoluble  except  at  the 
cost  of  excessive  complication.  But  in 
1888,  Nikola  Tesla  brought  forth  his  poly- 
phase alternating-current  motor.  He  was 
promptly  associated  with  the  company, 
and  when  his  invention  was  perfected  it 
greatly  extended  the  usefulness  of  the  new 
power.  In  the  meantime  Shallenberger 
devised  his  alternating-current  meter,  so 
that  the  Westinghouse  Company  now  had 
in  hand  all  the  elements  for  the  application 
of  alternating  current  in  every  field,  and 
proceeded  to  develop  it  vigorously. 

The  early  years  of  alternating  current 
were,  however,  anything  but  peaceful. 
The  advocates  of  direct  current  attacked 
it  with  every  weapon  they  could  grasp. 
But  no  obstacles  could  arrest  its  growth, 
and  disclosures  of  real  weaknesses  resulted 
only  in  correction  and  perfection.  Finally, 
when  the  Westinghouse  Company  secured 
the  contract  for  lighting  the  Chicago 
World's  Fair,  and  when  in  the  following 
year  it  supplied  the  equipment  for  the 
famous  Niagara  Falls  power  plant,  oppo- 
sition became  hopeless  and  ceased.  Alter- 
nating current  was  acknowledged  to  be  an 
invaluable  supplement  to  direct  current 
and  all  the  larger  companies  began  the 
manufacture  of  apparatus  for  both  sys- 
tems. Today  over  75  per  cent  of  all  elec- 
tric current  generated  is  alternating. 

The  Niagara  Falls  installation  gained 
for  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co. 
(which  had  succeeded  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  Co.  in  1891)  recognition  as  one  of 
the  foremost  electrical  companies  of  the 
world.  Thereafter  its  history  is  not  nar- 
rowly confined  to  a  single  line,  but 
branches  out  into  practically  every  field 
where  electric  current  can  be  used,  and 
much  of  the  marvelous  electrical  progress 
of  the  past  25  years  has  been  due  to  the 
achievements  of  this  company.  Some  of 
the  more  important  of  these  achievements 
can  be  mentioned,  but  they  form  only  a 
small  part  of  the  Westinghouse  record. 


THE     GENERATION     OF     ELEC- 
TRICITY 

Prior  to  1899  steam  engines  for  driving 
electric  generators  were  always  of  the 
reciprocating  type.  The  genius  of  Watt 
had  given  this  type  to  the  world  and  for 
over  a  century  mechanical  science  and 
skill  had  been  improving  and  refining  it 
until  the  last  word  in  steam  engine  con- 
struction seemed  to  have  been  spoken. 

But  it  was  not  in  George  Westinghouse 
to  remain  contented  with  things  as  they 
are,  no  matter  how  perfect  they  appeared 
to  be.  He  was  always  working  forward, 
years  ahead  of  his  time;  always  seeking 
something  better  than  the  best  that  was 
being  produced.  So  when  Charles  Par- 
sons brought  out  in  England  a  new  type 
of  engine,  the  turbine,  Mr.  Westinghouse 
investigated  it  with  care  and,  seeing  in  it 
some  points  of  superiority  over  the  recip- 
rocating engine,  bought  the  right  to  manu- 
facture it  and,  characteristically,  started  in 
to  redesign  it  from  the  ground  up. 

In  1899  the  first  turbine  generators  in 
America  were  installed  in  the  power  house 
of  the  Westinghouse  Air  Brake  Co.,  Wil- 
merding,  Pa.  That  was  not  twenty  years 
ago,  and  yet  within  that  short  space  of 
time  this  new  type  of  prime  mover  has  not 
only  won  supremacy  over  the  reciprocat- 
ing engine,  but  has  well-nigh  swept  its  ven- 
erable rival  out  of  existence. 

In  this  work  of  revolutionizing  the  gen- 
eration of  electric  power  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co.  and  the  West- 
inghouse Machine  Co.  (now  controlled  by 
the  Electric  Co.)  co-operated.  Together 
they  brought  the  turbine-generator  to  a 
high  state  of  efficiency  and  then  began  to 
construct  units  of  hitherto  unheard-of 
capacities.  In  1904  the  6700  horsepower 
Westinghouse  generators  of  Interborough 
Rapid  Transit  Co.  were  conceded  to  be 
about  the  largest  that  could  be  driven  by 
reciprocating  engines.  Today  the  West- 
inghouse Co.  is  engaged  in  building  an 
80,000  horsepower  turbine  generator  for 
this  same  company. 

Nor  has  the  other  end  of  the  scale  been 
neglected.  Until  recently  it  was  thought 
that  turbines  smaller  than  100  horsepower 
or  so  were  not  practical,  but  the  Westing- 
house  Company  proved  the  error  of  this 
opinion  by  building  efficient  turbines  as 
small  as  5  horsepower. 


486  THE    STORY  .  OF    ELECTRICITY 

ELECTRIC    RAILWAYS 


The  rapid  spread  of  electric  street  rail- 
ways throughout  the  country  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  events  in  the  history  of  elec- 
trical progress.  Twenty  years  after  the 
first  electric  street  car  crawled  up  the  hills 
of  Richmond,  Va.,  there  was  a  street  rail- 
way system  in  practically  every  commu- 


to  electric  railroading  have  been  literally 
too  numerous  even  to  list,  but  special  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  the  electro-pneu- 
matic system  of  control  that  enables  a 
motorman  to  handle  a  whole  train  of 
motor  cars  as  easily  as  a  single  car. 

The  work  of  furnishing  the  people  of 
the  United  States  with  rapid  transit  can  be 
regarded  as  finished  except  for  supplying 


Equipping  Electric  Locomotives  in  the  Westinghouse  Works 


nity  of  the  United  States  that  could  sup- 
port one.  Obviously  such  a  record  could 
not  have  been  made  unless  satisfactory  and 
efficient  equipment  was  available. 

In  the  design  and  construction  of  elec- 
tric railway  apparatus  the  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Mfg.  Co.  played  a  prominent 
part  from  the  beginning.  It)  was,  indeed, 
this  company  that  solved  one  of  the  most 
difficult  problems  first  encountered,  by 
originating  that  type  of  motor  that  has 
ever  since  been  universally  used  for  street 
car  service.  Since  then,  its  contributions 


the  needs  of  the  ever-increasing  popula- 
tion. But  an  even  greater  work  still 
remains  to  be  done;  namely,  the  electrifi- 
cation of  the  American  steam  railroads. 
No  one  expects  that  all  our  railroads  will 
be  electrified,  but  beyond  doubt  many  of 
the  readers  of  this  book  will  live  to  travel 
from  Boston  to  Richmond  or  to  Chicago 
on  trains  drawn  the  entire  distance  by 
electricity. 

A  start  in  this  direction  has  already  been 
made.  The  electrified  mileage  today  is,  it 
is  true,  relatively  insignificant,  but  enough 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


487 


has  been  done  to  convince  both  electrical 
engineers  and  railroad  men  that  the  prob- 
lems in  electrification  have  been  solved, 
that  all  operating  conditions  have  been 
successfully  met,  and  that  general  electri- 
fication now  depends  solely  on  commercial, 
and  not  on  electrical,  considerations. 

The  present  position  of  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co.  in  the  electric 
railroad  field  is  one  of  supremacy.  Not 
only  has  it  electrified  more  miles  of  track 
than  any  other  company  in  the  world,  but 
it  has  installed  more  different  kinds  of  sys- 
tems and  its  locomotives  haul  greater  ton- 
nage. The  following  are  some  of  its  more 
noteworthy  electrifications : 

New  York,  New  Haven  &?  Hartford 
Railroad. — This  is  the  most  comprehen- 
sive electrification  that  has  yet  been  made. 
All  types  of  trains — express,  local  and 
freight — are  operated  electrically  between 
New  York  City  and  New  Haven,  Conn. 
The  trains  receive  i  i,ooovolt  single-phase 
alternating  current  between  New  York 
City  and  New  Haven,  and  run  into  New 
York  City  on  6oo-volt  direct  current. 

Norfolk  &  Western  Railroad. — Over  a 
mountain  division  of  this  road  is  carried 
the  heaviest  tonnage  hauled  by  electricity 
in  the  world.  Three  of  the  largest  steam 
locomotives  were  previously  used  for  each 
train,  but  they  proved  inadequate  to  handle 
the  traffic  over  the  steep  grades  and 
through  the  long  tunnels.  Baldwin- WTest- 
inghouse  locomotives  now  haul  longer 
trains  at  twice  the  former  speed  so  that  the 
capacity  of  the  division  has  been  doubled. 
Alternating  current,  distributed  at  n,ooo 
volts,  single-phase  and  transformed  on  the 
locomotive  into  44O-volt,  three-phase,  is 
used  on  this  road. 

Pennsylvania  Railroad,  New  York  Ter- 
minal. —  Locomotives  of  4,000  horse- 
power receive  the  long  steel  passenger 
trains  at  Manhattan  Junction  and  haul 
them  under  the  Hudson  River  into  the 
Pennsylvania  Station.  The  33  locomotives 
in  service  have  traveled  over  five  mil- 
lion miles  to  date  and  have  had  an  almost 
perfect  record  in  maintaining  their  sche- 
dules. One  of  these  locomotives  received 
the  Grand  Prize  (highest  award)  at  the 
Panama-Pacific  Exposition. 

Pennsylvania  Railroad,  Paoli  Division. 
— A  2O-mile  stretch  from  Philadelphia  to 
Paoli  has  been  electrified  in  order  to 


relieve  the  congestion  at  Broad  Street  Sta- 
tion. Three  hundred  local  suburban  trains 
are  operated  by  n,ooo-volt  single  phase, 
alternating  current.  The  Chestnut  Hill 
branch  is  now  being  electrified. 

Long  Island  Railroad. — This  line  car- 
ries the  heaviest  suburban  traffic  of  any 
American  railroad.  Electric  trains  are 
operated  from  New  York  City,  under  the 
East  River,  and  from  Brooklyn  through- 
out the  thickly  populated  districts  of  the 
island.  Six  hundred-volt  direct  current  is 
used. 

INDUSTRIAL  POWER 

In  the  early  days  there  were  no  special- 
ized motors  for  industrial  power  purposes, 
each  manufacturer  building  but  one  or  two 
types  which  were  used  for  all  applications. 
What  was  chiefly  wanted  was  something 
that  would  go  round,  and  the  motor  that 
could  do  this  without  excessive  fireworks 
and  lengthy  visits  to  the  repair  shop  was 
considered  a  good  motor. 

But  a  little  experience  in  the  design  and 
construction  of  motors  soon  demonstrated 
that  the  motor  was  the  most  pliant  of 
machines.  Its  speed  and  power  character- 
istics could  be  varied  over  a  very  wide 
range  and  its  mechanical  structure  could 
assume  almost  any  desired  form.  Since 
almost  every  kind  of  machine  used  in  the 
industries  has  its  own  peculiar  character- 
istics, the  advantages  of  making  a  motor 
to  suit  each  machine  soon  became 
apparent. 

Seeing  a  wide  field  for  research  here, 
the  Westinghouse  Company  made  a  care- 
ful study  of  all  the  machines  used  in  the 
industries — machine  tools,  wood  working 
machinery,  steel  mills,  pumps,  elevators, 
hoists,  textile  machinery,  printing  presses, 
laundry  machines,  ventilating  apparatus, 
sewing  machines  and  a  hundred  more — to 
determine  'just  what  kind  of  motors  and 
controllers  were  best  adapted  for  each. 
As  a  result,  a  large  number  of  special 
motors  and  controllers  were  designed, 
each  for  a  particular  purpose,  and  the 
rapid  extension  of  motor  drive  into  every 
branch  of  industry  shows  how  successful 
this  policy  has  been.  Today  the  largest 
motors  in  existence — of  15,000  horse- 
power for  steel  mill  drive — are  of  West- 
inghouse make. 


488 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


OTHER   ACTIVITIES 

There  are  many  other  chapters  of  the 
Westinghouse  Company's  history  that 
deserve  special  mention — such  as  the 
classic  investigation  on  lightning  and  light- 
ning arresters,  the  development  of  the 
watthour  meter  and  the  perfection  of  the 
geared  drive  for  ships — but  space  does  not 
permit.  The  following  very  incomplete 
list  of  some  of  the  company's  products 
may,  however,  indicate  the  extent  of  its 
activities : 

For  Generating  Power 
Steam  turbines 
Condensers 
Stokers 
Gas  engines  and  producers 

For  Distributing  and  Measuring  Power 
Switchboards 
Switches 
Circuit  breakers 
Meters 
Transformers 
Rotary  converters 
Rectifiers 

Motor  generator  sets 
Lightning  arresters 
Line  material 
Insulation 

For  Utilizing  Power 
Locomotives 
Railway  equipment 
Motors 


Controllers 
Ventillating  outfits 
Electric  vehicle  equipment 
Moving  picture  apparatus 
Refrigerating  machines 
Welding  outfits 
Sewing  machine  motors 
Electric  irons 
Heating  appliances 
Ranges 
Lamps 
Fans 


PHYSICAL  GROWTH 

In  1886  the  Westinghouse  Electric 
Company  started  in  Garrison  Alley,  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa.,  with  200  men  and  less  than 
50,000  square  feet  of  floor  space.  In 
1891  it  absorbed  the  U.  S.  Electric  Light 
Co.  and  the  Consolidated  Electric  Co., 
and  in  1895  the  shops  were  moved  to  what 
is  now  East  Pittsburgh,  where  they  had  a 
floor  space  of  about  12  acres  and  em- 
ployed about  3,000  people. 

Today  the  company,  with  its  subsidiary 
and  controlled  companies,  occupies  floor 
space  exceeding  90  acres,  employs  nearly 
30,000  people  and  ships  as  high  as  1,200 
carloads  a  month.  There  are  plants  at 
East  Pittsburgh,  Pa.;  Newark,  N.  J. ; 
Cleveland,  O. ;  Shadyside,  Pittsburgh; 
Bridgeport,  Conn. ;  Bloomfield,  N.  J. ;  Mil- 
waukee, Wis. ;  New  York  City;  Spring- 
field, Mass.;  Chicopee  Falls,  Mass.,  and 
Meriden,  Conn. 


A  BRIEF  REVIEW  OF  THE  ORGANIZATION  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  LARGEST 
ELECTRICAL  ENTERPRISE  IN  THE  WORLD 


T 


HE  electrical  manufacturing  indus- 
try as  we  know  it  today  is,  though 


gigantic,  of  recent  origin.  Except 
as  applied  to  the  telegraph,  such  electrical 
apparatus  as  existed  four  decades  ago  were 
popularly  regarded  as  little  more  than  sci- 
entific toys.  Only  a  few  men  of  technical 
understanding  and  scientific  vision  then 
had  any  premonition  of  a  tima  when  elec- 
tricity would  bear  any  important  practical 
relation  to  the  common  life. 

The  young  person  of  today  can  scarcely 
conceive  a  civilization  bereft  of  the  innum- 
erable electrical  ministrations  and  con- 
veniences with  which  they  are  so  bounti- 
fully supplied,  so  commonplace  they  seem. 
But  another  generation,  not  yet  old,  re- 
membering the  origin  of  these  things,  looks 
out  with  ceaseless  wonder  as  upon  a  world 
transformed  by  electrical  industry. 

The  vastness  of  this  industry  is  best  typi- 
fied by  the  General  Electric  Company,  the 
largest  electrical  enterprise  in  the  world 
and  yet,  with  activities  that  employ  more 
than  eighty  thousand  men,  still  acquiring 
enlarged  business  and  expanding  its  oper- 
ations with  each  succeeding  year. 

The  General  Electric  Company  was 
formed  in  1892,  and  in  it  were  combined 
two  groups  of  companies,  previously  com- 
petitive, which  had  been  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  electrical  machinery  and 
apparatus.  One  of  these  groups  was 
know  as  the  Edison  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  had  combined  the  several  Edi- 


489 


son  corporations  into  one  company  in 
1890,  and  the  other  was  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Co.,  which  had  acquired 
various  other  interests  and  brought  them 
into  the  General  Electric  Company  in 
1892. 

The  bringing  together  of  these  various 
companies  was  much  more  than  a  good 
stroke  of  business.  Mr.  Charles  A.  Coffin, 
for  years  president  and  now  chairman  of 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  showed  exceptional  ability 
as  an  organizer  and  financier  when  /'he 
brought  together  the  diverse  elements 
which  have  since  been  harmoniously 
blended  in  the  General  Electric  Company. 
Although  the  volume  and  importance  of 
the  industry  in  1892  were  not  a  tithe  of 
what  they  have  since  become,  the  industry 
had  progressed  far  enough  to  demonstrate 
the  fact  that  the  development  of  the  elec- 
trical manufacturing  industry  upon  a  scale 
proportionate  to  the  demands  upon  it  re- 
quired control  of  much  greater  capital  and 
vastly  superior  facilities  than  those  which 
any  of  the  individual  companies  entering 
the  amalgamation  could  hope  to  command. 
The  minor  companies  had  been  measur- 
ably successful,  but  were  hampered  by 
financial  and  equipment  restrictions  from 
achieving  the  greater  results  at  which  they 
aimed.  A  short  review  of  the  industry 
prior  to  the  organization  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  will  serve  to  illustrate 
the  factors  in  its  early  development. 


490 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Thomas  Alva  Edison,  born  in  1847,  '1S 
justly  acclaimed  as  the  foremost  American 
inventor,  whose  genius  has  been  mani- 
fested in  many  of  the  most  important  elec- 
trical devices,  among  which  his  incande- 
scent lamp,  which  was  produced  October 
21,  1879,  has  been  justly  designated  as 
epoch-making.  This  was  the  beginning  of 
the  great  Edison  group  of  industries  which 
afterward  became  a  vital  part  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  Edison's  Menlo 
Park  laboratory  was  the  earliest  manufac- 
turing plant  for  the  production  of  incande- 
scent lamps.  Here  also  were  manufactured 
generators  to  supply  the  current  required 
for  the  operation  of  incandescent  circuits. 
The  first  Edison  generator  was  known  as 
Edison's  "Jumbo"  generator,  and  was 
driven  by  a  steam  engine.  This  machine 
was  the  forerunner  of  a  long  series  of 
steam-electric  generating  sets,  of  constant- 
ly increasing  size  and  capacity,  until  at  the 
present  time  single  steam  turbine  generat- 
ing sets  have  been  constructed  to  give  an 
output  of  45,000  kw.  The  production  of 
generators  of  the  Jumbo  No.  i  type  was 
continued  for  a  time  at  Menlo  Park.  These 
generators  were  arranged  for  direct  engine 
drive,  and  were  built  in  a  considerable 
number  for  central  station  use.  The  Edi- 
son interests  were  first  incorporated  as  the 
Edison  Electric  Lighting  Company,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $300,000.  The  demand 
for  generators  outgrew  the  facilities  for 
their  manufacture  at  Menlo  Park,  and  in 
1 88 1  the  machine  tools  were  removed  to  a 
factory  on  Arch  street  in  New  York  City, 
where,  with  increased  equipment  for  manu- 
facture and  steady  improvement  in  design 
of  generators,  the  enlarged  demand  for 
these  machines  was  met. 

The  manufacture  of  incandescent  lamps 
began  at  Menlo  Park  in  1879  with  the  use 
of  carbonized  paper  as  filament  material. 
Mr.  Edison  was  not  satisfied  with  this  ma- 
terial, and  a  world-wide  search  for  some- 
thing better  resulted  in  the  use  of  bamboo 
filaments.  After  the  generator  part  of  the 
Edison  industry  was  removed  to  New 
York,  the  lamp  industry  remained  at 
Menlo  Park  for  a  time;  but  the  facilities 
there  proving  inadequate,  a  factory  for 
their  manufacture  was  built  at  Harrison, 
N.  J.,  forming  the  nucleus  of  the  great 
lamp  industry  located  in  a  group  of  large 


and  modern  buildings  there,  now  known 
as  the  Edison  Lamp  Works.  Besides  that 
plant,  another  of  special  completeness  of 
equipment  and  vast  production  is  located 
at  Nela  Park,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  known  as 
the  National  Lamp  Works.  These  two 
great  plants,  producing  lamps  at  the  rate 
of  more  than  one  hundred  million  per  year, 
form  a  very  important  part  of  the  activi- 
ties of  the  General  Electric  Company,  giv- 
ing employment  to  more  than  eight  thou- 
sand workers,  of  whom  about  eighty  per 
cent  are  women. 

Resuming  the  historical  sequence  of  this 
industrial  history,  it  is  appropriate  to  re- 
fer to  the  separate  organization  of  the 
various  departments  of  Edison  activities, 
beginning  with  the  incorporation  in  1884 
of  the  Edison  Machine  Works,  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $200,000,  taking  over  the  New 
York  plant  and  the  manufacture  of  gener- 
ators; and  in  the  same  year  the  lamp  busi- 
ness was  separately  organized  with  a  capi- 
tal of  $250,000  as  the  Edison  Lamp 
Works.  In  1885  the  Edison  Electric  Tube 
Company  was  organized,  with  a  capital  of 
$25,000,  and  a  corporation  with  a  capital 
of  $10,000  was  formed  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  shafting,  belts,  hangers,  etc.  Other 
separate  companies  were  the  Edison  Com- 
pany, for  Isolated  Lighting,  and  the 
Sprague  Electric  Railway  and  Motor 
Company,  for  the  production  of  stationary 
motors  and  the  apparatus  for  street  rail- 
ways, developed  by  Frank  J.  Sprague.  It 
was  in  August,  1890,  when  these  several 
companies  were  combined  into  a  single  or- 
ganization by  the  name  of  the  Edison  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company.  The  manufacture 
of  generators  by  the  Edison  Machine 
Works  had  been  removed  in  1886  to  Sche- 
nectady,  N.  Y.,  into  two  buildings  which 
had  been  erected  about  three  years  before 
by  the  McQueen  Locomotive  Company. 
The  occupation  of  these  buildings  by  the 
Edison  interests  was  at  first  designed  only 
to  be  temporary,  leaving  the  question  of  a 
permanent  location  for  later  consideration. 
But  these  buildings  (still  used  and  forming 
buildings  No.  10  and  1 1  of  the  present 
great  plant)  were  soon  overtaxed  by  the 
growth  of  the  industry,  and  other  buildings 
were  added  to  the  plant  in  1887  and  1888. 
Through  all  this  transition  period  and  cre- 
ative up-building  of  a  great  industry,  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


491 


guiding  genius  was   that  of   Mr.    Samuel 
Insull. 

The  other  group  of  industries  which  en- 
tered into  the  organization  of  the  General 
Electric  Company,  known  as  the  Thomson- 
Houston  group,  which  had  its  origin  in  the 
researches  and  inventions  of  Professor 
Elihu  Thomson  in  connection  with  the  arc 
lamp  and  the  generator,  which  were  begun 
at  about  the  same  time  as  Mr.  Edison 
started  his  investigations,  which  resulted  in 
the  invention  of  the  incandescent  lamp. 
Born  in  1853,  Professor  Thomson  had  al- 
ways been  interested  in  chemistry  and  me- 
chanics, and  was  holding  that  chair  in  the 
Philadelphia  Central  High  School  (a  col- 
legiate institution),  while  he  manufac- 


Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company,  and 
the  entire  equipment,  in  the  fall  of  that 
year,  was  transferred  from  New  Britain. 
Conn.,  to  Lynn,  Mass.  Eight  or  ten 
patents  which  had  been  issued  to  Messrs. 
Thomson  and  Houston,  jointly,  formed  the 
basis  of  the  Thomson-Houston  enterprise. 
In  1884  the  manufacture  of  incandescent 
lamps  was  begun  by  that  company.  In  con- 
nection with  this  branch  of  the  industry  a 
device  called  a  distributor  was  used, 
through  which  a  constant  current  of  9.6 
amperes  was  carried  and  split  into  ten 
circuits.  The  arrangement  provided  for 
the  insertion  of  equivalent  resistance  wher- 
ever any  of  the  lamp  filaments  broke.  By 
1885  and  1886  this  incandescent  lamp 


Original  Buildings  of  the  Edison  Interests  (now  General  Electric  Company)  at  Schenectady,  New  York,  in  1886 


tured,  in  a  small  machine  shop,  in  Button- 
wood  street  in  Philadelphia,  an  experimen- 
tal arc  machine  and  some  arc  lamps.  He 
himself  wound  the  armature  and  fields  for 
this  machine.  When  it  was  completed  he 
tested  it  and  found  that  it  would  carry 
eight  lamps  in  series.  The  result  of  this 
work  was  the  organization  in  the  spring  of 
1880  of  the  American  Electric  Company, 
with  a  small  factory  located  at  New 
Britain,  Conn. 

Professor  Edwin  J.  Houston  who  had, 
like  Professor  Thomson,  been  an  instruc- 
tor in  the  Philadelphia  Central  High 
School,  and  had  been  associated  with  the 
early  experiments  in  arc  lighting,  came  into 
the  business  in  1883,  when  the  American 
Electric  Company  was  reorganized  as  the 


work  went  up  to  no  volts,  and  the  manu- 
facture of  generators  for  supplying  energy 
at  that  voltage  was  begun.  The  first 
Thomson  dynamo,  with  spherical  arma- 
ture and  cup-shaped  fields,  had  been  devel- 
oped in  1879. 

In  the  development  of  the  arc  lamp  the 
Thomson-Houston  plant  at  Lynn  took  a 
leading  part,  and  in  1885  this  industry  had 
greatly  developed  a  new  type  of  lamp, 
known  as  the  Thomson-Rice  lamp,  super- 
seding the  original  lamp,  which  was  known 
as  the  "D"  lamp.  Edwin  W.  Rice,  Jr., 
had  been  a  pupil  of  Professor  Thom- 
son at  Central  High  School,  Philadelphia. 
He  began  practice  as  an  electrical  engineer 
in  1880,  became  superintendent  of  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company  in 


492 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


1883,  and  was  identified  with  much  of  the 
early  experimental  work  of  that  company 
and  of  the  General  Electric  Company,  of 
which  he  became  chief  engineer  and  finally 
president,  which  office  he  now  holds. 

Incandescent  lamps  were  made  at  the 
Lynn  works  for  several  years.  It  was  felt 
to  be  a  well-grown  industry  when,  in  1887, 
five  glass-blowers  were  employed  in  those 
works  to  do  all  the  tubing  work  for  incan- 
descent bulbs  and,  in  addition,  to  attend  to 
the  manufacture  of  the  Sprengel  pumps, 
which  were  employed  to  exhaust  the  lamps 
and  create  the  necessary  vacuum.  Later 


use  and  their  manufacture  became  an  im- 
portant industry,  but  the  total  number  of 
motors  made  during  the  years  these  types 
were  made  would  amount  to  only  a  frac- 
tion of  the  total  number  of  motors  now 
made  in  a  single  year.  The  manufacture 
of  motors  is  still  a  very  important  part  of 
the  activities  of  the  Lynn  works.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  the  smaller  types  of  mo- 
tors. The  small  motor  department  of  the 
Lynn  works,  as  it  is  carried  on  today,  occu- 
pies the  largest  building  in  the  world  de- 
voted exclusively  to  the  manufacture  of  a 
single  type  of  apparatus.  It  is  a  large  re- 


General  View  of  the  Schenectady  Works,  General  Electric  Company 


the  manufacture  of  lamps  at  Lynn  was  dis- 
continued, and  the  entire  lamp  industry 
was  concentrated  in  special  groups  of  fac- 
tories elsewhere,  which  were  specially 
equipped  for  their  production. 

The  modern  electric  motor  is  familiar, 
in  its  various  types,  to  every  one  who  is 
connected  with  or  a  visitor  to  industrial 
plants  of  almost  any  kind,  and  yet  the 
original  stationary  motor  was  built  at  the 
Lynn  works  as  late  as  1886.  After  various 
tests  were  made  this  motor  was  redesigned 
and  the  new  type  which  resulted  from  them 
was  reproduced  in  various  sizes  for  several 
years.  The  frames  of  these  machines  were 
used  for  both  motors  and  generators,  al- 
though the  windings  for  the  two  machines 
were,  of  course,  different.  A  large  number 
of  these  motors  were  made  and  went  into 


inforced  concrete  structure  of  the  most 
modern  construction,  810  feet  long,  80  feet 
wide,  and  has  three  floors  with  an  aggre- 
gate area  of  218,400  square  feet.  Forty 
thousand  motors  having  a  total  capacity  of 
about  200,000  h.  p.  were  built  in  one  year 
in  this  building,  the  range  of  size  in  the 
motors  manufactured  there  being  from  one- 
half  to  twenty-five  h.p.  More  than  one 
thousand  persons  are  employed  in  this 
building. 

With  the  improvement  in  the  mechanism 
of  lamps,  motors  and  generators  the  need 
of  measuring  instruments  by  which  the 
amount  of  current  consumed  could  be  ac- 
curately determined  became  apparent,  and 
in  1889  the  Thomson  Recording  Watt- 
meter was  evolved.  It  was  warmly  wel- 
comed in  the  electrical  world,  but  there  has 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


493 


been  a  remarkable  evolution  in  the  science 
of  electrometry  since  then,  with  a  corre- 
sponding development  of  measuring  in- 
struments, which  have  placed  electrical 
service  upon  a  basis  of  exactness  in  meth- 
ods and  results  with  which  no  other  source 
of  light,  heat  or  power  can  compare. 

The  transformer  was  an  early  product 


The  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  con- 
struction of  electric  railway  apparatus.  It 
manufactured  a  railway  motor  known  as 
the  "F-40"  type,  as  early  as  1886.  This 
and  other  early  types  of  railway  motors 
were  equipped  with  oil  cups  for  lubrication 
of  the  bearings,  but  later  types  of  which 


Headquarters    Building,    General    Electric  Company,  Schenectady,  New  York 


of  the  Lynn  works,  that  first  produced 
and  known  as  "Type  A,"  dating  from 
1887.  Progress  in  the  electrical  industry 
has  few  more  effective  illustrations  than  a 
comparison  between  this  primitive  though 
useful  device  and  the  larger  modern  illus- 
trations of  self-cooled,  water-cooled  and 
air-blast  transformers.  Another  device 
which  received  early  attention  in  the  Lynn 
plant  was  the  alternating  current  generator 
of  which  an  original  type,  with  belt-driven 
exciter,  was  wound  with  "pancake"  field 
coils,  oil  cups  being  used  to  lubricate  the 
bearings.  This  old  type  has  many  points  of 
resemblance  to  modern  units  of  corre- 
sponding size,  but  the  mammoth  alterna- 
tors, which  are  now  installed  in  large  mod- 
ern power  stations,  are  of  widely  different 
construction. 


the  "D-62"  railway  generator  was  prob- 
ably the  earliest,  had  eliminated  the  oil  cups 
and  had  self-oiling  bearings. 

The  same  company  was  also  a  pioneer  in 
the  production  of  electrical  apparatus  for 
warship  service,  a  very  early  installation  of 
that  kind  being  a  generator  set  consisting 
of  two  machines,  direct-driven  by  a  marine 
type  steam  engine,  comprising  the  first 
four-pole  generators  built  by  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Company.  This  equipment  was 
installed  on  the  United  States  cruiser 
"Vesuvius." 

The  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Com- 
pany, before  it  combined  with  the  Edison 
interests  to  form  the  General  Electric 
Company,  had  acquired  several  smaller 
companies,  each  of  which  owned  important 
patents  (some  of  them  basic),  and  in- 


494 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Schenectady  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company  for  the  Manufacture  of  Large  Turbines — the  Largest  of 

the  kind  in  the  World 


eluded  among  their  employees  men  of 
engineering  talent  and  inventive  ability. 
One  of  these,  the  Van  Depoele  Company, 
which  was  secured  by  the  Thomson-Hous- 
ton Company  in  1886,  owned  valuable  rail- 
way patents,  Charles  J.  Van  Depoele,  its 


founder,  having  been  the  originator  of  the 
trolley  system,  which  has  been  the  means 
of  the  greatest  revolution  in  urban  and  in- 
terurban  transportation  ever  conceived. 

In   the   arc-lighting  field  the    foremost 
competitor  of  the  Thomson-Houston  Elec- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


495 


trie  Company  had  been  the  Brush  Electric 
Company,  which  had  at  one  time  threat- 
ened to  absorb  the  Thomson-Houston 
Company,  which,  however,  secured  the 
Brush  Company  in  1889.  In  1890  the 
Schuyler  Electric  Company,  which  manu- 
factured arc  lighting  apparatus,  and  the 
Excelsior  Electric  Company,  which  had 
also  been  a  competitor  in  the  arc  lighting 
field,  were  acquired  by  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Company,  which,  by  these  ac- 
quisitions, attained  a  position  of  great 
strength  in  the  arc-lighting  industry  and 
gave  exceptional  value  to  its  contribution 
to  the  larger  organization  formed  in  1892, 
when  these  great  interests  and  those  of  the 
Edison  General  Electric  Company  were 
consolidated  into  the  General  Electric 
Company. 

By  1892  the  electrical  industry  had 
reached  a  place  of  great  importance  and  a 
degree  of  development,  the  principal  ob- 
stacle to  which  was  the  competition  of  the 
two  great  companies  which  controlled  the 
most  important  inventions.  The  patent 
claims  of  the  two  companies  conflicted;  the 
salesmen  of  each  were  trying  to  beat  the 
other  in  their  respective  fields.  Wherever 
an  important  installation  was  to  be  made 
the  competition  was  fierce.  Each  held 
patents  for  apparatus  which  would  greatly 
improve  the  other's  product  if  they  could 
be  used.  The  two  companies  were  work- 
ing in  the  same  field  by  divergent  methods. 
The  situation  was  such  that  the  highest 
efficiency  and  the  greatest  progress  in  the 
industry,  as  well  as  the  largest  and  surest 
profit  to  the  investors  in  the  two  companies 
could  only  be  secured  by  their  unification. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  larger  stockholders 
had  holdings  in  both  companies,  and 
among  them  were  men  of  genius  for  corpo- 
rate organization  who  envisioned  the  fu- 
ture progress  which  a  combination  of  the 
engineering  genius  and  financial  backing  of 
the  two  companies  would  make  possible. 
The  efforts  of  these  forseeing  men,  under 
the  generalship  of  Mr.  Charles  A.  Coffin, 
culminated  in  the  formation  in  1892  of 
the  General  Electric  Company,  which  ac- 
quired the  capital  stock  of  the  Edison  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company,  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company,  and  the  Thom- 


son-Houston International  Electric  Com- 
pany. The  result  of  this  epoch-making  uni- 
fication has  been  justly  and  tersely  summar- 
ized in  the  following  paragraph  in  regard 
to  it  from  an  address  of  a  distinguished 
electrical  engineer:  i 

"Never  in  the  industrial  world  did  or- 
ganization effect  a  more  magical  change  in 
releasing  pent  energy.  Guided  by  master 
hands,  electrical  arts  leaped  into  industrial 
pre-eminence,  volume  of  manufacture  of 
appliances,  progress  of  invention,  public 


First  Commercial  Turbine  Generator  Now  Erected 

at   the   Schenectady   Plant   as   a    Monument   to   the 

Industry 

confidence  in  electricity,  and  its  general 
utilization,  all  took  long  strides  forward." 

Since  the  creation  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  it  has  acquired  other  com- 
panies and  properties  in  this  country  and 
abroad,  and  has  been  the  main  industrial 
and  engineering  factor  in  the  evolution 
which  has  made  the  past  quarter  century 
known  as  "the  Age  of  Electricity."  In  all 
of  the  avenues  of  progress  and  invention 
along  electrical  lines  the  General  Electric 
Company  has  been  a  prime  mover,  and  the 
impress  of  its  creative  energy  appears  in 
every  country  of  the  world  where  electrical 
improvement  has  found  a  footing. 

The  principal  factories  of  the  country 
are  now  located  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ; 


496 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Lynn  and  Pittsfield,  Mass. ;  Harrison, 
Watsessing,  and  Newark,  N.  J. ;  Erie, 
Penn. ;  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  Fort  Wayne, 
Ind.,  in  addition  to  which  are  various 
smaller  plants,  each  specializing  in  a  cer- 
tain class  of  apparatus.  In  all  the  com- 
pany has  in  this  country  a  total  of  more 
than  eighty  thousand  employees.  The  ex- 
pansion of  the  company's  operations  has 
been  marvelous  and  continuous  from  its 
organization,  but  especially  in  the  last  de- 
cade, the  floor  space  occupied  by  them  hav- 


devoted  to  the  business  of  a  single  com- 
pany, and  houses  about  2,500  employees 
of  the  commercial  and  engineering  depart- 
ments. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  even  a  brief  sum- 
mary of  the  mechanical  equipment  of  this 
constantly  enlarging  plant.  The  figures 
of  last  week,  to  be  absolutely  correct,  need 
to  be  revised  upward,  but  a  rather  recent 
statement  enumerates  that  the  mechanical 
equipment  then  comprised  more  than  10,- 
ooo  machine  tools,  more  than  200  traveling 


One  of  the  Three  Switchboard  Assembly  Floors.  Schenectady  Works 


ing  in  the  past  ten  years  increased  from 
7,000,000  square  feet  to  an  aggregate  of 
18,000,000  square  feet. 

Greatest  among  the  plants  of  the  com- 
pany is  that  at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  the 
largest  in  the  world  devoted  to  the  manu- 
facture of  electrical  machinery  and  appar- 
atus. More  than  twenty  thousand  people 
are  employed  at  this  plant.  No  more  in- 
teresting aggregation  of  industrial  and 
technical  achievement  exists  on  any  site  in 
the  world  than  is  consolidated  on  the  332 
acres  covered  by  the  Schenectady  works. 

Just  inside  the  main  entrance  to  the 
plant  is  the  headquarters  of  the  company. 
It  is  the  largest  office  building  anywhere 


cranes,  more  than  8,000  motors,  and  that 
electric  energy  for  the  plant  is  supplied  by 
transmission  line  from  a  distant  water- 
power  station  and  locally  by  steam  power 
stations. 

The    plant    includes    several    machine 
shops.     One  of  them,  of  typical  complete- 
ness,  is   850  feet  long,   has  a  battery  of 
overhead  cranes  and  a  vast  number  of  ma- 
chines, each  of  which  is  individually  driver 
by  an  electric  motor.     The  testing  depart- 
ment is  especially  thorough,  and  the  sectior 
which  handles  motors  has  a  comprehensive 
range  of  effectiveness,  dealing  with  motors 
of  from  5  h.p.  up  to  2,000  h.p. 

Another  department  produces  wiring  de- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


497 


vices  in  enormous  quantities,  including 
sockets,  switches,  cut-outs,  fuses,  panel 
boards,  etc.,  and  most  of  it  being  light 
work,  many  of  the  employees  in  the  depart- 
ment are  women.  In  this  connection  there 
is  also  a  department  for  the  manufacture 
of  the  porcelain  parts,  for  the  production 
of  which  in  the  vast  quantities  needed,  huge 
kilns  are  used  for  firing.  Another  branch 
is  that  for  the  manufacture  of  wire  and 
cable,  of  which  more  than  200,000,000 
feet  per  year  is  produced.  ) 

The  manufacture  of  switchboards  con- 
stitutes another  important  department,  and 
on  one  of  the  assembly  floors  the  com- 
pleted switchboards  are  mounted  and 
tested  to  the  number  of  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand per  annum.  This  is  a  branch  of  the 
industry  calling  for  diversified  materials  in 
large  quantities — rubber  from  Brazil,  mar- 
ble from  Vermont,  slate  from  Maine,  cop- 
per from  the  Pacific  States,  etc. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  achievements 
of  the  Schenectady  plant  is  the  work  it  has 
accomplished  in  connection  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  steam  turbine  for  the  pro- 
pulsion of  electric  generators.  Not  only  is 
the  turbine  department  remarkable  as  a 
manufacturing  plant,  but  in  the  engineering 
and  experimental  work  it  has  done,  many 
of  the  best  improvements  in  construction 
and  mechanism  of  steam  turbines  having 
been  worked  out  in  this  plant.  The  equip- 
ment of  the  large  machine  shops  at  Schen- 
ectady devoted  exclusively  to  the  manu- 
facture of  turbines  includes  some  of  the 
largest  planers  and  boring  mills  in  the 
world.  Only  the  large-size  turbines  are 
produced  at  the  Schenectady  plant,  those 
rated  at  from  10  to  2,500  h.p.  being  pro- 
duced at  the  Lynn  plant. 

The  first  large  Curtis  steam  turbine  gen- 
erator equipment  ever  built  was  turned  out 
at  the  Schenectady  works  and  installed  in 
the  station  of  the  Commonwealth  Edison 
Company  in  1903.  It  was  regarded  as  a 
marvel,  being  rated  at  5,000  kw.,  and  was, 
when  installed,  the  largest  steam  turbine 
in  existence.  It  remained  in  active  service 
until  1909,  when  it  was  replaced  by  a  later 
type  of  turbine  generator  of  much  greater 
capacity,  while  this  first  generator  equip- 
ment was  brought  back  to  Schenectady  and 
placed  in  the  main  avenue  of  the  works 
there  as  a  monument.  It  represents  a  new 
departure  in  turbine  design  and  construc- 


tion, the  first  triumph  in  a  branch  of  electri- 
cal development  in  which  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  has  pioneered  and  improved 
until  now  combined  turbine  generators 
made  at  this  plant,  with  rated  output  of 
30,000  kw.  or  more,  mark  the  highest  ad- 
vance reached  in  that  class  of  dynamo-elec- 
tric machinery. 

It  would  not  be  possible  in  the  space  here 
at  command  to  give  anything  like  a  de- 
tailed description  by  departments  of  the 
activities  of  the  Schenectady  and  other 
plants.  The  marine  department,  where 
the  largest  and  best  equipments  for  the 
greatest  giants  of  the  new  navy,  now  in  the 
course  of  construction,  are  being  produced, 
including  new  and  unprecedented  equip- 
ment for  electric  propulsion  of  these  ves- 
sels, are  in  progress,  the  searchlight  de- 
partment where  the  latest  improved  search- 
lights for  land  and  naval  use  are  being 
manufactured  and  constantly  improved; 
the  department  where  electro-therapeutic 
equipment  is  turned  out,  including  besides 
many  other  things,  a  greatly  improved  type 
of  X-ray  apparatus,  and  other  and  various 
activities  of  manufacture  appropriate  to  a 
plant  at  once  the  largest  and  the  most  mod- 
ern, in  equipment  and  products  in  existence. 

The  purely  technical,  as  distinguished 
from  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing, 
activities  of  the  headquarters  plant,  repre- 
sent a  degree  of  efficiency  certainly  not  sur- 
passed elsewhere.  The  drafting  depart- 
ment, in  which  approximately  one  thousand 
people  are  employed  producing  drawings 
as  they  are  needed  preliminary  to  the 
manufacture  of  the  varied  lines  of  manu- 
facture of  apparatus,  is  believed  to  be  the 
largest  drafting  department  in  the  world. 
Its  output  now  exceeds  thirty  thousand 
drawings  yearly. 

The  standardizing,  testing  and  research 
laboratories  are  of  vital  importance  to  the 
company's  success  and  progress.  The  se- 
lection of  materials  to  be  used  in  construc- 
tion is  here  determined  by  chemical  and 
mechanical  analysis.  New  methods  and 
processes  of  manufacture  are  brought  out 
and  perfected,  new  machinery  invented, 
and  constant  research  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  improvement  of  the  existing 
products  of  the  company. 

The  research  laboratory,  under  the  di- 
rection of  Dr.  W.  R.  Whitney,  is  a  factor 
of  supreme  importance  in  maintaining  the 


498 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


company's  prestige  and  leadership.  Many 
and  valuable  are  the  developments  that 
have  come  from  its  fruitful  researches. 
Here  the  Curtis  steam  turbine  was  devel- 
oped to  its  present  high  efficiency;  the 
D'Arsonval  instrument  was  produced; 
numerous  heating  and  cooking  devices  for 
commercial  and  household  use  were  devel- 
oped; the  mercury  arc  rectifier  was  success- 
fully worked  out;  the  General  Electric  in- 
duction motor  was  invented.  Here,  too, 
was  carried  on  the  experiment  and  research 


feet,  and  employing  more  than  twelve  thou- 
sand workmen.  As  at  Schenectady,  the 
number  of  departments  is  large.  Speak- 
ing in  general  terms  of  the  production  of 
machinery  in  the  two  plants,  the  larger 
sizes  and  high  capacity  types  of  generators, 
turbines  and  motors  are  the  products  of 
the  Schenectady  plant,  while  those  of 
smaller  size  and  lower  rating  are  produced 
at  the  Lynn  plant. 

The  arc  lamp  department  is  an  import- 
ant one  at  the  Lynn  works,  where  much  of 


High  Tension  Testing  Laboratory,  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  Containing  750,000  Volt  Transformer  —  Highest  Tension 

Transformer  in  the  World 


which  produced  the  metalized  filament  and 
drawn  wire  Mazda  incandescent  lamps, 
work  which  practically  revolutionized 
modern  electric  lighting  practice;  besides 
many  other  inventions  and  devices  which 
have  added  most  materially  to  the  use  and 
value  of  electricity  in  its  manifold  applica- 
tions. 

To  refer  briefly  to  the  other  plants  of 
the  company  we  may  first  speak  of  the 
Lynn  works.  The  original  building  known 
as  Factory  A  was  built  in  1884.  The 
plant  has  been  developed  until  now  it  ex- 
tends over  a  tract  of  two  hundred  acres, 
with  numerous  large  buildings,  having  a 
floor  space  of  about  three  million  square 


the  early  development  of  arc  lighting  had 
its  origin.  One  of  the  largest  factory 
buildings  in  Lynn  is  put  to  use  as  an  assem- 
bly room  for  the  General  Electric  modern 
high  efficiency  arc  lamps. 

The  Pittsfield  plant  is  also  an  important 
one.  It  has  a  ground  area  of  about  ninety 
acres,  and  employs  more  than  five  thousand 
workers  in  the  factory  buildings,  which 
have  an  aggregate  floor  space  of  nearly 
two  million  square  feet. 

The  manufacture  of  transformers,  which 
was  formerly  carried  on  at  both  the  Lynn 
and  Schenectady  plants, is  now  concentrated 
at  the  Pittsfield  Works.  The  assembly  de- 
partment for  transformers  assembles  units 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


499 


ranging  in  capacity  from  5  to  15,000  kv-a., 
for  operation  on  transmission  lines  having 
potentials  up  to  150,000.  The  transformer 
testing  department  at  that  plant  is  the  larg- 
est and  best  equipped  in  the  world,  having 
a  capacity  for  testing  each  week  2,000 
lighting  transformers  and  a  total  of  59,000 
kv-a.  in  power  and  lighting  transformers. 
This  is  approximately  equivalent  to  10,000 
kv-a.  per  day,  or  3,000,000  kv-a.  per  year. 
The  Pittsfield  plant  also  manufactures 
feeder  voltage  regulators,  the  assembly  de- 
partment for  which  has  a  capacity  for 
about  2,500  annually,  ranging  in  size  from 
Y-2.  kv-a.  to  800  kv-a.  The  electric  fan 
motor  department  at  Pittsfield  uses  over 
68,000,000  parts  in  the  production  of  150,- 
ooo  fans  annually. 

The  foundry  and  pattern  storage  yards 
at  Pittsfield  are  large  and  fully  equipped, 
and  the  facilities  for  receiving  and  shipping 
of  road  materials  are  especially  complete 
and  convenient  in  arrangement.  The  pro- 
duction of  transformers,  voltage  regulators 
and  other  electrical  apparatus  produced  at 
Pittsfield  calls  for  the  use  of  an  enormous 
quantity  of  steel,  and  the  punch  press  de- 
partment is  very  appropriately  equipped 
for  cutting  up  over  30,000,000  pounds  of 
steel  annually. 

The  works  at  Erie  cover  a  ground  area 
of  sixty-six  acres,  and  its  buildings  have  a 
floor  space  exceeding  a  million  square  feet, 
while  its  employees  number  about  3,000. 

The  iron  foundry  of  this  plant  is  very 
large  and  specially  designed  to  handle 
large  quantities  of  material  at  a  minimum 
expenditure  of  time  and  labor.  It  embod- 
ies the  most  advanced  ideas  in  foundry 
equipment,  including  a  complete  outfit  of 
electrically  operated  cranes. 

This  plant  is  largely  devoted  to  the  pro- 
duction of  electric  railway  and  mine  haul- 
age locomotives.  The  locomotives  built  at 
this  plant  include  the  most  improved  types 
of  electric  locomotives  for  passenger  and 
freight  trains,  and  in  mine  locomotives 
there  are  numerous  forms  adapted  to  the 
various  limitations  involved  in  mine  oper- 
ation in  both  metal  and  coal  mines. 

The  great  lamp  works  at  Harrison,  N. 
J.,  and  at  Nela  Park,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  are 
monuments  to  a  progressive  evolution  in 
lighting.  It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  little 


building  at  Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  where  the 
first  incandescent  lamps  were  made  in  1879, 
to  these  great  plants,  each  occupying  groups 
of  large  buildings.  The  difference  in  the 
output  is  as  dozens  to  millions,  and  the  dif- 
ference is  immeasurable  between  the  first 
unstable  lamps,  with  their  fragile  filaments, 
and  the  present  substantial,  brilliant,  steady 
"Mazda"  lamps,  the  filaments  of  which, 
although  of  spider-thread  dimensions,  are 
stronger  than  piano  wire,  and  have  rev- 
olutionized the  art  of  incandescent  lamp 
manufacture. 


A  Section  of  the  West  Lynn  Works 

Besides  the  plants  specifically  mentioned, 
there  are  several  others,  each  devoted  to  a 
special  part  of  the  industry,  so  that  the 
company  is  known  in  the  manufacturing 
world  not  only  as  a  large  producer  of  ma- 
chines, apparatus  and  supplies  for  electrical 
installations  and  operations  of  various 
kinds,  but  as  a  great  enterprise  in  which 
the  problems  of  modern  industry  have 
been  worked  out  to  satisfactory  solution. 
To  the  student  of  social  problems  the 
working  of  so  great  an  enterprise,  with 
more  than  eighty  thousand  men  and  women 
on  the  payrolls,  is  a  matter  of  deep  human 
interest  outside  of  its  industrial  impor- 
tance. Mr.  E.  W.  Rice,  Jr.,  president 
of  the  company,  when  asked,  "Does  wel- 
fare work  pay,"  replied,  "Yes,  we  are  sure 
that  it  pays,  although  we  may  not  be  able 
to  show  it  on  our  books,  but  in  any  event 
we  shall  continue  it,  because  it  is  a  service 
we  owe  to  our  fellowmen  and  to  the  ideals 
of  American  industry."  In  pursuit  of  this 
policy  the  company  has  in  continuous  oper- 
ation systematic  plans  for  the  selection  of 


500 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


its  efficient  working  force,  and  the  mainten- 
ance of  its  high  physical,  mental  and  moral 
standard. 

The  surroundings  of  the  Schenectady 
plant  illustrate  the  transforming  effect  of 
electric  service  on  modern  industry.  The 
old  idea  that  a  great  manufacturing  plant 
must  of  necessity  be  surrounded  by  a  "slum 
district"  is  entirely  dissipated.  The  excel- 
lent trolley  system  which  centers  in  Sche- 
nectady, with  about  80  per  cent  of  its  cars 
marked  "G.  E.  Loop"  give  the  employees 
access  to  all  sections  of  Schenectady  and 
surrounding  towns  and  cities,  as  well  as 
country  districts,  where  the  employees  may 
have  the  advantage  of  rural  environment. 
It  is  largely  this  favorable  home  factor 
which  accounts  for  the  general  high  grade 
of  the  employees  of  the  plant.  One's  home 


pearance  of  lung  trouble,  or  other  disease, 
which  may  be  aggravated  by  his  occupa- 
tion, is  given  a  special  additional  examina- 
tion in  order  to  detect,  and  therefore  to 
prevent,  any  tendency  toward  disease.  If 
such  is  discovered,  necessary  precautions  to 
safeguard  his  health  are  advised,  or  the  na- 
ture of  his  work  is  changed.  If  such  a 
policy  had  prevailed  in  industries  of  the 
past,  how  many  whose  lives  were  occupa- 
tionally  shortened  would  have  been  pre- 
served to  live  out  their  normal  span? 

Besides  examinations,  the  medical  de- 
partments have  the  care  of  the  health  and 
physical  safety  of  the  employees  at  the 
plants.  Hospital  facilities  are  provided  at 
all  of  the  numerous  works  of  the  company. 
Every  injury  occurring  at  the  works  or  of- 
fices is  counted  as  an  accident,  employees 


General    View    of    the    Pittsfield,    Mass.,    Works    of   the   General    Electric   Company 


conditions  have  much  to  do  with  his  per- 
sonal character  and  demeanor. 

But  the  standards  of  quality  of  the  em- 
ployees of  the  General  Electric  Company 
are  not  left  to  chance  selection.  New  em- 
ployees for  all  branches  of  the  organiza- 
tion, offices  and  works,  pass  the  physical 
examination,  no  partiality  being  shown — 
even  to  consulting  engineers.  These  phy- 
sical examinations  frequently  result  in  the 
discovery  and  correction  of  defective  eye- 
sight and  other  ailments.  These  physical 
examinations  determine  not  only  whether 
the  applicant  shall  be  employed  (rejections 
have  varied  from  3^  to  6  per  cent  in  dif- 
ferent years) ,  but  also  the  character  of  em- 
ployment. A  man  with  weak  eyesight  will 
not  be  set  to  work  near  rapidly  revolving 
machinery,  nor  one  with  weak  lungs  per- 
mitted to  work  in  dusty  rooms.  Besides 
the  original  medical  examination,  those 
who  do  work  of  a  dusty  nature  are  periodi- 
cally examined.  Anyone  who  has  the  ap- 


being  encouraged  to  report  even  an  insigni- 
ficant scratch,  for  any  scratch  may  become 
serious  from  infection.  Thus  it  is  that  in 
1916,  with  nearly  twenty-one  thousand 
employees  at  the  works,  day  and  night, 
there  were  13,190  accidents  at  the  Sche- 
nectady works.  Out  of  these  only  thirty- 
six  were  serious  enough  to  be  classed  as 
bed  cases,  and  only  eleven  serious  enough 
to  require  an  ambulance  call,  and  only  two 
were  fatal.  The  fatal  accidents  in  the 
Schenectady  works  that  year  thus  repre- 
sented 0.099  Per  i»ooo,  as  against  0.73 
per  thousand  as  the  average  of  fatalities 
of  occupied  males  by  accidents  in  the  en- 
tire country.  The  average  deaths  by  acci- 
dents in  the  last  decade  in  the  Schenectady 
works  were  only  o.  1 3 6  per  thousand.  Girls 
and  women  are  under  the  medical  care  of 
a  woman  physician.  Further  particulars 
as  to  the  medical  service  of  the  company 
might  be  given  to  much  length,  but  it  in- 
cludes education  in  "first  aid"  to  the  fore- 


.THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


501 


men,  assistant  foremen  and  shop  clerks  of 
each  department,  and  the  supplying  to  each 
department  of  "first  aid"  chests  con- 
taining the  necessary  materials;  girls'  rest 
rooms;  Red  Cross  classes;  elimination  of 
stools  for  girl  workers,  who  are  now  all 
supplied  with  chairs  with  backs ;  and  there 
is  also  educational  work  in  personal  hy- 
giene and  other  preventive  measures. 
Nearly  all  of  the  welfare  work  of  the  com- 
pany was  well  under  way  before  the  New 
York  State  Workmen's  Compensation  Act 
was  passed  by  the  Legislature.  At  the 
other  works  there  is  the  same  care  for  the 
medical  welfare  of  the  employees,  although 
there  are  modifications  and  special  features 
to  suit  different  conditions. 

Prevention  of  accidents  is  also  a  note- 


means  of  which  a  boy  may  obtain  a  four- 
year  job,  and  at  the  end  of  the  term,  in  ad- 
dition to  having  received  a  good  practical 
education,  will  have  earned  approximately 
$3,000  and  become  initiated  into  the  won- 
derful electrical  manufacturing  industry  as 
a  full-fledged  journeyman.  The  General 
Electric  Company  has  spent  on  its  appren- 
tice department  in  six  factories,  east  and 
west,  close  to  $750,000  in  buildings,  ma- 
chinery, tools,  instruments,  class  rooms  and 
laboratory  equipment.  Up  to  the  fall  of 
1917  there  had  been  1,598  graduates  from 
the  company's  apprentice  courses,  all  of 
whom  had  become  skillful  mechanics  earn- 
ing good  wages  and  salaries.  The  course 
includes  class  room  instruction,  personal 
attention  in  training  shops  to  master  the 


General  View  of  the  Erie,  'Pa.,  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company 


worthy  work  in  which  the  company  has 
taken  increasingly  active  interest.  Careful 
protection  against  accidents  by  mechani- 
cal and  electrical  safeguards  on  machinery; 
education  of  employees  on  the  subject  of 
accident  prevention;  safety  appliances  for 
ladders;  instructions  as  to  clothing  proper 
for  prevention  of  certain  injuries;  liter- 
ature on  personal  hygiene  are  in  use. 

There  is  an  employees'  organization 
largely  under  their  own  management,  with 
financial  transactions  totalling  close  to 
$200,000  per  year,  and  with  23,000  volun- 
tary members  in  six  different  cities  and 
known  as  the  General  Electric  Mutual 
Benefit  Association.  Its  protection  con- 
sists of  a  death  benefit  and  a  weekly  in- 
demnity while  sick  or  disabled. 

The  educational  features  presented  by 
the  company  are  of  exceptional  value,  not 
only  to  the  company  and  its  employees,  but 
to  the  electrical  industry  and  its  progress. 
First  of  all  is  the  apprentice  system,  by 


rudiments,  and  after  that  personal  atten- 
tion in  the  regular  shops,  to  which  they  are 
transferred  as  they  become  more  advanced. 

The  Electrical  Testing  Course  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  is  another  of  its 
important  educational  activities  which  has 
become  widely  famous  in  the  electrical 
world.  It  is,  in  effect,  a  post-graduate 
course  in  electrical  engineering.  The  pro- 
fession is  one  in  which  the  scientific  theory 
and  technical  principles  may  be  well 
learned  in  a  college  course,  with  such  train- 
ing as  the  shop-work  courses  and  electrical 
equipment  of  the  college  laboratories  pro- 
vide. But  the  application  of  this  learning 
heeds  to  be  matured  by  actual  contact  with 
a  wide  range  of  electrical  machinery,  appa- 
ratus and  installation  work  before  the 
technical  knowledge  ripens  into  practical 
mastery. 

The  General  Electric  Company,  with  its 
ever-widening  range  of  electrical  invention 
and  manufacture,  early  introduced  a  test- 


502 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ing  course  by  which  the  graduate  engineer 
came  in  contact  with  the  latest  develop- 
ments of  electricity  in  its  practical  applica- 
tions, and  has  developed  this  into  a  course 
to  be  completed  in  fifteen  months.  The 
course  is  a  direct  path  between  college  and 
business,  and  at  the  Schenectady  works 
the  average  earnings  of  the  test  course 
student  during  that  time  are  $1,277. 15.  In 
the  testing  department  the  machines  for 
testing  the  company's  product  are  operated 
by  the  student  engineers  themselves,  and 
with  this  operating  experience  a  graduate 
of  the  test  course  can  enter  almost  any 
main  station,  substation  or  switch  house 
and  take  charge  of  its  electrical  operation. 
Student  engineers  are  continually  shifted 
from  one  class  of  work  to  another  and  are 
consulted  regarding  the  sort  of  work  they 
desire  to  specialize  in  and  also  what  class 
of  testing  they  desire  to  take  month  after 
month.  They  have  opportunities  to  study 


and  test  every  kind  of  engine,  machine  and 
apparatus  and,  if  followed  to  graduation, 
makes  of  the  student  a  competent  and  ex- 
perienced engineer. 

The  company  gives  permanent  connec- 
tion to  many  of  the  graduates,  and  the 
others,  going  into  professional  life  in  many 
directions,  have  found  their  work  in  the 
test  course  a  stepping-stone  to  success  in 
the  profession.  It  has  been  a  most  valu- 
able factor  in  bringing  the  electrical  en- 
gineering profession  up  to  its  present  high 
standard  of  technical  and  practical  schol- 
arship and  achievement. 

In  all  its  varied  aspects — industrial, 
technical,  commercial  and  educational — 
the  progress  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany has,  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, run  parallel  with  that  of  the  electrical 
industry  itself,  of  which  it  is  the  largest 
and  most  influential  factor. 


General  View  of  the  Harrison,  N.  J.,  Works  of  the  General  Electric  Company 


CHAPTER    XIII 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  FURNACE 


A'  THOUGH  the  electric  furnace  as 
a  commercial  device  is  of  compar- 
atively recent  origin,  its  develop- 
ment has  been  extremely  rapid  and  its 
size  and  efficiency  have  been  increased  to 
such  an  extent  that  it  is  now  competing 
with  the  Bessemer  converter,  the  open 
hearth  steel  furnace  and  the  blast  furnace 
in  the  steel  industry,  to  mention  only 
one  of  the  industrial  fields  in  which  its 
value  has  been  demonstrated.  As  an 
example  of  the  progress  made  in  the  de- 
velopment of  this  interesting  apparatus,  it 
may  be  stated  that  in  1908  there  was  but 
one  electric  steel  furnace,  with  an  annual 
output  of  fifty-five  tons,  in  the  United 
States.  In  1916  there  were  seventy-three 
in  use  and  at  the  beginning  of  1917  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  were  reported  as 
being  in  service.  In  almost  all  the  indus- 
tries the  use  of  heat  in  some  manner  is  a 
necessity.  Therefore,  while  heat  gener- 
ated electrically  is  not  in  every  instance  the 
most  economical  to  use,  yet  the  electric  fur- 
nace and  other  forms  of  electrical  indus- 
trial heating  at  much  lower  temperatures 
daily  are  becoming  more  and  more  impor- 
tant and  valuable. 

When  we  speak  of  an  electric  furnace 
we  naturally  think  of  an  apparatus  in 
which  an  extremely  high  temperature  is 
created  and  maintained.  This  is  especially 
true  of  that  type  of  electric  furnace  which 
really  had  its  origin  in  the  discovery  of 
the  electric  arc  by  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  in 


503 


1800,  only  a  short  time  after  Volta  an- 
nounced his  production  of  the  electric  bat- 
tery. Therefore,  as  the  electric  arc  is  the 
source  of  heat  in  an  important  type  of 
electric  furnace,  its  discovery  may  be  re- 
garded as  the  beginning  of  the  latter's 
evolution.  Davy  also  made  some  of  the 
very  earliest  experiments  in  electro-metal- 
lurgy, in  which  the  electric  current  was 
applied  to  the  production  of  chemical  re- 
action or  molecular  changes  at  very  high 
temperatures.  In  1807  he  produced  the 
alkali  metals  by  the  passage  of  an  electric 
current  through  a  platinum  wire,  a  plati- 
num dish  and  a  mass  of  fused  caustic 
alkali.  As  the  intense  current  passed  it 
melted  the  mass  and  the  metal  was  depos- 
ited in  a  liquid  state. 

The  electric  arc  is  produced  by  the 
passage  of  an  electric  current  through  two 
carbon  rods  in  contact  at  their  ends  and 
then  moving  them  apart.  The  arc  itself 
is  a  flame  of  vaporized  carbon  formed 
between  the  two  carbon  poles.  The  elec- 
tric current,  when  it  encounters  resistance 
to  its  flow,  generates  heat.  As  the  carbon 
vapor  of  the  arc  offers  great  resistance  to 
the  flow  of  the  current  an  extremely  high 
temperature  is  produced,  sufficiently  high, 
in  fact,  to  vaporize  or  melt  any  known 
substance.  The  arc  light,  therefore,  is  a 
miniature  electric  furnace  of  the  arc  type. 

Following  Davy's  experiments,  Mat- 
thiessen  produced  potassium  by  the  elec- 
trolysis of  potassium  chloride  and  calcium 


504 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


chloride  fused  over  a  lamp.  In  the  ex- 
periments of  these  two  men  we  have  the 
genesis  of  two  kinds  of  electrolytic  furnace 
processes;  the  first,  in  which  external  heat 
is  used  to  keep  the  electrolyte  in  a  fused 
condition  and  the  second,  in  which  currents 
of  sufficient  strength  develop  the  requisite 
heat  to  cause  fusing  unaided.  A  third  pro- 
cess, under  which  calcium  carbide  is  made, 
uses  electricity  as  a  heating  agent  only. 
This  is  an  electrothermal  process  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  electrolytic.  In  mak- 
ing calcium  carbide,  for  instance,  the  heat 

generated  by  the  electric  current  is  used 

•  •  r      i 

to  raise  a  mixture  or  substances  to  a  tem- 
perature at  which  certain  desired  chemi- 
cal reactions  will  take  place.  In  making 
graphite  from  coke  or  gas  carbon,  how- 
ever, the  heat  is  used  only  to  produce 
molecular  or  physical  changes.  The  direct 
current  is  the  only  one  that  may  be  used  in 
electrolytic  furnaces,  but  either  direct  or 
alternating  current  may  be  used  in  electo- 
thermal  work. 

In  1853  primitive  forms  of  electric 
furnace  were  produced  in  France  by  Pichou 
and  in  England  by  J.  HL  Johnson.  They 
were  strikingly  similar  in  design  and  in 
both  the  charge  to  be  treated  in  the  furnace 
was  reduced  to  a  finely  divided  state  and 
passed  in  succession  through  two  or  more 
electric  arcs.  While  this  early  form  of 
furnace  was  operative,  its  efficiency  was 
very  low.  In  like  manner,  using  primary 
batteries  as  a  source  of  current,  Robert 
Hare,  at  Philadelphia  in  1839,  had  ob- 
tained phosphorus,  calcium  carbide,  metal- 
lic calcium  and  graphite.  Hare,  therefore, 
may  be  considered  to  have  antedated  the 
work  of  Sir  William  Siemens  who,  in  1878, 
patented  an  electric  arc  furnace  whose  type 
was  followed  by  a  number  of  later  in- 
ventors. Siemens  used  the  dynamo  as  a 
source  of  current. 

The  furnace  usually  associated  with 
Siemens'  name  consisted  of  a  crucible  of 
refractory  material,  generally  graphite, 
and  two  rods  for  leading  in  the  current. 
The  lower  rod  was  of  metal  and  fitted 
tightly  into  the  bottom  of  the  crucible  ex- 
tending up  through  it.  The  upper  rod  was 
made  of  carbon,  or  was  a  water-cooled 
metallic  tube,  and  was  connected  with  an 
ingenious  regulating  device  for  keeping 
the  arc  at  a  constant  length.  The  metal 


to  be  fused  was  placed  in  the  bottom  of  the 
crucible  in  contact  with  the  lower  metallic 
rod.  Then  the  upper  rod  was  lowered 
until  it  was  in  contact  with  the  contents  of 
crucible  and  an  arc  was  started.  A  cover, 
with  a  hole  for  observing  the  progress  of 
the  process,  was  provided  to  reduce  the  ra- 
diation of  heat  from  the  crucible.  A  fur- 
nace with  horizontal  electrodes  was  also 
invented  by  Siemens. 

Faure,  in  1883,  was  granted  patents  for 
an  electric  furnace  of  the  resistance  type. 
The  heat  was  generated  by  passing  an 
electric  current  through  solid  conducting 
rods  embedded  into  the  hearth  of  the  fur- 
nace. The  same  principle  since  has  been 
applied  to  the  heating  units  of  an  electric 
range.  This  type  of  furnace  was  made  a 
commercial  success  by  two  brothers,  E.  H. 
and  A.  H.  Cowles,  Americans,  whose  in- 
ventions were  described  before  scientific 
societies  in  1885.  This  furnace  was  heated 
by  the  passage  of  an  electric  current 
through  coarsely  ground  gas  carbon  or 
charcoal  and  was  used  for  various  pur- 
poses, including  the  production  of  alumi- 
num alloys  by  heating  a  mixture  of  alumina 
and  carbon  with  copper.  C.  M.  Hall,  in 
the  United  States,  and  Paul  Heroult,  in 
France,  were  granted  patents  in  1886  for 
processes  for  making  aluminum  which,  as 
used  now,  involve  the  passage  of  an  electric 
current  through  fused  compounds  of 
aluminum.  The  electrolytic  action  of  the 
current  frees  the  aluminum  from  these 
compounds,  while  the  heat  generated  by 
the  current  maintains  the  material  in  a 
fused  state.  This  type  of  furnace  consists 
of  an  iron  box  with  a  carbon  lining  and 
provided  with  a  number  of  carbon  rods 
which  are  immersed  in  the  fused  electrolyte 
contained  in  the  iron  box.  The  carbon 
rods  form  the  positive  electrode  and  the 
iron  box  the  negative.  Cryolite  forms  the 
principal  component  of  the  electrolyte  and 
at  intervals  alumina,  the  purified  ore  of 
aluminum,  is  added.  The  alumina  is  split 
up  into  aluminum  and  oxygen  by  the  elec- 
trolytic action  of  the  current.  The  alu- 
minum remains  in  a  fused  state  at  the  bot- 
tom of  the  box  while  the  oxygen  is  freed 
in  contact  with  the  carbon  rods  and  con- 
sumes them.  The  loss  in  carbon  is  said  to 
be  about  equal  in  weight  to  the  aluminum 
produced.  No  arc  is  formed  during  this 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


505 


procedure.  The  electric  furnace  produces 
all  the  aluminum  at  present  used.  In  1917 
the  output  in  the  United  States  alone  was 
over  100,000,000  pounds. 

Henri  Moissan,  a  Frenchman,  began  in 
1892  a  series  of  wonderful  experiments 
with  the  electric  furnace  which  had  for 
their  object  the  production  of  artificial 
diamonds.  His  work  was  all  on  scientific 
lines  and  served  to  establish  a  basis  for  the 
present  knowledge  of  chemistry  at  the 
high  temperatures  of  the  electric  furnace. 
Moissan's  electric  furnace  consisted  of  two 
blocks  of  limestone  and  two  carbon  rods 
to  transmit  the  current.  A  hollow  cavity 
was  made  in  each  limestone  block  and  the 
material  to  be  heated  was  placed  in  a 
crucible  of  carbon  or  magnesia  which  was 
set  in  one  of  the  blocks.  A  lining  of  alter- 
nate layers  of  carbon  and  magnesia  was 
also  arranged  around  the  inside  of  the 
cavity  to  prevent  the  melting  of  the  lime- 
stone and  to  withstand  as  well  as  possible 
the  heat  from  the  arc.  Moissan,  in  many 
of  his  experiments,  converted  two  or  three 
hundred  electrical  horse-power  into  heat  in 
a  furnace  with  only  a  few  square  inches 
internal  dimensions.  The  enormously 
high  temperatures  attained  in  this  type  of 
furnace  turn  to  vapor  any  material  placed 
in  it,  except  the  most  refractory,  which  are 
reduced  to  a  liquid  state.  Any  metal  can 
be  melted  and  boiled  in  the  Moissan  fur- 
nace. 

He  also  made  many  experiments  in  the 
reduction  of  metals  from  their  oxides  and 
checked  the  statements  of  C.  F.  Mabery, 
in  1885,  and  Dr.  W.  Borchers,  in  1891, 
that  carbon  will  reduce  any  metal  from 
its  oxide  at  electric  furnace  temperatures. 
At  these  high  temperatures  carbon  will 
also  combine  with  the  metal  itself  and 
form  a  carbide.  Moissan  studied  the  pro- 
duction and  properties  of  many  carbides  so 
formed.  His  most  interesting  and  mar- 
vellous experiments,  however,  were  in  the 
production  of  artificial  diamonds.  The 
diamond  is  a  crystalline  form  of  carbon. 
If  a  proper  solvent  were  obtainable  it 
should  be  possible  to  crystallize  carbon  as 
diamonds.  Such  a  solvent  Moissan  found 
in  iron  and  certain  other  metals.  These 
metals  dissolve  considerable  quantities  of 
carbon  under  the  action  of  the  electric 


furnace  and  by  cooling  them  under  suitable 
conditions  Moissan  obtained  a  part  of  the 
carbon  in  the  form  of  microscopical  dia- 
monds. These  he  isolated  by  dissolving 
away  the  metal  in  acids.  Although  these 
experiments  did  not  result  in  the  commer- 
cial production  of  artificial  diamonds, 
Moissan's  researches  on  the  conversion  of 
carbon  into  graphite  and  on  the  production 
of  calcium  carbide  were  followed  by  com- 
mercial developments  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance. 

Entirely  independent  of  Moissan's  work, 
T.  L.  Willson,  an  American,  made  calcium 
carbide  in  the  electric  furnace  in  1892,  and 
later  developed  its  manufacture  commer- 
cially. Like  many  other  pioneers,  Willson 
had  great  difficulty  in  getting  together 
enough  money  to  carry  on  his  experiments, 
and  for  a  long  time  before  he  achieved 
success  used  to  make  frequent  calls  at  the 
offices  of  the  electrical  journals,  where  he 
was  familiarly  known  as  "Dynamo"  Will- 
son.  His  furnace  consisted  of  an  iron 
crucible  with  a  carbon  lining  at  the  base. 
One  side  of  the  dynamo,  or  transformer, 
circuit  was  connected  to  the  crucible  and 
the  other  to  a  large  carbon  electrode  sus- 
pended within  the  crucible.  After  the  arc 
was  started  between  the  electrode  and  the 
bottom  of  the  crucible,  charges  of  pow- 
dered lime  and  coke  were  fed  in  around 
the  electrode.  Through  the  heat  of  the 
arc  the  lime  was  reduced  by  means  of  the 
coke  to  metallic  calcium  and  this,  secon- 
darily, reacted  with  more  coke  to  form  the 
calcium  carbide  which  remained  in  a  liquid 
state  below  the  electrode.  By  gradually 
raising  the  electrode  a  mass  of  carbide 
was  built  up  and  when  the  crucible  was 
almost  full  the  process  was  stopped  until  it 
cooled,  when  its  content  was  turned  out  in 
the  form  of  a  block  of  calcium  carbide. 
Other  forms  of  carbide  furnaces  have 
since  been  devised  and  are  now  operating 
on  a  large  scale.  Some  of  them  are  of 
the  intermittent  type,  like  Willson's,  while 
others  operate  continuously.  The  com- 
mercial importance  of  calcium  carbide 
rests  upon  the  ease  with  which  it  acts  upon 
water  to  form  the  illuminating  gas,  acety- 
lene. The  annual  production  is  around 
300,000  tons  at  about  $80  per  ton. 


506 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Another  carbide,  and  one  of  the  most 
important,  produced  by  the  electric  furnace 
is  one  of  the  carbides  of  silicon  known  as 
carborundum,  the  hardest  abrasive  yet 
found  and  which  will  cut  the  diamond  it- 
self. It  was  discovered  by  Dr.  E.  G.  Ache- 
son,  an  American,  in  1891,  another  pio- 
neer who  had  to  struggle  his  way  to  final 
success.  After  an  experiment  in  which  he 
was  attempting  to  harden  clay  by  impreg- 
nating it  with  carbon  in  the  electric  fur- 
nace, Dr.  Acheson  observed  a  small  num- 
ber of  bright  particles  at  the  end  of  the 
carbon  electrode.  These  particles,  when 
tested,  were  found  to  be  hard  enough  to 
cut  glass  and  even  diamonds.  This  dis- 
covery was  the  foundation  of  the  impor- 
tant carborundum  industry  of  today. 

The  process  of  making  carborundum 
consists  in  placing  a  mixture  of  sand  and 
coke  with,  smaller  quantities  of  sawdust 
and  salt  in  a  chamber  lined  with  fire-brick 
and  passing  an  electric  current  through  a 
core  of  carbon  placed  in  the  center  of  the 
charge.  The  passing  of  the  current  gen- 
erates a  temperature  of  over  2,000  degrees 
Centigrade  and  the  sand  in  the  charge  is 
reduced  to  silicon  and  combines  with  the 
carbon  to  form  carborundum.  This  ma- 
terial, one  of  the  most  valuable  abrasives 
ever  discovered,  is  of  a  beautiful  irides- 
cent crystalline  form.  It  is  also  employed 
as  a  lining  for  electric  and  other  high  tem- 
perature furnaces  and  as  a  deoxidizer  in 
the  manufacture  of  steel. 

The  Acheson  electric  furnace  is  formed 
of  two  permanent  end  walls  which  support 
large  bundles  of  carbon  rods  held  in  place 
by  suitable  bronze  clamps.  A  mass  of 
broken  carbon  is  laid  on  the  bottom  of  the 
furnace  between  the  bundles  of  rods.  This 
affords  a  means  of  passing  the  current  from 
one  bundle  of  rods  to  the  other  and,  as  the 
charge  is  not  brought  to  the  fusing  point 
at  any  stage  of  the  operation,  the  core  of 
broken  carbon  remains  in  place  until  the 
end  of  the  process.  The  carborundum  is 
formed  around  this  core  and  the  material 
in  the  unconverted  charge  which  lies  above 
and  below  it  acts  as  a  heat  retainer.  Be- 
tween the  core  and  the  crystalline  carbo- 
rundum is  usually  found  a  layer  of  graphite 
which  is  formed  through  the  decomposition 
of  the  carbide  in  that  part  of  the  furnace 


where  the  heat  is  the  most  intense.  As  a 
result  of  observing  this  phenomena,  Ache- 
son  developed  a  process  for  the  artificial 
production  of  graphite  which  he  patented 
in  1896.  This  consists  in  heating  coke,  or 
some  other  form  of  carbon,  in  which  there 
is  a  small  amount  of  iron  oxide  or  certain 
other  substances.  At  the  high  temperature 
of  the  electric  furnace,  the  iron  and  other 
impurities  are  volatilized,  leaving  the  car- 
bon pure  and  converted  into  graphite.  The 
temperature  of  this  furnace  often  is  as 
high  as  2,200  degrees  Centigrade  and 
frequently  as  much  as  1,000  horse-power 
of  electrical  energy  is  required  to  pro- 
duce it. 

As  plant  life  cannot  absorb  from  the 
air  the  nitrogen  necessary  for  its  existence, 
the  continuous  fertility  of  soils  depends 
largely  upon  the  restoration  artificially  of 
the  nitrogen  removed  in  the  ripe  crop.  As 
the  supply  of  nitrates  in  the  world  is  very 
limited,  recourse  must  be  had  to  other 
sources  and  the  unlimited  supply  of  nitro- 
gen in  the  atmosphere  surrounding  the 
earth  has  attracted  the  attention  of  many 
experimenters.  Over  a  hundred  years  ago 
Priestley  and  Cavendish  discovered  the 
combination  of  nitrogen  and  oxygen  in  the 
electric  arc.  In  1893  Crookes  made  an 
investigation  which  attracted  attention  to 
the  possibility  of  using  this  reaction  for  the 
manufacture  of  nitric  acid  and  nitrogenous 
fertilizers  from  the  air.  During  1895-6  a 
number  of  processes  were  patented.  The 
Bradley  and  Lovejoy  process  already  had 
been  tested  on  a  commercial  scale  at 
Niagara  Falls  in  1892.  The  Birkeland 
and  Eyde  process,  patented  in  1893,  is  now 
in  extensive  operation  in  Norway  and  was 
the  first  to  attain  commercial  success.  Since 
then  other  processes  have  been  devised 
and  today  the  production  of  nitric  acid 
and  nitrates  for  fertilizers  from  the  at- 
mosphere has  assumed  almost  the  pro- 
portions of  an  industry,  several  hundred 
thousand  horse-power  of  electrical  energy 
being  employed  for  this  purpose.  Calcium 
cyanide  is  another  source  of  nitrogen  for 
fertilizer  purposes.  This  is  produced 
through  the  reaction  between  nitrogen  and 
calcium  carbide  in  the  electric  furnace. 
The  process  was  not  developed  commer- 
cially until  about  1905,  although  it  had 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


507 


been  discovered  about  1895.  Over  100,- 
ooo  tons  of  calcium  cyanide  are  now  pro- 
duced annually. 

Shortly  after  the  firm  establishment  of 
the  calcium  carbide  industry,  about  fifteen 
years  ago,  it  was  found  that  the  produc- 
tion had  been  developed  beyond  the  de- 
mand and  it  was  necessary  for  the  manu- 
facturers to  find  some  other  product  on 
which  to  keep  their  electric  furnaces  em- 
ployed. This  was  the  reason  for  the 
efforts  then  made  to  find  a  successful 
process  for  the  electric  smelting  of  iron, 
steel  and  other  alloys  of  iron.  The  results 
of  experiments  made  in  France,  Sweden 
and  elsewhere  in  1900  were  so  satisfactory 
that  the  processes  developed  not  only  have 
been  able  to  compete  with  former  methods 
but,  in  many  cases,  the  electric  process  has 
displaced  them.  Heroult  and  Kjellin,  in 
France  and  Sweden  respectively,  success- 
fully adapted  the  electric  furnace  to  making 
good  quality  steel  from  scrap  steel  and 
pig-iron.  For  several  years  past  good 
crucible  steel  and  special  alloy  steels  have 
been  produced  with  commercial  success 
from  the  electric  furnace.  These  pioneers 
in  this  field  were  granted  patents  about 
1900,  although  a  patent  for  an  induction 
steel  furnace  had  been  granted  to  Colby 
in  1890. 

One  of  the  very  earliest  inventors  in  the 
electric  steel  industry  was  Major  Stassano, 
of  Turin,  Italy,  who  began  making  elec- 
tric furnaces  for  smelting  iron  ores  in 
1896.  He  was  granted  patents  in  1898 
and  in  the  following  year  demonstrated 
his  process  successfully.  At  this  time, 
however,  the  prices  for  electric  current 
were  so  high  that  it  appeared  futile  to 
attempt  to  compete  with  the  blast  furnace 
using  coke,  and  Stassano's  early  experi- 
ments were  received  with  great  doubt  of 
their  ever  amounting  to  any  degree  of 
commercial  success.  They  served,  how- 
ever, to  attract  the  attention  of  capitalists 
and  steel  men  to  the  electric  process  and 
acted  as  a  great  stimulant  to  other  in- 
ventors. 

In  1903  the  Canadian  Government  ap- 
pointed a  commission  under  Dr.  Eugene 
E.  R.  Haanel,  Director  of  Mines  at  Ot- 
tawa, to  go  to  Europe  and  make  a  report 
on  the  electric  processes  then  in  operation 


for  smelting  iron  ores  and  making  steel. 
The  Heroult,  Keller  and  Kjellin  furnaces 
were  examined  in  commercial  operation 
and  the  production  of  pig-iron  from  the 
ore  was  also  witnessed.  On  the  return  of 
the  commission  a  most  comprehensive  re- 
port was  published  and  Dr.  Haanel  was 
able  to  obtain  from  the  government  a  fur- 
ther grant  with  which  to  carry  out  in  col- 
laboration with  Paul  Heroult  a  series  of 
experiments  early  in  1906  at  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  in  the  electric  smelting  of  Canadian 
iron  ores.  Following  the  success  of  these 
experiments  plants  for  the  commercial 
production  of  pig-iron  in  the  electric  fur- 
nace were  built  at  Heroult-on-the-Pitt, 
Cal.,  and  at  Welland,  Ont.,  Canada.  The 
furnace  in  California  was  started  on  July 
4,  1907,  but  it  was  not  satisfactory  in  op- 
eration and  two  years  were  spent  in  ex- 
perimental work  before  Prof.  D.  A.  Lyon 
developed  a  successful  one.  The  Welland 
plant  was  later  utilized  for  the  production 
of  iron  alloys.  The  progressive  action  of 
the  Canadian  Government  and  the  excel- 
lent work  done  by  Dr.  Haanel  and  his 
commission  were  of  great  value  in  the 
development  and  growth  of  the  electric 
process  in  steel  manufacture. 

Owing  to  the  abundance  of  cheap  water- 
power  for  the  generation  of  electric  cur- 
rent, Sweden  and  Norway  are  particularly 
well  adapted  to  the  exploitation  of  electric 
smelting  processes.  In  1907  a  number  of 
experiments  were  undertaken  in  Sweden 
by  Growall,  Lindblad  and  Stalhane.  The 
following  year  they  built  their  first  furnace 
at  Domnarfvet.  It  had  a  capacity  of  700 
horse-power.  In  1910  a  furnace  with  a 
capacity  of  2,500  horse-power,  which  is 
still  in  commercial  operation,  was  erected 
at  Trollhattan.  Many  furnaces  of  still 
larger  capacity  have  since  been  built  and 
industrial  processes  for  the  electrothermic 
production  of  iron  in  Sweden  and  Norway 
are  firmly  established. 

Since  1902  the  production  of  steel  from 
pig-iron  and  scrap  steel  has  been  a  com- 
mercial success.  It  was  found,  however, 
that  the  Heroult  type  of  furnace  was  better 
adapted  for  finishing  steel  which  had  been 
made  in  an  open  hearth  furnace  or  a  Bes- 
semer converter  and  then  removed  in  the 
molten  state  to  the  electric  furnace.  Since 
1908  a  Heroult  furnace  of  fifteen  tons 


508 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


capacity  has  been  successfully  used  for  this 
purpose  at  South  Chicago.  The  Kjellin 
furnace,  which  is  of  the  induction  type, 
was  found  to  be  well  adapted  to  melt- 
ing steel  but  could  not  be  used  for 
refining  it.  Rodenhauser,  in  1907,  de- 
veloped a  type  of  furnace  which  combined 
both  induction  and  resistance  heating  which 
obviated  this  trouble  and  which  has  been 
the  means  of  greatly  extending  the  use- 
fulness of  the  induction  type  of  furnace  for 
steel  work. 

Some  progress  has  been  made  in  the 
efforts  to  produce  steel  directly  from 
iron  ore  in  the  electric  furnace,  as  at- 
tempted by  Stessano  in  1 898.  J.  W.  Evans 
and  Dr.  Alfred  Stansfield,  among  others, 
have  made  numerous  experiments  which 
led  to  results  that  may  prove  successful  in 
the  future.  Only  limited  success  has  been 
had  in  attempts  to  smelt  zinc  ores  elec- 
trically. Cowles  made  a  number  of  ex- 
periments in  1885  and  deLaval- patented 
a  furnace  for  this  purpose  in  1902.  In 
Sweden  a  modified  form  of  de  Laval  fur- 
nace is  in  operation,  but  the  results  are 
reported  to  be  unsatisfactory.  W.  McA. 
Johnson,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  has  devoted 
many  years  to  investigation  of  the  prob- 
lem and  is  understood  to  have  made  great 
progress  toward  solving  it.  The  electric 
furnace  also  has  been  found  satisfactory 
for  certain  operations  in  the  metallurgy  of 
copper  and  of  nickel.  It  is  not,  however, 
adapted  to  the  smelting  of  the  arsenical 
silver  ores  of  cobalt. 

As  noted  in  the  early  part  of  this  ac- 
count, the  development  of  the  commercial 
uses  of  the  electric  furnace  has  been  won- 
derfully rapid  in  the  past  few  years.  Cen- 
tral electric  stations  have  found  that  the 
electric  furnace  provides  an  ideal  load, 
because  the  flexibility  of  its  demand  for 
current  can  be  advantageously  utilized  to 
smooth  out  the  load  curve  for  the  full 
twenty-four  hour  period.  The  latest  re- 
ports available  indicate  that  the  annual 
demand  from  fifty-one  steel  mills  in  the 
United  States  for  current  to  operate  elec- 
tric furnaces  is  about  300,000,000  kilowatt 
hours.  At  an  estimated  cost  of  one  cent 
per  kilowatt  hour  for  this  kind  of  service, 
an  annual  revenue  of  $3,000,000  is  ap- 
parent. ,  There  also  has  grown  up  a  tre- 
mendous demand  for  "electric  steel"  be- 


cause it  has  greater  tensile  strength,  is 
more  homogeneous,  has  higher  elasticity 
and  possesses  greater  ability  to  withstand 
shocks  than  flame  steel.  The  abnormal 
situation  in  the  steel  industry,  largely  owing 
to  the  world  war,  also  indicates  the  rapid 
expansion  and  growth  of  the  electric  pro- 
cess for  its  manufacture.  It  is  but  natural 
that  the  steel  mills  should  look  to  the  cen- 
tral stations  for  their  current  supply,  owing 
to  the  great  cost  of  installing  isolated  elec- 
tric plants  to  furnish  current  for  the  elec- 
tric furnace.  In  modern  foundry  opera- 
tion it  is  considered  good  practice  to  melt 
and  pour  at  night.  Thus  the  consumer 
may  take  advantage  of  the  lowest  central 
station  rate  for  current  and  at  the  same 
time  provide  for  the  latter  a  heavy  load  at 
the  time  when  it  is  most  needed  to  balance 
the  load  curve.  The  mutual  advantages 
thus  obtainable  should  go  far  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  electric  steel  industry. 

One  of  the  principal  advantages  of  the 
electric  furnace  is  its  unusually  high  effi- 
ciency in  comparison  with  the  older  meth- 
ods of  steel  production.  The  crucible  steel 
furnace  fired  with  coke  has  a  net  efficiency 
of  from  two  to  three  per  cent;  the  reverber- 
atory  furnace  for  melting  metals,  ten  to 
fifteen  per  cent;  regenerative  open  hearth 
steel  furnace,  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent; 
the  shaft  furnace,  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent; 
and  the  large  electric  furnace,  sixty  to 
eighty-five  per  cent.  It  also  has  been  dem- 
onstrated by  careful  tests  that  for  one  heat 
equivalent  of  power  supplied  to  an  electric 
furnace,  thirty  heat  equivalents  of  fuel 
would  have  to  be  supplied  to  a  crucible 
steel  furnace  to  melt  the  same  amount  of 
metal.  The  three  principal  characteris- 
tics which  demonstrate  the  superiority  of 
the  electric  furnace  over  other  types  have 
been  described  as  follows : 

First:  The  temperature  obtainable  is 
limited  only  by  the  ability  of  the  refrac- 
tories to  withstand  it. 

Second:  It  can  be  operated  in  either  an 
oxidizing,  neutral  or  reducing  atmosphere 
or  even  in  a  vacuum. 

Third:  The  heat  generated  not  being 
the  product  of  combustion  is  transformed 
from  electrical  energy  at  one  hundred  per 
cent  efficiency. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  large 
majority  of  the  products  of  the  electric 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


509 


furnace  are  based  upon  chemical  reactions, 
the  advantages  of  the  three  characteristics 
noted  above  are  readily  recognized.  The 
yield  of  products  from  the  electric  furnace 
for  a  given  time  is  increased  because,  on 
account  of  the  great  heat  developed,  reac- 
tions take  less  time  and  are  more  thor- 
ough. The  intense  heat  secured  in  the 
electric  furnace  makes  possible  reactions 
which  formerly  could  not  be  obtained. 
This  also  enables  such  metals  as  mangan- 
ese, chromium,  tungsten,  titanium  and  sili- 
con to  be  smelted. 

A  most  important  advantage  in  the 
making  of  steel  and  its  alloys  is  gained 
through  the  use  of  the  electric  furnace  be- 
cause its  heat  can  be  utilized  in  any  atmos- 
phere or  in  the  presence  of  various  gases. 
Thus  use  may  be  made  of  their  action  on 
other  substances  or  their  mutual  reaction 
together.  The  heat  of  the  electric  fur- 
nace also  is  "clean  heat";  that  is,  heat  un- 
contaminated  by  the  products  of  combus- 
tion and  obviating,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
necessity  for  using  deoxidizing  agents  in 
certain  processes  of  steel  making.  The 
heat  also  can  be  concentrated  at  the  desired 
point,  which  results  in  the  fact  that  the 
fusing  material  in  the  charge  of  the  fur- 
nace is  at  a  higher  temperature  than  the 
crucible  itself  with  a  consequent  smaller 
loss  in  conduction  and  radiation. 

Referring  to  the  use  of  the  modern 
electric  furnace  in  steel  making,  a  recent 
issue  of  The  Electric  Journal  says : 

"There  are  two  periods  in  the  making 
of  steel.  The  first  is  the  melting  down 
period  of  the  charge  at  which  time  heat 
can  be  applied  in  large  amount  because 
the  scrap  has  large  capacity  for  absorbing 
heat  and  the  furnace  refractories  will  not 
suffer.  The  second  period  is  that  of  real 
steel-making  when  purification  and  deoxi- 
dization  takes  place,  the  molten  bath  being 
refined  according  to  the  quality  of  product 
desired.  It  is  during  this  latter  period 
that  the  chemical  reactions  take  place  and 
the  advantages  of  the  electric  furnace  be- 
come most  apparent.  At  this  point  it  is 
essential  that  no  element  foreign  to  the 
reactions  shall  enter  and  that  both  the 
degree  of  temperature  and  the  length  of 
time  it  is  applied  be  under  positive  con- 
trol. 

"To  meet  the  requirement  of  the  first 
period  an  immense  amount  of  heat  can  be 


applied  by  burying  the  arc  in  the  charge, 
while  during  the  second  period,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  heat  is  not  the  product  of 
combustion  and  contains  no  elements  which 
might  be  harmful  to  the  reactions,  also  that 
it  is  under  almost  perfect  control  as  to  both 
time  and  temperature,  demonstrates  that 
the  requirements  of  the  two  periods  of 
steel-making  are  better  and  more  thor- 
oughly fulfilled  by  heat  electrically  gener- 
ated than  by  any  method  of  combustion. 

"It  must  be  recognized,  however,  that 
the  furnace  is  merely  a  tool  which  must 
be  properly  used  in  order  to  secure  the 
desired  product.  The  mere  fact  that  steel 
is  made  in  an  electric  furnace  does  not 
mean  that  it  will  possess  the  superior 
qualities  which  are  already  synonymous 
with  'electric  steel.'  Like  all  pieces  of 
apparatus  it  must  be  skilfully  handled  to 
obtain  the  best  results. 

"All  steel  is  an  alloy  of  iron  and  carbon 
and  contains  besides  these  elements  those 
of  oxygen,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  mangan- 
ese and  silicon,  in  more  or  less  quantities, 
depending  on  the  quality  of  the  scrap  used 
in  the  charge.  When  the  charge  melts  the 
silicon  and  manganese  combine  with  the 
oxygen,  sulphur  and  phosphorus  forming 
compounds  and  these  in  turn  form  a  slag. 
This  slag  may  be  either  too  thin  or  too 
thick  so  that  it  is  necessary  to  add  fluxes  to 
bring  it  up  to  the  proper  consistency. 

"Of  these  elements  sulphur  and  oxygen 
are  injurious  and  always  removed.  This 
is  accomplished  as  well  as  removal  of 
phosphorus  and  further  separating  of  the 
impurities,  as  is  done  in  smelting  and  re- 
fining, by  the  basic  process,  the  different 
quality  of  the  steel  depending  upon  the 
extent  of  the  refining  and  alloys  used." 

The  superiority  of  steel  produced  elec- 
trically over  that  made  under  the  old  flame 
process  has  been  demonstrated  by  com- 
petent authorities.  The  advantages  of 
electric  steel  are  briefed  as  follows  by 
Wm.  G.  Kranz : 

1.  Absence  of  segregation,  elimination 
of  oxides,  and  absolute  uniformity  of  com- 
position, regardless  of  atmospheric  condi- 
tions which  affect  open  hearth  furnaces. 

2.  Almost  entire  elimination  of  sulphur 
is  possible   (an  important  consideration  in 
steel  castings)  and  complete  control  of  the 
other  elements. 


510 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


3.  Great  tenacity,  giving  ability  to  with- 
stand much  more  abuse  and  fatigue  with- 
out rupture. 

4.  High  ratio  of  elastic  limit  to  ulti- 
mate strength. 

5.  A  more  ready  response  to  heat  treat- 
ment and  with  much  more  uniform  results. 

6.  Perfect  control  of  pouring  tempera- 
ture combined  with  ability  to  obtain  very 
hot  metal,  so  that  light  and  intricate  shapes 
are  readily  cast. 

Wm.  R.  Walker  sums  up  his  opinion  of 
the  superiority  of  the  electric  process  for 
steel  making  as  follows : 

1.  The  more  complete  removal  of  oxy- 
gen. 

2.  The  absence  of  oxides  caused  by  the 
additions,  such  as  silicon,  manganese,  etc. 

3.  The  production  of  electric  steel  in- 
gots  of  eight  tons   in  weight  or  smaller 
that  are  practically  free  from  segregation. 

4.  Reduction   of  sulphur   to,. 005    per 
cent,  if  desired. 

5.  Reduction   of   phosphorus    to    .005 
per  cent,  as  in  the  basic  open-hearth  pro- 
cess,  but  with   the   complete   removal   of 
oxygen. 

The  electric  furnace  already  is  employed 
in  the  refining  of  gold  and  at  the  Philadel- 
phia Mint  a  Rennerfelt  furnace  has  been 
installed  for  the  melting  of  nickel  and 
copper  used  for  coinage.  In  addition  to 
their  four  existing  plants,  the  Aluminum 
Company  is  completing  a  new  plant  at 
Badin,  N.  C,  which  will  have  an  ultimate 
minimum  capacity  of  100,000  horse-power. 
The  Yadkin  River  will  afford  a  supply  of 
electric  energy.  In  the  brass  industry 
there  seems  to  be  a  constantly  increasing 
demand  for  the  electric  furnace.  Under  a 
patent  granted  to  James  R.  Wyatt,  in 
1916,  a  furnace  has  been  designed  which 
will  melt  nine  pounds  of  yellow  brass  per 
kilowatt-hour  of  electrical  energy.  The 
linings  of  the  furnace,  which  are  reported 
to  cost  $25  to  install,  are  said  be  good  for 
melting  100,000  pounds  before  replace- 
ment is  necessary.  This  furnace  is  of  the 
induction  type  and  is  designed  for  twenty- 
four  hour  service.  It  has  been  developed 
up  to  a  30  kilowatt  size,  but  larger  sizes 
are  in  process  of  manufacture.  Other  fur- 
naces, of  the  Snyder,  Rennerfelt  and  Foley 
types,  are  in  daily  use  in  making  railroad 
brass  castings  and  brass  and  copper  alloys. 


Another  furnace,  not  of  the  inductive  type, 
has  been  in  successful  trial  operation  for 
several  months.  Preliminary  reports  state 
that  it  requires  250  to  300  kilowatt-hours 
per  ton  and  that  it  produces  brass  having 
a  tensile  strength  six  or  seven  per  cent 
greater  than  that  of  the  metal  made  in  the 
old  way.  One  of  the  principal  advantages 
claimed  for  "electric  brass"  is  that  the 
shrinkage  loss  is  greatly  reduced. 

The  proposal  recently  made  that  gov- 
ernmental authority  should  be  invoked  to 
create  a  great  "national  scrap  pile"  for 
the  conservation  of  what  heretofore  has 
been  waste  material  would  afford  a  won- 
derful opportunity  for  the  electric  fur- 
nace. It  is  the  opinion  of  those  best  in- 
formed on  the  subject  of  electric  furnace 
work  that  its  greatest  development  may  be 
expected  in  the  transformation  into  high 
quality  steel  of  the  tremendous  and  ever- 
growing scrap  piles  of  the  nation. 

In  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  electric 
furnace  supplies  the  only  known  means 
for  the  commercial  production  of  alumi- 
num, calcium  carbide,  carborundum  and 
artificial  graphite,  its  importance  in  the 
all-important  steel  industry  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. For  the  latter  purpose  its  ad- 
vantages have  been  summarized  as  fol- 
lows : 

1.  The  utilization  of  higher  tempera- 
tures than  heretofore  have  been  possible. 

2.  The  utilization  of  any  atmosphere, 
oxidizing,    neutral,    reducing    or    even    a 
vacuum. 

3.  Reactions  are  quicker  and  more  com- 
plete due  to  the  high  temperature,  making 
it  possible  to  use  lower  grade  scrap. 

4.  Reactions  heretofore  impossible  can 
now  be  obtained  due  to  the  higher  tem- 
perature. 

5.  Quicker  heats   and  more   of  them, 
resulting   in   a   greater   production   for   a 
given  time. 

6.  Saving  in   space   required   with  the 
consequent  saving  in  building,   overhead, 
real  estate  and  taxes. 

7.  Greater  thermal  efficiency,  the  gen- 
eration of  heat  being  at  100  per  cent  effi- 
ciency. 

8.  More  positive  and  accurate  control 
both  of  time  and  temperature. 

9.  The  utilization  of  "clean  heat"  and 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


511 


its  concentration  upon  the  material  to  be 
fused. 

10.  Greater  flexibility  of  operation. 

1 1.  The  production  of  better  steel. 

Of  fully  as  great  economic  importance 
as  the  processes  made  possible  by  the  elec- 
tric furnace  are  the  industrial  uses  of  elec- 
tric heating  in  various  manufacturing  lines. 
While  it  is  not  true  that  all  of  these  can 
be  performed  by  electric  heat  cheaper  and 
better  than  by  the  heat  of  combustion,  yet 
the  wide  variety  of  applications  and  the 
tremendous  field  open  to  it  create  for  elec- 
tric heating  wonderful  opportunities  which 
are  increasing  in  number  every  day.  In 
response  to  this  demand  a  considerable 
number  of  electric  heaters  have  been  de- 
signed and  manufactured  to  meet  the  spe- 
cific requirements  of  certain  industries.  In 
a  general  way  these  may  be  classified  as  air 
or  space  heaters  in  which  the  heating  takes 
place  by  radiation  from  metal  resistors 
and  by  convection;  metal  heaters  in  which 
the  material  being  treated  acts  as  the  re- 
sistor and  the  heating  takes  place  by  con- 
duction; embedded  resistance  heaters  in 
which  the  heating  takes  place  by  convec- 
tion, conduction  and  radiation;  and  carbon 
resistance  type  furnaces  in  which  the  metal 
resistors  are  replaced  by  carbon  after  the 
required  temperature  passes  1,800  degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

One  manufacturer  of  air  or  space  heat- 
ers has  standardized  over  sixty  different 
ratings  from  1.3  kilowatts  to  12.3  kilo- 
watts and  from  no  volts  to  480  volts. 
Any  number  of  different  combinations  can 
be  formed  from  this  line  of  standard  units 
which  can  be  arranged  to  provide  heat  in 
any  required  quantity  and  at  temperatures 
ranging  from  a  few  degrees  up  to  1,250 
degrees  Fahrenheit.  By  means  of  this 
standardization,  therefore,  a  large  number 
of  industries  may  be  supplied  with  electric 
heaters  which  readily  can  be  adapted  to 
the  peculiar  demands  or  individual  manu- 
facturing requirements  of  a  large  number 
of  customers. 

The  metal  heaters  are  really  a  process 
of  heating  rather  than  a  heating  device. 
The  heating  effect  produced  by  a  large 
volume  of  current  at  a  very  low  voltage 
passing  through  the  material  itself  is  ob- 
tained by  localizing  the  current  within  a 
comparatively  small  definite  area.  This  is 
the  principle  of  the  electric  welder  and  the 


process  is  used  in  arc,  butt,  spot  and  lap 
welding,  brazing  and  upsetting.  Electric 
welding  apparatus  is  made  by  a  number 
of  manufacturers  and  is  so  designed  as  to 
not  only  convey  the  large  volume  of  current 
required,  but  also  to  apply  the  pressure 
necessary  to  complete  the  weld.  In  arc 
welding  processes  carbon  or  metal  elec- 
trodes with  suitable  holders  are  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  apparatus. 

The  embedded  resistance  heaters  com- 
prise the  greatest  number  of  electric  heat- 
ers in  use  at  the  present  time.  They  are 
easily  applied  to  a  wide  variety  of  uses  and 
are  made  in  many  sizes,  shapes  and  heat- 
ing characteristics.  The  heating  element, 
which  takes  the  form  of  a  metallic  wire, 
ribbon  or  grid,  is  embedded  in  enamel  or 
is  thoroughly  insulated  with  mica  or  mica- 
nite  and  covered  with  a  metal  casing.  As- 
bestos, magnesia,  magnesite,  soapstone  and 
porcelain  also  are  used  as  insulating  mate- 
rials. The  units  of  this  type  are  tempo- 
rarily clamped  or  permanently  fused  to  the 
surface  to  be  heated  or  are  immersed  in 
the  solid  or  liquid  under  treatment.  This 
is  the  type  of  heating  unit  so  widely  used 
nowadays  in  electric  cooking  devices  and 
electric  ranges.  They  also  have  a  consid- 
erable application  in  air  or  space  heating, 
as  they  easily  can  be  inserted  and  removed 
from  a  confined  space  in  which  it  is  desired 
to  generate  heat. 

The  carbon  resistance  type  furnace  al- 
ready has  been  described  in  the  early  part 
of  this  chapter.  For  purposes  of  economy 
in  current  cost,  these  furnaces  usually  are 
designed  for  a  low  demand  and  long  hour 
use  in  view  of  the  fact  that  electrical  en- 
ergy is  sold  on  the  maximum  demand  as 
well  as  energy  consumption  basis. 

No  scale  is  formed  when  the  electrical 
process  is  used  for  the  heat  treatment  of 
steel,  nor  is  the  metal  overtreated  so  as 
to  be  a  loss.  Devices  of  great  ingenuity 
have  been  developed  for  the  control  of  the 
heat  which  can  be  regulated  to  a  nicety. 
The  use  of  electric  heat  in  the  annealing 
furnace  increases  greatly  the  percentage  of 
metal  recovered.  Apparatus  for  heating 
liquids,  melting  metal  and  general  hot- 
plate work  is  provided  with  electric  heating 
units  of  such  form  and  heat  generating 
qualities  as  to  work  at  the  highest  efficiency 
and  produce  results  in  the  minimum  time. 
By  the  proper  control  of  temperature, 


512 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


drying  and  baking  processes  can  be  regu- 
lated to  the  fraction  of  a  degree  and  the 
conversion  of  moisture  into  steam  can  be 
avoided  by  drying  at  less  than  212  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  In  rivetting  and  upsetting  low 
voltage  current  is  passed  through  a  couple 
of  inches  of  the  blank,  raising  the  tempera- 
ture so  that  the  head  may  be  formed  while 
the  remainder  is  cool  enough  to  be  held  in 
the  hand.  In  electric  welding  heat  of  the 
desired  temperature  can  be  concentrated 
at  the  exact  point  required  and  for  any 
time  necessary  and  no  longer.  A  recent 
writer  on  electric  heating  has  summed  up 
its  advantages  as  follows  : 

Saves  time,  labor  and  space  with  pro- 
portionate savings  in  overhead  charges, 
real  estate  and  taxes. 

Can  be  utilized  in  any  atmosphere,  re- 
sulting in  greatly  improved  conditions  of 
labor. 

Its  cleanliness,  safety  and  sanitary  at- 
tributes cause  a  reduction  in  the  fire  hazard 


and  the  chance  of  loss  of  material,  product 
and  perhaps  life  itself. 

Electric  heat  is  produced  without  loss 
and  is  utilized  at  from  three  and  one-half 
to  four  times  the  efficiency  of  fuel  com- 
bustion devices. 

Electric  heat  can  be  automatically  con- 
trolled to  a  degree  impossible  with  any 
other  method  of  generating  heat. 

The  requirements  of  the  industrial  heat- 
ing field  can  be  met  absolutely  as  to  tem- 
perature and  quantity. 

Electric  heat  can  be  concentrated  at  any 
desired  point  and  confined  to  a  definite 
area. 

It  possesses  flexibility  to  the  highest 
degree  and  can  be  applied  to  a  wider  va- 
riety of  uses  than  can  any  other  form  of 
heat. 

When  electric  heat  is  used  a  greater 
product  may  be  obtained  in  a  given  time 
and  its  quality  will  be  higher. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  STORY  OF  THE  X  RAY 


IN  December,  1895,  William  Conrad 
Rontgen,  professor  of  physics  at  the 
Royal  University  of  Wurzburg,  Ger- 
many, published  a  communication  in  which 
he  announced  that  he  had  discovered  a  new 
kind  of  radiation  which  he  modestly  called 
"X-rays"  but  which  since  generally  have 
been  called  Rontgen  rays.  He  followed 
this  with  a  second  communication,  under 
date  of  March  9,  1895,  in  which  he  gave 
further  details  of  his  observations  on  the 
new  form  of  radiation,  and  a  third  com- 
munication, dated  March  10,  1897,  chron- 
icled his  experiments  up  to  that  time  with 
the  rays  and  the  apparatus  for  their 
production. 

The  discoverer  of  the  form  of  radiation 
which  afterward  was  to  prove  of  such 
great  value  in  medical  diagnosis,  was 
born  on  March  27,  1845,  m  Lennep, 
Rhine  Province,  Germany.  He  received 
his  doctor's  degree  at  Zurich  in  1868  and 
then  became  an  assistant  to  Professor 
Kundt,  at  Wurzburg.  After  several  years 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  physics  at 
Giessen  and  later  was  transferred  to  a 
similar  position  at  Wurzburg.  Here  he 
engaged  in  much  important  research  work, 
most  of  which  bore  upon  the  connection 
between  electricity  and  ordinary  matter. 
Since  his  latest  communication  on  the  X 
ray  in  1897  little  popular  mention  has 
been  made  of  his  work  on  this  side  of  the 
ocean. 

The  peculiar  properties  of  the  X  rays 
have  been  the  subject  of  much  speculation 
and  many  hypotheses  have  been  advanced 


513 


by  scientific  men  who  have  studied  them. 
In  his  earliest  paper  Rontgen  inclined  to 
the  belief  that  they  were  waves  due  to  the 
longitudinal  vibrations  in  the  ether. 
Afterwards  he  stated  his  conviction  that 
they  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  iden- 
tical with  light  waves  —  the  transverse 
waves  in  the  ether.  Sir  George  Gabriel 
Stokes  and  Professor  J.  J.  Thomson,  in 
England,  and  Professor  Lehmann,  at 
Karlsruhe,  Germany,  almost  simultane- 
ously advanced  the  idea  that  the  rays  were 
due  to  pulses  in  the  ether.  This  theory,  in 
brief,  is  that  the  cathode  rays  are  nega- 
tively charged  and  travel  with  very  high 
velocity,  thus  causing  disturbances  in  the 
ether  when  their  motion  is  stopped  by  im- 
pact with  a  solid  obstacle.  The  present 
theory  is  that  the  X  ray  differs  from  ordi- 
nary light  in  its  wave  length. 

It  is  probable  that  the  first  X  rays  were 
produced  by  Professor  Crookes,  in  Eng- 
land, in  1875,  during  his  famous  experi- 
ments with  electrical  discharges  through 
vacuum  tubes.  He  did  not,  however, 
detect  the  X  ray  as  such,  and  it  remained 
undiscovered  for  twenty  years.  Herbert 
C.  Jackson,  in  England,  and  Professor 
Lenard,  in  France,  came  very  close  to  the 
great  discovery  in  1893  and  1894.  Ex- 
periments with  electrical  discharges  in 
rarefied  air  and  gases  were  undertaken  in 
the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
and  in  1858  Geissler,  in  Germany,  made 
his  first  vacuum  tubes.  The  electrical  dis- 
charge through  these  tubes,  which  were 
of  comparatively  low  vacuum,  produced  a 


514 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


soft  glow,  often  striated  and  greatly  vary- 
ing in  form  and  color  with  the  degree  of 
exhaustion  and  the  gas  contained  in  the 
tube.  About  1860,  Professor  Hittorf 
found  that  the  luminous  discharge  in  a 
Geissler  tube  could  be  deflected  by  a  mag- 
net. This  discovery  bore  important  re- 
sults in  the  later  experiments  of  Crookes, 
Hertz,  Lenard  and  Rontgen.  Several 
years  after  the  experiments  of  Geissler 
and  Hittorf,  Crookes  discovered  new  phe- 
nomena while  working  with  tubes  of  con- 
siderably higher  vacuum.  He  found  that 
when  the  vacuum  in  the  tube  was  suffi- 
ciently high  the  luminous  glow  within  the 
tube  disappeared.  He  also  showed  that 
there  was  a  radiation  from  the  cathode 
which  was  a  projection  of  particles  of 
highly  attenuated  gas  at  exceedingly  high 
velocity.  He  gave  this  radiation  the  name 
"cathode  rays."  Because  of  the  peculiar 
behavior  of  gas  in  this  highly  rarefied 
state,  he  conceived  it  to  be  as  different 
from  gas  in  its  properties  as  ordinary  gas 
or  air  differs  from  a  liquid. 

His  observations  on  this  highly  attenu- 
ated condition  led  Crookes  to  speak  of  it 
as  the  "fourth  or  radiant  state  of  matter." 
He  also  discovered  that  metallic  plates 
within  the  vacuum  tube  intercepted  the 
cathode  rays  and  that  the  impact  of  the 
rays  against  the  glass  walls  of  the  tube 
produced  within  it  a  greenish  phosphores- 
cence and  fluorescence  accompanied  by  an 
increase  in  temperature.  By  concentrating 
the  rays  at  the  focus  of  a  concave  cathode 
he  was  able  to  produce  brilliant  fluor- 
escence and  an  extremely  high  temperature 
at  the  walls  of  the  tube  and  in  various  sub- 
stances within  it.  He  also  noted  that 
cathode  rays  were  deflected  by  a  magnet. 

Hertz  announced  in  1892  that  cathode 
rays  would  penetrate  gold  leaf  and  other 
thin  sheets  of  metal  when  placed  within 
the  tube.  At  his  death,  which  occurred 
shortly  after  this  announcement,  his  work 
was  carried  on  by  his  assistant,  Lenard, 
who  discovered  that  many  of  cathode  ray 
phenomena  could  be  observed  outside  of 
the  Crookes  tube.  He  conducted  a  series 
of  experiments  with  a  vacuum  tube  closed 
at  the  end  opposite  the  cathode  with  a  thin 
sheet  of  aluminum  and  noted  that  the  radi- 
ation which  proceeded  through  or  from 


this  aluminum  wall  of  the  tube  would  pass 
through  many  substances  opaque  to  ordi- 
nary light.  After  passing  through  such 
substances  this  radiation  would  excite 
fluorescence  in  the  crystals  of  many  salts 
and  would  affect  photographic  plates  in 
very  much  the  same  manner  as  does  ordi- 
nary light.  It  was  Lenard's  opinion  that 
these  phenomena  were  caused  by  the 
cathode  rays  alone.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  not  only  Lenard  but  Crookes, 
Hertz  and  other  experimenters  produced 
X  rays,  but  they  did  not  recognize  them, 
and  it  remained  for  another  to  bring  into 
practical  application  the  results  of  many 
years  of  patient  scientific  research. 

In  the  early  days  of  November,  1895, 
William  Conrad  Rontgen,  professor  of 
physics  at  the  Royal  University  of  Wiirz- 
burg,  happened  to  notice  that  a  piece  of 
paper  coated  with  barium  platino-cyanid 
fluoresced  brilliantly  while  in  the  vicinity 
of  a  Crookes  tube,  although  the  tube  was 
covered  with  a  piece  of  pasteboard  which 
intercepted  all  ordinary  light.  The  barium 
platino-cyanid  was  at  hand  because  similar 
materials  had  been  used  by  Rontgen  inside 
vacuum  tubes  to  show  the  fluorescent  ac- 
tion of  the  cathode  rays.  Subsequent  in- 
vestigation and  experiment  showed  that 
the  fluorescence  was  caused  by  radiations 
which  emanated  from  the  point  of  impact 
of  the  cathode  ray  against  the  glass  wall 
of  the  vacuum  tube.  This  radiation  evi- 
dently did  not  produce  the  sensation  of 
light.  Also  it  was  apparent  that  it  passed 
through  cardboard  which  is  opaque  to 
ordinary  light.  At  the  same  time  Ront- 
gen observed  that  all  substances  were 
transparent  to  this  radiation  in  widely 
varying  degrees  depending  upon  the 
density  of  the  material.  He  found 
that  the  propagation  of  the  radia- 
tion was  in  straight  lines,  that  it  could 
not  be  reflected  or  refracted  to  any  ap- 
preciable extent  and  that  it  was  not  de- 
flected by  a  magnet.  More  recent  experi- 
ments have  enabled  the  X  rays  to  be  sep- 
arated into  a  spectrum  somewhat  as  Row- 
land, at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  sep- 
arated ordinary  light  by  diffraction  grat- 
ings. This  is  accomplished,  in  the  case  of 
the  X  rays,  by  using  the  crystals  of  rock 
salt,  or  other  similar  materials,  in  which 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


515 


the  regular  placing  of  the  molecules  acts 
virtually  as  a  diffraction  grating.  It  was 
plain  to  Rontgen,  therefore,  that  the  radi- 
ation he  had  noted  was  not  the  same  as 
the  cathode  rays  of  Crookes,  Hertz  and 
Lenard.  Using  both  the  fluorescent 
screen  and  photographic  plates  Rontgen 
continued  his  experiments.  At  this  time 
his  work  was  mostly  of  a  purely  scientific 
character.  He  was  endeavoring  to  deter- 
mine, if  possible,  the  exact  nature  of  the 
new  radiation  which  he  called  X  rays, 
doubtless  because  of  the  use  of  the  letter 
X  in  mathematics  to  denote  an  unknown 
quantity. 

With  photographic  plates  wrapped  in 
black  paper  to  protect  them  from  ordinary 
light,  he  secured  with  the  X  rays  shadow 
pictures  of  metallic  objects  in  a  wooden 
box  and  of  the  bones  in  the  human  hand. 
He  noted  the  great  possibilities  of  the  X 
rays  in  surgery.  In  December,  1895,  he 
communicated  his  discovery  to  the  Phys- 
ico-Medical  Society  of  Wiirzburg,  as  al- 
ready mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter.  The  substance  of  this  communi- 
cation was  telegraphed  to  all  parts  of  the 
civilized  world  and  hundreds  of  investiga- 
tors repeated  Rontgen's  experiments  and 
the  work  of  practical  development  of  his 
discovery  was  under  way  immediately.  At 
once  the  use  of  the  X  rays  in  the  diag- 
nosis of  fractures  and  the  location  of  for- 
eign substances  in  the  human  body  became 
general.  Among  the  very  earliest  experi- 
ments were  those  made  to  determine  the 
effect  of  the  X  rays  upon  pathogenic 
micro-organisms  in  culture  tubes.  No 
positive  results  were  obtained  from  these 
experiments,  but  shortly  afterward  a  num- 
ber of  investigators  observed  valuable 
therapeutic  effects  when  the  rays  were  di- 
rected upon  living  tissues  affected  with 
tubercular  or  malignant  disease. 

We  do  not  know  exactly  what  the  X 
ray  is,  nor  do  we  know  just  wThat  gravita- 
tion and  many  other  physical  phenomena 
are;  but  for  the  purposes  of  the  physician 
and  the  surgeon  it  is  a  wonderful  thing  to 
be  able  to  produce  and  control  the  X  rays 
so  that  they  may  do  their  very  important 
work. 

As  a  summing  up  of  what  we  do  know 
about  the  X  ray  it  may  be  stated  that  they 


have  their  origin  within  a  vacuum  tube  at 
the  point  of  impact  of  the  cathode  stream 
against  a  solid  body;  that  they  travel  in 
straight  lines;  that  they  cannot  be  refrac- 
ted or  reflected  to  the  same  extent  as  ordi- 
nary light  because  of  their  short  wave 
length  and  the  lack  of  proper  material 
from  which  to  form  a  prism  or  reflector 
for  waves  of  such  length;  that,  because  of 
this,  we  can  obtain  only  shadow  pictures 
by  their  use;  that  their  range  in  quality  is 
much  longer  than  the  range  of  the  whole 
visible  spectrum;  and,  finally,  that  their 
successful  use  depends  upon  the  skill  in 
those  manipulations  which  secure  for  us 
the  quality  and  intensity  of  the  ray  re- 
quired to  accomplish  the  desired  results. 
It  is  rather  an  important  fact  that  when 
X  rays  are  intercepted  new  rays  are  set 
up  at  this  point.  These  were  called  by 
Rontgen  secondary  rays.  Some  of  them 
are  scattered  rays,  such  as  are  produced 
in  a  smoke  cloud  by  a  beam  of  light,  while 
others  are  "characteristic,"  that  is,  their 
wave  length  is  determined  by  the  chemical 
elements  in  which  they  originate. 

The  pear-shaped  Crookes  tube,  in 
which  the  source  of  the  X  ray  is  spread 
over  a  comparatively  large  area,  was  used 
by  Rontgen  in  his  first  experiments.  Her- 
bert Jackson  later  made  a  suggestion 
which  has  proved  to  be  what  is  probably 
the  most  useful  single  addition  to  the  prac- 
tical side  of  X  ray  work,  namely,  that 
Crookes'  focus  tube  be  used  in  order  to  re- 
duce the  source  of  the  X  rays  to  a  com- 
paratively small  area,  thus  making  it  pos- 
sible to  produce  sharp  shadows. 

There  are  two  necessary  essentials 
requisite  for  the  production  of  X  rays. 
One  is  the  vacuum  tube  and  the  other  is 
apparatus  capable  of  delivering  electrical 
energy  at  a  potential  sufficiently  high  to 
produce  discharges  through  the  tube.  Be- 
sides these,  a  great  number  of  auxiliary 
devices  are  necessary,  such  as  tube-hold- 
ers, switchboards,  controllers  for  coils  and 
static  machines,  plate-holders,  fluoro- 
scopes,  operating  tables  and  localizers. 

The  vacuum  tube  is  a  sealed  glass  bulb, 
containing  two  or  three  electrodes  and  ex- 
hausted to  a  very  high  vacuum.  One  of 
the  electrodes  is  usually  made  of  alumi- 


516 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


num,  like  a  concave  mirror  in  shape,  and 
is  called  the  cathode  because  it  is  con- 
nected with  the  negative  terminal  of  the 
exciting  apparatus.  An  electrode  formed 
of  a  flat  disk  of  metal,  connected  with  the 
terminal  wire  extending  through  the  glass 
bulb,  is  placed  near  the  focus  of  this  neg- 
ative reflector.  This  electrode  is  com- 
monly connected  with  the  positive  wire 
from  the  exciting  apparatus  and  some- 
times is  called  the  anode.  Its  essential 
function  is  that  it  receives  the  impact  of 
the  cathode  stream  and  becomes  the 
source  of  the  X  rays.  Platinum  formerly 
was  employed  as  the  material  for  this  elec- 
trode, but  its  use  is  now  almost  obsolete. 


graphic  plate  present  to  the  eye  something 
which  is  like  that  seen  when  looking  at  the 
original  object.  The  so-called  X  ray 
photographs  are  an  entirely  new  sort  of 
projection.  They  are  easily  mistaken  for 
images,  which  they  are  not.  For  this  rea- 
son it  is  difficult  to  avoid  error  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  X  ray  plates.  They  do 
not,  in  any  respect,  correspond  with  ordi- 
nary pictures  or  photographs.  Those  who 
expect  to  examine  X  ray  plates  as  they 
would  pictures  are  certain  to  interpret 
them  incorrectly.  In  order  to  get  a  safe 
diagnosis  interpretation  it  frequently  is 
necessary  to  make  a  large  number  of  these 
shadow  plates  with  the  X  ray  at  different 


Standard    Coolidge    X-Ray   Tube 


The  latest  tubes  use  tungsten  embedded 
in  copper  or  pure  tungsten.  Tantalum 
and  other  metals  also  have  been  used. 
Targets  are  now  usually  "chunks"  of 
metal,  in  order  to  give  thermal  capacity 
and  radiating  surface.  For  exciting  X  ray 
tubes  in  practice  an  electrical  discharge  at 
a  potential  of  20,000  to  100,000  volts  or 
more  is  required. 

The  layman  should  get  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  fact  that  so-called  X  ray 
photographs  are  not  photographs  at  all, 
but  shadow  records  of  objects  of  vary- 
ing opacity  to  the  rays.  The  limita- 
tions resulting  from  this  in  the  use  of 
X  days  for  diagnosis  are  that  dis- 
eases which  no  not  produce  change  in 
the  X  ray  opacity  of  the  tissues  or  in 
the  outlines  of  hollow  organs  are  not  well 
shown.  Photographs  made  by  the  action 
of  ordinary  light  on  a  sensitized  photo- 


angles.  Correct  interpretation  of  the  re- 
sulting plates  is  a  highly  specialized  art. 
There  are  many  cases  in  which  the  X  ray 
alone  can  be  relied  upon  for  diagnosis. 
There  are  even  many  cases  in  which  the 
X  ray  furnishes  the  only  certain  means  of 
diagnosis,  but  it  is  prudent  always  to  con- 
sider it  as  one  of  many  methods  of  obtain- 
ing information.  The  results  of  X  ray 
examinations  should  always  be  used  in 
connection  with  other  information  that 
can  be  obtained.  The  X  ray  seldom  re- 
places other  means  of  diagnosis,  and  these 
other  means  should  not  be  neglected  or 
overlooked.  The  X  ray  really  gives  us  a 
new  method  of  obtaining  information  and 
should  be  considered  an  addition  to  other 
means  rather  than  a  substitute  for  them. 

The  use  of  X  rays  in  medical  diagnosis 
is  made  possible  by  the  fact  that  different 
parts  of  the  body  obstruct  the  rays  to  a 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


517 


greater  or  less  extent,  according  to  the 
chemical  composition  of  the  parts.  The 
bones,  for  example,  which  contain  calcium 
having  a  rather  high  atomic  weight  as 
compared  to  the  atomic  weight  of  carbon, 
hydrogen,  nitrogen  and  oxygen  which 
form  practically  all  of  the  soft  tissues, 
cast  a  stronger  shadow  than  the  latter. 
Metallic  objects,  such  as  bullets,  coins, 
needles  and  pins,  which  find  their  way  into 
the  human  body,  readily  are  shown  on  the 
X  ray  plate  for  the  same  reason.  Glass, 
which  is  transparent  to  ordinary  light, 
may  be  very  opaque  to  the  X  ray,  espe- 
cially if  it  is  lead  glass.  Deposits  of  cal- 
cium in  the  lungs,  kidneys,  bladder  and 
gall  bladder  also  cast  shadows  which 
easily  may  be  recognized  by  an  X  ray  ex- 
pert. Detection  of  pus  in  the  air  cells  in 
the  bones  of  the  face  and  skull  is  made 
possible  by  the  fact  that  liquids  are  much 
more  opaque  to  the  X  rays  than  air  and 
when  the  air  is  replaced  by  a  liquid,  or 
pus,  a  denser  shadow  is  produced  on  the 
X  ray  plate.  The  normal,  healthy  lung 
contains  a  large  amount  of  air  and  a  rela- 
tively small  amount  of  tissue.  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  slight  changes,  which  in 
other  parts  of  the  body  could  not  be 
shown,  are  here  detected  because  of  the 
air  being  replaced  with  a  material  which 
is  denser  than  air,  but  which  may  not  be 
denser  than  the  ordinary  soft  tissues. 
Consolidation  of  the  lungs  from  pneumo- 
nia or  tuberculosis,  as  well  as  fluid  in  the 
pleural  sac,  can  be  shown  for  this  reason. 
Fluroscopic  examination  of  the  lungs 
shows  the  movement  of  the  diaphragm 
and  also  the  change  in  density  of  the  lung 
shadows  with  inspiration  and  expiration 
and  thus  discovers  portions  of  the  lung 
which  are  not  functioning  properly. 

About  ninety  per  cent  of  the  casualties 
in  war  are  either  injuries  to  bones  or  the 
result  of  bullets  or  other  foreign  bodies 
entering  the  human  body.  The  X  ray 
played  a  very  important  part  in  the  re- 
cent world  war  in  the  diagnosis  of  the 
wounded.  It  is  used,  of  course,  for  other 
conditions  that  develop  among  soldiers 
just  as  among  civilians.  It  has  been  pro- 
posed to  make  X  ray  examinations  of  the 
lungs  of  recruits  entering  the  army  in 
order  to  eliminate  the  presence  of  foci  of 


tuberculosis  which  may  have  escaped  de- 
tection by  the  ordinary  physical  exami- 
nation. In  a  series  of  test  cases  a  small  per- 
centage ( from  three  to  eight  per  cent)  were 
cases  which  had  passed  the  ordinary  physi- 
cal examination  and  were  shown  to  have 
suspicious  lesions  in  the  lungs  on  X  ray 
examination. 

Changes  in  the  size  and  position  of  the 
heart  are  readily  disclosed  by  the  fluoro- 
scope  or  by  X  ray  plates  because  the 
heart  is  surrounded  by  the  lung,  which  is 
relatively  transparent  to  the  X  ray. 

Certain  diseases  are  accompanied  by  a 
deposit  of  calcium  in  the  arteries  which 
frequently  can  be  shown  by  X  ray  plates. 
Hollow  organs  like  the  esophagus,  stom- 
ach and  intestines  do  not  cast  enough  of 
an  X  ray  shadow  by  themselves  to  assist 
in  a  diagnosis,  but  these  organs  can  be 
filled  with  an  opaque  material  which 
makes  their  outlines  clear  and  enables 
them  to  be  studied  with  the  X  ray,  either 
on  the  photographic  plate  or  by  means  of 
the  fluorescent  screen.  It  is  possible,  for 
example,  to  show  an  obstruction  in  the 
esophagus  by  watching  the  swallowing  of 
a  glass  of  milk  mixed  with  bismuth  car- 
bonate or  barium  sulphate.  The  stomach 
shadow  frequently  will  show  filling  defects 
due  to  cancer  or  ulcer  of  the  stomach. 
The  emptying  time  of  the  stomach,  which 
has  an  important  bearing  on  the  question 
of  disease,  can  be  determined  with  accu- 
racy by  X  ray  observations  after  an 
opaque  meal.  By  palpation  with  the  fluor- 
escent screen  the  relation  of  a  tender  spot 
to  any  portion  of  the  stomach  or  intestine 
can  be  discovered.  The  emptying  time  of 
the  intestinal  tract  can  be  determined  and, 
by  palpation  under  the  fluorescent  screen, 
the  mobility  or  fixation  of  different  por- 
tions of  the  tract  can  be  shown.  Certain 
disturbances  of  the  digestive  tract  may  be 
due  to  adhesions,  or  to  kinks,  which  inter- 
fere with  the  free  passage  through  of  the 
opaque  meal.  These  may  be  located  by 
the  X  ray.  The  kidneys  are  sometimes  in- 
jected with  an  opaque  solution,  such  as 
collargol  or  thorium  nitrate,  which  causes 
the  outline  of  the  hollow  portions  to  show 
clearly.  The  kidneys  are  very  well  sup- 
plied with  blood  and  usually  are  em- 
bedded in  fat  which  has  a  comparatively 
poor  blood  supply.  For  the  reason  that 


518 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


fat  is  less  opaque  to  the  X  ray  than  the 
blood,  the  outlines  of  these  soft  organs 
are  usually  clearly  shown.  Changes  in 
their  size  or  position  may,  therefore,  be 
detected. 

The  use  of  the  X  ray  in  dentistry  has 
come  to  occupy  a  very  important  position. 
Infections  about  the  roots  of  teeth  are 
often  unsuspected  and  in  some  cases  their 
presence  can  not  be  determined  in  any 
other  way  than  by  the  use  of  X  rays. 
These  infections,  because  they  are  un- 
drained  and  the  products  are  absorbed 
into  the  system,  frequently  give  rise  to 
profound  changes  in  other  parts  of  the 
body,  notably  in  the  joints.  Abscesses 
about  the  roots  of  the  teeth  readily  are 
shown  by  the  X  ray  because  they  produce 
an  absorption  of  calcium  salts  in  the  sur- 


Cathode  of  the  Standard  Coolidge  X-Ray  Tube 

rounding  bone.  Imperfect  root  fillings, 
pieces  of  dental  drills  which  are  broken 
off  and  left  in  a  tooth,  unerupted  teeth 
which  may  cause  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
especially  when  impacted,  are  also  de- 
tected by  the  X  ray. 

In  the  X  ray  itself  there  is  no  appreci- 
able heat.  The  so-called  X  ray  burn  is 
not  really  a  burn  but  a  more  or  less  pro- 
found disturbance  of  the  life  function  of 
the  cells  which  make  up  the  tissues  which 
have  been  unduly  exposed  to  the  X  rays. 
This  disturbance  may  even  amount  to  the 
death  of  the  tissue  cells  causing  slough. 
This  condition,  to  produce  which  a  very 
long  or  intense  exposure  is  necessary,  usu- 
ally is  not  apparent  for  from  five  to  fifteen 
days  after  the  exposure  which  caused  it. 
In  ordinary  diagnosis,  the  dangers  from 
this  source  have  been  practically  elimi- 
nated. The  examinations  by  X  ray  for 
diagnosis  are  ordinarily  so  far  within  the 
limits  of  safety  that  the  danger  is  not  con- 
sidered important.  The  so-called  X  ray 
burn  is  now  exceedingly  rare,  although 
thousands  of  examinations  are  made  daily. 


It  is  now  over  twenty  years  since  the  first 
X  ray  examinations  were  made  and  it  is 
safe  to  conclude  that  no  harm  of  any  kind, 
either  immediate  or  remote,  can  result 
from  ordinary  X  ray  exposure. 

The  effect  of  over  exposure  resembles 
in  some  respects  the  effect  of  sunlight,  but 
is  of  course  deeper  on  account  of  the 
greater  penetration  of  the  X  ray. 

The  field  for  X  ray  diagnosis  has  been 
constantly  and  steadily  increasing.  No 
one  can  foretell  what  its  limits  may  be  in 
the  future.  At  present  it  has  sharp  limita- 
tions which  are  not  always  thoroughly 
understood.  Therefore,  the  X  ray  in 
medical  diagnosis  should,  when  possible, 
be  handled  by  a  physician  who  has  made  a 
specialty  of  the  subject.  Very  serious  re- 
sults have  occurred  from  the  incompetent 
use  of  the  X  rays,  both  in  the  matter  of 
burns  and  the  incorrect  interpretation  of 
the  plates.  X  ray  apparatus  should  not 
be  used  by  physicians  who  have  neither  the 
time  nor  the  opportunity  to  acquire  skill 
in  its  employment. 

The  question  of  the  therapeutic  value 
of  the  X  rays  in  the  treatment  of  certain 
diseases  is  still  a  subject  of  discussion.  It 
is  but  natural  to  assume  that  an  agent  of 
which  we  know  as  little  as  we  do  of  the 
X  ray  should  be  used  with  the  utmost  dis- 
cretion and  only  by  those  who  have  studied 
its  effects  most  thoroughly. 

The  X  ray  is  gradually  finding  a  place 
for  itself  in  the  industrial  field.  At  least 
one  manufacturing  company  maintains  a 
research  laboratory  in  which  the  X  ray  is 
used  to  detect  metallic  particles  in  mica. 
Tobacco  has  been  subjected  to  the  X  rays 
for  the  purpose  of  killing  the  eggs  of  the 
tobacco  worm  which  destroys  many  thou- 
sands of  dollars  worth  of  manufactured 
tobacco  every  year.  The  treatment  is  re- 
ported to  have  been  successful.  In  pearl 
fisheries  the  only  way  in  the  past  to  tell 
whether  a  mussel  contained  a  pearl  was  to 
open  the  shell  and  look.  This,  naturally, 
destroyed  the  mussel  and  caused  it  to  be  a 
total  loss  as  far  as  being  a  possible  pro- 
ducer of  pearls  in  the  future.  Certain 
fisheries  have  installed  X  ray  apparatus 
and  now  examine  each  mussel  with  it.  If 
the  mussel  contains  no  pearl  it  is  returned 
to  the  water,  thus  eliminating  a  source  of 
considerable  loss  and  waste. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


519 


A  genuine  diamond  is  fairly  transparent 
to  the  X  ray,  while  an  imitation  stone  al- 
ways casts  a  shadow. 

In  the  examination  of  baggage  at  cus- 
toms ports  the  X  ray  has  been  of  service  in 
detecting  false  bottoms  in  trunks  and 
chests  used  by  smugglers  and  in  revealing 
jewels  and  other  valuables  concealed  in 
undutiable  articles. 

The  manufacture  of  X  ray  apparatus 
and  supplies  forms  an  interesting  and 
gradually  increasing  subdivision  of  the 
electrical  industry.  Formerly  most  of  the 
vacuum  tubes  were  imported  from  Euro- 
pean countries,  but  the  tubes  made  in  the 
United  States  for  several  years  past  have 
been  the  best  obtainable  in  the  world. 

The  X  ray  tube  produced  a  few  years 
ago  by  Dr.  W.  D.  Coolidge,  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company's  Research  La- 
boratory, at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  has  been 
described  by  competent  authority  as  an 
epoch  making  advance.  Without  it  com- 
mercial X  ray  applications  would  be  un- 
duly expensive  and  it  is  doubtful  if  thera- 
peutic results  could  be  obtained  so  well. 

The  ordinary  X  ray  tube,  containing  a 
small  amount  of  gas,  has  a  short  life  and 
its  resistance  is  extremely  unsteady,  neces- 
sitating careful  adjustment,  which  often  is 
difficult.  With  the  Coolidge  tube  the  gas 
is  exhausted  as  nearly  completely  as  is 
possible  and  the  current  is  carried  by  ions 
liberated  from  an  incandescent  cathode. 
The  important  factors  in  determining  the 
amount  of  current  that  can  be  passed 
by  such  a  tube  are  the  area  of  the  sur- 
face heated  and  the  temperature;  in  other 
words,  the  number  of  ions  liberated. 
When  discharges  pass  through  such  a  tube 
very  little  potential  is  developed  until  all 
of  the  ions  are  saturated.  At  this  point 
the  potential  very  rapidly  rises  from  600 
volts,  or  so,  to  the  capacity  of  the  source. 
The  Coolidge  tubes  are  now  being  op- 
erated on  very  high  tension  circuits  ad- 
justed for  constant  potential  regulation. 
This  effects  a  uniform  performance  of  the 
tube  so  far  as  quality  of  rays  is  concerned. 
By  adjusting  the  current  which  heats  the 
filament  of  the  cathode,  the  number  of  mil- 
liamperes  passing  through  the  tube  also 
can  be  accurately  adjusted.  If  all  of  the 
gas  is  eluninated  from  the  tube  and  the 


passage  of  current  depends  entirely  upon 
the  thermo-ions,  the  operation  is  constant. 
This  is  not  true  of  any  gas  tube  because  of 
the  constant  changing  of  the  gas  pressure 
for  various  reasons  and  also  because  there 
is  no  saturation  point  in  the  gas  tube.  The 
initial  breakdown,  or  starting  potential,  in 
the  gas  tube  is  usually  higher  than  the  run- 
ning potential,  sometimes  four  or  five 
times  as  high,  but  in  the  Coolidge  tube  the 
break-down  potential  is  small.  No  high 
potential  is  developed  until  all  the  ions  are 
saturated. 

Another  important  feature  of  the  Cool- 
idge tube  is  that  it  acts  as  a  rectifier.  If 
the  target  is  kept  reasonably  cool,  the  tube 


Cathode  used  for  Obtaining  Very  Fine  Focus  for 
Dental  Work,  etc. 

can  be  connected  directly  to  the  terminals 
of  a  high  tension  transformer  and  will 
suppress  the  wave  in  the  inverse  direction. 
With  most  gas  tubes  the  resistance  is  less 
in  the  inverse  direction  than  in  the  running 
direction.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to 
excite  these  tubes  with  a  rectified  current. 
When  used  with  induction  coils,  even  the 
inverse  potential  developed  at  each  closing 
of  the  circuit  by  the  interrupter  is  trouble- 
some. 

The  terminology  of  the  X  ray  and  its 
applications,  as  officially  sanctioned  and 
adopted  by  a  number  of  Rontgen  societies, 
is  as  follows : 

Roentgen — pronounced  rent-gen. 
Roentgen  ray — a  phenomenon  in  physics 
discovered      by      William       Conrad 
Roentgen. 

Roentgenology — the  study  and  practice  of 
the    roentgen    ray    as    it    applies    to 
medicine  and  surgery. 
Roentgenologist — one  skilled  in  roentgen- 

ology. 

Roentgenogram — the  shadow  picture  pro- 
duced by  the  roentgen  ray  on  a  sensi- 
tized plate  or  film. 


520 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Roentgenograph  (verb)  — to  make  a 
roentgenogram. 

Roentgenoscope  —  an  apparatus  for  ex- 
amination with  the  fluoroscopic 
screen  excited  by  the  roentgen  ray. 

Roentgenoscopy  —  examination  by  the 
means  of  the  roentgenoscope. 

Roentgenography  —  the  art  of  making 
roentgenograms. 

Roentgenize — to  apply  the  roentgen  ray. 

Roentgenization  —  the  application  of  the 
roentgen  ray. 

Roentgenism  —  untoward  effect  of  the 
roentgen  ray. 

Roentgen  Diagnosis — diagnosis  by  the  aid 
of  the  roentgen  ray. 


Roentgenotherapy — treatment  by  the  ap- 
plication of  the  roentgen  ray. 
Roentgen    Dermatitis — skin    reaction   due 
to  the  too  strong  or  too  oft  repeated 
application  of  the  roentgen  ray. 
There  is  a  rising  tide  of  protest  against 
the  use  of  these  terms  and  the  hope  has 
been  expressed  that  they  will  soon  be  re- 
placed by  others.     The  name  of  Rontgen 
does  not  lend  itself  well  to  word  building; 
it    does    not    fall    "trippingly    from    the 
tongue."     A  movement  already  is  on  foot 
to  provide  substitutes  for  these  unwieldy 
words  which  will  be  correctly  descriptive 
and  easier  to  use. 


Anode  of  the  Standard  Coolidge  X-Ray  Tube 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


521 


THE  J.  G.  WHITE  ENGINEERING  CORPORATION 


There  is  in  existence  no  organization 
which  is  more  typical  of  modern  progress 
in  engineering  than  that  known  as  The  J. 
G.  White  Engineering  Corporation,  the 
operation  of  which  constantly  includes 
large  development  and  constructive  work  in 
electrical,  mechanical,  civil  and  hydraulic 
engineering.  James  Gilbert  White,  head 
of  the  company,  who  was  born  in  Milroy, 
Pa.,  August  29,  1 86 1,  was  graduated  from 
Pennsylvania  State  College  with  the  degree 
of  A.B.  in  1882,  and  with  the  degree  of 
Ph.D.  from  Cornell  University  in  1885; 
and  became  instructor  in  physics  in  charge 
of  the  Department  at  the  University  of 
Nebraska  from  1885  to  1887.  In  the  lat- 
ter year  he  entered  business  life  and  engi- 
neering practice  as  president  of  the  West- 
ern Engineering  Company,  serving  in  that 
capacity  from  1887  to  1890. 

He  was  with  the  Edison  United  Manu- 
facturing Company  in  1890,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  started  in  business  as  a  con- 
tractor and  engineer  in  New  York  City  by 
organizing  J.  G.  White  &  Co.,  Inc.  He 
became  deeply  interested  in  engineering 
from  the  contracting  and  construction  side 
and  also,  to  a  large  extent,  in  financing 
engineering  operations,  especially  those 
connected  with  public  utilities.  In  1903 
the  business  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Inc.,  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut.  This  company 
acts  through  its  subsidiary,  The  J.  G. 
White  Engineering  Corporation  as  con- 
sulting and  constructing  engineers,  and 
also  finances  electric  railways,  electric  light 
and  power,  gas  and  other  public  utility 
properties,  and  manages  and  operates  such 
properties.  The  company,  by  capitalizing 
and  organizing  engineering  ability,  finan- 
cial efficiency  and  managerial  skill,  has 
built  up  an  enormous  business,  not  only  in 
the  United  States,  but  also  in  Canada, 
where  a  separate  organization  was  oper- 
ated for  a  time.  A  British  branch  was 
incorporated  July  10,  1900,  as  J.  G.  White 
&  Company,  Limited,  having  its  head 
office  in  London. 

The  company  here  established  headquar- 
ters in  New  York  and  branches  in  Chicago 
and  San  Francisco,  and  year  by  year  con- 
ducted large  engineering  operations  in  the 


construction  of  electric  railways  and  other 
public  utilities,  and  also  became  operating 
and  consulting  operating  manager  of  a 
great  number  of  large  properties. 

The  various  operations  became  so  great 
and  so  widely  distributed  that  on  December 
31,  1912,  the  company  organized  two  sep- 
arate companies — one,  The  J.  G.  White 
Management  Corporation,  to  take  over 
the  department  of  operation  and  manage- 
ment of  the  many  utilities  in  the  company's 
care,  and  the  other,  The  J.  G.  White  En- 
gineering Corporation,  to  take  over  the 
engineering  and  construction  department 
of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Incorporated. 
The  common  stock  of  both  corporations 
is  held  by  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Inc. 

The  properties  managed  by  J.  G.  White 
&  Company,  Inc.,  were  nearly  all  planned, 
laid  out,  and  constructed  by  the  Engineer- 
ing Department  of  J.  G.  White  &  Com- 
pany, or  by  its  successor,  The  J.  G.  White 
Engineering  Corporation.  Some  idea  of 
the  extent  of  this  engineering  work  may- be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  Manage- 
ment Corporation  had  under  contract  on 
June  i,  1917,  public  utility  and  railroad' 
properties  and  industrial  enterprises  in 
the  United  States,  Nicaragua,  the  Philip- 
pines and  Cuba,  including  the  Manila  Elec- 
tric Railroad  and  Lighting  Corporation 
and  its  subsidiaries;  the  Helena  (Mon- 
tana) Light  and  Railway  Company;  the 
Eastern  Pennsylvania  Railways  Company, 
of  Pottsville,  Pa.,  and  subsidiaries;  the 
United  Light  and  Railways  Company,  and 
subsidiaries;  the  Associated  Gas  and  Elec- 
tric Company,  and  subsidiaries;  the  Augus- 
ta-Aiken  (Georgia)  Railway  and  Electric 
Corporation  and  subsidiaries;  Pacific  Rail- 
road of  Nicaragua;  Kentucky  Public  Serv- 
ive  Company  and  subsidiaries;  Southern 
Utilities  Company  and  subsidiaries;  the 
Poughkeepsie  and  Wappingers  Falls  Rail- 
way Company;  Cardenas-American  Sugar 
Company  (Cuba);  Matanzas  -  American 
Sugar  Corporation  (Cuba)  ;  Central  Sugar 
Corporation  (Cuba)  ;  Thornapple  Gas 
and  Electric  Company  of  Hastings,  Mich. ; 
Cayuga  (N.  Y.)  Cement  Corporation; 
Philippines  Railway  Company,  and  several 
other  companies. 


522 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


The  White  enterprises  represent  the  re- 
sult of  pioneer  adventure  into  the  field  of 
organized  engineering  effort,  and  J.  G. 
White  &  Company,  Incorporated,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  of  the  corporations  which 
combined,  under  one  organization,  the  en- 
gineering, financing  and  management  of 
public  utilities.  It  has  become,  with  its  Brit- 
ish offshoot,  the  representative  of  world- 
wide development,  largely  electrical,  in  the 
creation  of  transportation,  light  and  power 
facilities.  Its  success  represents  one  of  the 
marked  achievements  in  the  engineering 
profession,  and  has  been  chiefly  due  to  the 
fact  that  its  career  has  been  created  and 
directed  by  engineers  of  the  highest  attain- 
ments. 

James  Gilbert  White,  the  founder  of  the 
business,  is  known  as  an  able  engineer  and 
an  equally  able  financier  and  executive.  He 
is  President  of  J.  G.  White  &  Company, 
Incorporated,  the  parent  corporation  of 
the  White  group ;  is  Chairman  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committees  of  The  J.  G.  White  En- 
gineering Corporation  and  of  The  J.  G. 
White  Management  Corporation.  He  is 
also  President  of  the  Engineering  Secur- 
ities Corporation,  Cardenas  -  American 
Sugar  Company,  and  Investment  Secur- 
ities Corporation,  all  of  New  York;  Presi- 
dent of  the  Matanzas- American  Sugar 
Company,  and  a  director  of  many  of  the 
electric  railway,  light  and  other  corpora- 
tions which  are  under  the  management  of 
The  J.  G.  White  Management  Corpora- 
tion. He  is  a  member  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  National  Civic  Federation, 
the  Pan-American  Society  of  the  United 
States,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New 
York;  Vice-President  of  the  Merchants 
Association  of  New  York;  member  of  the 
Pilgrims'  Society,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, American  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, American  Society  in  London  and 
other  societies;  as  well  as  many  clubs,  in- 
cluding the  Metropolitan,  University,  Re- 
cess, Midday,  India  House,  Bankers,  Au- 
tomobile of  America,  New  York  Athletic 
and  Cornell  University  clubs  of  New 
York,  Ranelagh  Club  of  London,  Mary- 
land Club  (Baltimore),  Sleepy  Hollow 


Country,  Greenwich  Country  and  Colum- 
bia Yacht  clubs  and  others. 

The  President  of  The  J.  G.  White  En- 
gineering Corporation  is  Gano  Dunn,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  American  elec- 
trical engineers.  He  was  born  in  New  York 
City  on  October  18,  1870,  was  graduated 
B.S.  from  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York  in  the  class  of  1889,  receiving  the 
degree  of  M.S.  from  that  institution  in 
1897,  and  was  graduated  from  Columbia 
University,  with  the  degree  of  Electrical 
Engineer,  in  1891.  That  university  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of 
M.S.  in  1914. 

Mr.    Dunn  began  his   professional   ca- 
reer with  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,   with  which   he   was   connected 
from   1886  to   1891;  and  after  that  with 
the    Crocker  -  Wheeler    Company.     From 
1898   to   1911   he  was  vice-president  and 
chief  engineer  of  that  company.    In  1911 
he  became  connected  with  J.  G.  White  & 
Company,  Incorporated,  as  vice-president 
in  charge  of  engineering  and  construction, 
and  so  continued  until  1913,  when,  upon 
the  organization  of  The  J.  G.  White  En- 
gineering  Corporation   to   take   over   the 
engineering   and   construction   department 
of  J.  G.  White  &  Company,  Incorporated, 
he  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  that 
corporation.     The   company   has   steadily 
prospered    under   his   active    and    skillful 
management.     Mr.    Dunn   has  long  been 
recognized  as  one   of  the  leaders  in  the 
engineering  profession,  and  he-  is  a  mem- 
ber of  and  has  held  prominent  positions  in 
several  of  the  most  important  engineering 
organizations  of  the  country,  having  been 
president  of  the  New  York  Electrical  So- 
ciety from  1900  to  1902;  president  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
from    1911    to    1912;    president    of    the 
United   Engineering   Society,    1913-1916; 
president  of  the  John  Fritz  Medal  Board 
of  Award,  1914;  vice-chairman  of  the  Na- 
tional Research  Council,   1917;  chairman 
of    the    Engineering    Foundation,     1915- 
1916;  secretary  of  Electric  Lighting  and 
Distribution,  International  Electrical  Con- 
gress, St.  Louis,  1904,  and  a  United  States 
delegate  to  and  vice-president  of  the  Inter- 
national Electrical  Congress  at  Turin  in 
1911.     He    is    a    member    of    the    Inter- 
national   Electro  -  Chemical    Commission, 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


523 


was  a  delegate  from  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  to  the  2nd 
Pan-American  Scientific  Congress  at  Wash- 
ington in  1915,  member  of  the  War  De- 
partment Nitrate  Commission,  1916-1918  ; 
and  a  member  of  the  Engineering  Commit- 
tee of  the  Council  of  National  Defense. 

Mr.  Dunn  is  an  honorary  member  of 
the  Association  of  Iron  and  Steel  Electrical 
Engineers;  Fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers;  Institute  of 
Radio  Engineers;  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  Brit- 
ish Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the 
Franklin  Institute,  and  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society,  as  well  as  the  following: 
Pilgrims'  Society,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  the  Union,  University,  Fencers, 
Columbia  University,  Engineers',  and  Re- 
cess clubs  of  New  York;  the  Cosmos  Club 
of  Washington,  and  the  Engineers'  Club 
of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  E.  G.  Williams,  vice-president  of 
The  J.  G.  White  Engineering  Corporation 
since  its  incorporation  in  1913,  is  a  prom- 
inent civil  engineer.  He  was  born  at  Essex, 
Connecticut,  in  1865,  and  was  graduated 
from  Yale  (Sheffield  Scientific  School) 
Ph.B.  1887.  His  wide  construction  ex- 
perience includes  extensive  steam  railroad, 
engineering  and  construction,  harbor  de- 
velopments in  South  America  as  well  as 
in  this  country;  mining  in  South  America, 
water  supply,  filtration  and  sewage  dis- 
posal, engineering  and  construction,  heavy 
railway  tunnel  construction  and  highway 
engineering. 

Since  the  formation  of  the  corporation, 
Mr.  Williams  has  had  charge  of  all  con- 
struction work,  including  many  notable 
hydro-electric  developments,  railway  work, 
steam  power  plants  and  more  recently  the 
construction  of  nitrate  plants,  aviation 
fields  and  other  important  work  for  the 
United  States  Government. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  So- 
ciety of  Civil  Engineers,  American  Insti- 
tute of  Mining  Engineers,  Washington  So- 
ciety of  Engineers,  University  Club  of 
Washington,  University  Club,  Engineers' 


Club,  Yale  Club,  and  Lawyers  Club  of 
New  York. 

Mr.  Albert  S.  Crane,  vice-president  of 
The  J.  G.  White  Engineering  Corporation, 
is  a  civil  engineer  best  known  for  his  de- 
sign and  engineering  of  hydraulic  struc- 
tures and  power  plants.  He  was  born  at 
Addison,  New  York,  1868,  and  was  grad- 
uated from  Cornell  University,  C.E.,  1891. 
A  varied  experience  with  public  hydraulic 
and  sanitation  systems  both  in  this  coun- 
try and  in  Europe  occupied  the  earlier 
years  of  his  professional  career.  Later  his 
work  with  the  sanitary  district  of  Chicago 
on  the  drainage  canal,  and  the  design  and 
construction  of  its  power  plant  and  the 
power  plant  at  Sault  St.  Marie,  Ontario, 
brought  him  into  prominence  in  hydro- 
electric development.  Since  1905  he  has 
been  connected  with  The  J.  G.  White  in- 
terests during  which  time  he  has  been  re- 
sponsible for  the  design  of  over  600,000 
h.p.  of  hydro-electric  developments. 

Since  1913  Mr.  Crane  has  been  a  vice- 
president  of  the  corporation  and  in  exec- 
utive charge  of  the  engineering  depart- 
ment. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Society 
of  Civil  Engineers,  Boston  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  Western  Society  of  Engineers, 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
Engineers'  Club,  Lawyers'  Club,  of  New 
York,  and  Engineers'  Club  of  Brooklyn. 

Mr.  Henry  A.  Lardner,  a  vice-president 
of  The  J.  G.  White  Engineering  Corpora- 
tion, is  also  a  well-known  engineer.  He  was 
born  at  Oconomowoc,  Wisconsin,  October 
i,  1871,  was  graduated  from  the  Univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin  as  B.S.  in  Electrical  En- 
gineering in  1893  and  as  E.E.  in  1895. 
He  has  been  with  The  J.  G.  White  inter- 
ests from  1894,  and  was  manager  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  office  1908-1915.  He  is  a 
Fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  the  New  York 
Electrical  Society  (past  president),  and 
the  Engineers'  and  Lawyers'  clubs  of  New 
York,  Pacific  Union  of  San  Francisco,  and 
California  of  Los  Angeles. 


524 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM    S.    ANDREWS 

William  Symes  Andrews,  veteran  electri- 
cal engineer,  was  born  at  Saltford,  Som- 
ersetshire, England,  September  10,  1847. 
He  was  educated  at  a  private  school  in 
Bath  and  at  the  Beckington  Business  Col- 
lege, in  England,  engaged  in  business  life, 
coming  to  the  United  States  in  1875.  He 
had  always  been  interested  in  electrical  ap- 
paratus, and  he  was  living  in  Newark,  N. 
J.,  when  an  item  in  a  local  paper  in  No- 


WILLIAM  S.  ANDREWS 

vember,  1879,  aroused  his  interest  and 
impelled  him  to  visit  the  Edison  Labora- 
tory at  Menlo  Park.  As  a  result  he  was 
employed  at  the  Laboratory,  1879-1881; 
was  superintendent  of  testing  at  the  Edi- 
son Machine  Works,  New  York  City, 
1881-1883;  chief  electrical  engineer  Edi- 
son Electric  Construction  Company,  1883- 
1886;  general  superintendent  Marr  Con- 
struction Company,  1886-1888;  vice-presi- 
dent, secretary  and  treasurer  Leonard  & 
Izard  Company,  Chicago,  1888-1889; 
superintendent  United  Edison  Manufac- 
ing  Company,  New  York  City,  1888-1891 ; 
technical  assistant  Edison  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  New  York,  1891-1892; 


superintendent  of  Peterboro  Works, 
Canada,  of  Canadian  General  Electric 
Company,  1892-1893;  secretary  and  gen- 
eral manager  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  1893-1894; 
since  then  with  General  Electric  Company 
in  various  capacities;  now  consulting  en- 
gineer. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers  and  of  the 
Illuminating  Engineering  Society;  member 
of  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  Electrochemical  Society, 
the  Franklin  Institute,  Philadelphia,  Royal 
Society  of  Arts  (London),  Schenectady 
Historical  Society,  and  Edison  Pioneers. 


ARTHUR  L.  ABBOTT 

Arthur  L.  Abbott,  an  electrical  engineer 
whose  experience  and  practice  have  been 
pursued  along  constructive  lines,  worked 
his  way  into  the  profession  because  it  of- 
fered so  many  problems  to  solve,  and  much 
opportunity  for  original  work.  He  was 
born  at  Albert  Lea,  Minnesota,  March  14, 
1873,  and  after  due  preparation  in  com- 
mon and  high  schools,  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  with  the  degree  of  Electrical 
Engineer  in  the  Class  of  1897.  While  in 
the  University  he  received  his  initiation 
into  the  Delta  Upsilon  Fraternity. 

After  graduation  he  held  three  or  four 
unimportant,  routine  positions  until,  in 
May,  1899,  he  entered  the  employ  of  W.  I. 
Gray  &  Company,  of  Minneapolis,  elec- 
trical contractors.  At  that  time  steel  con- 
duits for  interior  wiring  had  just  begun  to 
be  used. 

He  has  been  especially  interested  in 
study  and  experiment  in  the  field  of  il- 
luminating engineering,  and  has  also  de- 
voted much  study  to  the  problems  of  effi- 
ciency engineering  as  applied  to  the  electri- 
cal contracting  business.  After  a  long  con- 
nection with  W  I.  Gray  &  Co.,  in  which 
he  was  superintendent  of  construction,  he 
became  associated  with  the  Electrical  Con- 
struction Company  of  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
sota, of  which  he  is  Vice-President  and 
Manager.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and 
of  the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society. 


CYRUS    O.  BAKER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


525 


CYRUS  OSBORNE  BAKER 


Cyrus  Osborne  Baker  was  born  in  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  October  12,  1857,  coming  of 
good,  old  Puritan  stock.  The  Baker  family 
originally  settled  in  Massachusetts  and 
Long  Island,  finally  arriving  in  New  Jer- 
sey. Mr.  Baker's  great-grandfather  lived 
at  Springfield,  N.  J.,  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  served  as  an  officer  in 
the  Continental  army. 

When  barely  of  age,  young  Baker, 
blessed  with  a  sound  education  and  good 
health,  began  his  business  career  as  a  re- 
finer of  the  precious  metals,  gold,  silver 
and  platinum,  of  which  trio  the  latter  had 
at  that  time  received  but  little  commercial 
application,  outside  of  the  chemical  indus- 
tries. Forming  a  partnership  with  his 
father,  under  the  firm  name  of  Baker  & 
Co.,  he  concentrated  his  energies  on  the 
factors  of  increased  supply,  improved 
quality  and  enlarged  applications  of  plati- 
num, with  such  success  as  to  merit  his  gen- 
eral recognition  as  the  pioneer  developer 
of  America's  platinum  industry.  Subse- 
quent to  his  father's  death  he  reorganized 
and  greatly  enlarged  the  business  of  the 
Baker  Platinum  Works,  continuing  the 
same  under  his  presidency  as  Baker  &  Co., 
Incorporated,  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  New 
York  City.  Prominence  and  leadership  in 
the  industrial  applications  of  platinum  and 
intimate  relationship  for  forty  years  with 
every  phase  of  its  utilization  have  indis- 
solubly  linked  his  name  with  this  metal 
among  its  users  in  this  country. 

Platinum  was  first  discovered  in  a  Span- 
ish mine  in  South  America  in  the  early 
part  of  the  i8th  century,  but  it  was  more 
than  a  century  later,  following  the  loca- 
tion of  rich  deposits  of  the  metal  in  the 
Ural  Mountains  of  Russia,  before  it  be- 
gan to  acquire  commercial  importance. 
From  the  latter  source  fully  90  percent  of 
the  world's  supply  has  since  been  derived, 
the  average  shipments  of  crude  ore  in  re- 
cent years  approximating  200,000  ounces, 
of  which  this  country  has  perhaps  absorbed 
nearly  one-half  in  the  arts  and  newly  de- 
veloped industries.  Of  the  latter,  the  elec- 
trical early  assumed  major  importance, 
which  it  has  maintained  amid  constantly 


enlarging  ramifications.  Platinum  possesses 
certain  unique  physical  properties  which 
aside  from  its  scarcity  give  it  intrinsic 
value,  such  as  high  melting  point  (1755° 
C. ),  low  coefficient  of  expansion  with 
temperature  changes,  great  resistance  to 
chemical  attack  combined  with  marked 
capacity  for  effecting  chemical  combina- 
tions between  other  elements  by  contact 
without  itself  undergoing  change;  in  short 
it  may  be  classed  as  a  more  noble  metal 
than  gold.  These  properties  have  made  it 
an  indispensable  element  in  an  endless 
variety  of  experiments  preceding  the  de- 
velopment and  in  the  final  operative  forms 
of  electrical  appliances  of  all  kinds.  Recog- 
nition of  its  special  value  in  modern  indus- 
try has  so  increased  the  demand  beyond 
the  available  supply  of  the  metal  as  to  ad- 
vance its  price  1,500  percent  above  that 
obtained  when  first  marketed  by  Mr. 
Baker.  Substitutes  of  great  variety  have 
naturally  been  resorted  to  under  these  con- 
ditions, but  no  other  single  element  or  com- 
bination of  elements  has  yet  been  found 
possessing  its  valuable  properties. 

Mr.  Baker  very  wisely  applied  his  en- 
ergies to  the  development  of  an  industry 
destined,  as  he  foresaw,  to  play  an  almost 
vital  part  in  many  others.  Thoroughly  con- 
versant with  the  subject,  and  with  an  at- 
tractive personality,  he  early  acquired  the 
acquaintance  and  trade  of  every  one  in  the 
electrical  field  needing  platinum.  Incan- 
descent lamp  manufacturers  were  for  many 
years  the  largest  single  users  of  platinum 
for  leading-in  wires,  but  with  the  curtail- 
ment of  consumption  in  this  industry  others 
increased  their  demands  in  even  greater 
proportion.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  late 
war  the  public  generally  has  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  real  value  of  this  metal 
in  the  development  and  efficient  operation 
of  essential  industries — such  as  the  produc- 
tion of  chemical  reagents  needed  in  the 
manufacture  of  munitions,  which  necessi- 
tated the  commandeering  of  existing  sup- 
plies and  restricted  the  use  of  the  metal  to 
purposes  approved  by  the  War  Industries 
Board. 


526 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Mr.  Baker's  activities,  however,  were 
not  confined  strictly  to  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial matters.  His  genial  nature  and 
high  sense  of  honor  made  him  an  active 
leader  for  several  years  in  many  social 
and  business  organizations.  He  was  a 
charter  member  of  the  New  York  Electri- 
cal Club,  whose  membership  included  many 
pioneers  in  the  electrical  industry. 

Another  society  of  quite  different  char- 
acter, formed  in  1885,  is  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association,  which  has 
grown  to  be  the  largest  body  of  its  kind  in 
the  world,  with  a  membership  of  over 
12,000  officials  and  executives.  To  the 
affairs  and  councils  of  this  organization 
during  its  formative  period  Mr.  Baker 
contributed  his  constructive  influence,  in 
recognition  of  which  the  distinction  of  hon- 
orary membership  was  conferred  upon  him. 
As  this  Association  expanded  and  the  con- 
vention habit  came  into  vogue  Mr.  Baker 
assumed  the  role  of  Master  of  Transpor- 
tation, managing  the  arrangements  for  the 
long  distance  transportation  of  delegates 
so  well  that  at  the  convention  held  in  St. 
Louis  in  1893,-  he  was  made  the  recipient 
of  a  silver  loving-cup.  Outdating  these 
organizations  is  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society,  to  which  Mr.  Baker  long  gave 
his  earnest  support.  His  influence  in  edu- 
cational public  works  was  also  marked.  He 
took  a  leading  and  official  part  in  various 
great  electrical  expositions,  such  as  that 
held  under  the  patronage  of  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  at  the  Grand 
Central  Palace,  New  York  City,  in  1896, 
and  another  memorable  demonstration  of 
electrical  progress  occurring  three  years 
later  at  Madison  Square  Garden.  Besides 
his  principal  business  interests,  he  served 
as  vice-president  of  the  National  State 
Bank  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

Mr.  Baker's  death  occurred  June  13, 
1918.  His  personality  was  of  the  finest, 
and  one  expression  of  his  characteristic 
sociability  is  found  in  his  long  connection 
as  an  old-time  member  of  the  famous  Lotos 
Club  of  New  York  City.  His  passing  has 
meant  a  great  loss  to  his  associates  and  to 
the  entire  professional  fraternity  of  which 
he  was  so  honored  a  member. 


BENJAMIN  F.  BAILEY 

As  engineer,  educator,  inventor  and 
writer,  Professor  Benjamin  Franklin 
Bailey,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  oc- 
cupies a  place  of  honor  and  prominence  in 
the  electrical  world.  He  was  born  in  Sher- 
idan, Michigan,  August  7,  1875,  and  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Detroit, 
and  in  the  University  of  Michigan.  He 
was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  B.  S. 
in  Electrical  Engineering  in  1898;  A.  M. 
in  1901  and  Ph.  D.  in  1907,  and  became 
a  member  of  the  honorary  society  of  Sigma 
Xi,  and  of  the  Tau  Beta  Pi  fraternity. 

His  first  work  was  with  the  Edison  Il- 
luminating Company  of  Detroit,  from 
which  he  went  into  the  Testing  Depart- 
ment of  the  General  Electric  Company  at 
Schenectady,  New  York.  He  began  his 
teaching  career  in  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan as  instructor  in  electrotherapeutics, 
1900-1901;  became  instructor  in  electrical 
engineering,  1901-1906;  assistant  profes- 
sor, 1906-1910;  junior  professor,  1910- 

1913,  and  since   1913  has  been  professor 
of  electrical  engineering  in  the  University 
of  Michigan.     He  has  been  an  important 
contributor  to  electrical  literature,   is   au- 
thor of  "Induction  Motors,"  "The  Prin- 
ciples  of    Dynamo    Electric   Machinery," 
and  numerous  papers  in  the  technical  press, 
and  is  also  author  of  "Induction  Coils," 
a  thesis  presented  for  the  degree  of  Ph.  D. 

In  professional  work  he  served  as  as- 
sistant engineer  for  The  Arnold  Company 
in  the  summer  of  1906,  and  engineer  with 
The  Fairbanks-Morse  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company,  in  the  summer  of  1907, 
becoming  chief  engineer  with  that  company 
from  1908  to  1910,  and  since  then  consult- 
ing engineer  for  that  company.  He  has 
been  consulting  engineer  and  director  of 
the  Bailey  Electrical  Company,  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich. ;  consulting  engineer  of  the 
Disco  Electric  Starter  Corporation  since 

1914,  and  is  now  also  consulting  engineer 
and     director     of    the     Howell     Electric 
Motors   Company   and   other   companies. 
He  is  the  inventor  of  the  "Internal  Resis- 
tance" Induction  Motor  for  the  Fairbanks- 
Morse  Electric  Manufacturing  Company, 
and  developed  electric  starting  and  light- 
ing   apparatus    with    the    Disco    Electric 
Starter  Corporation. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


527 


JOHN  DUDLEY  BALL 

In  the  varied  activities  of  engineering 
practice,  professional  literature,  and  tech- 
nical teaching,  Professor  John  Dudley  Ball 
has,  in  ten  years  from  graduation,  attained 
a  place  of  note  and  influence  in  the  electri- 
cal field. 

He  was  born  December  8,  1882,  at- 
tended district  school  and  the  Pontiac 
Township  High  School,  in  Illinois,  then 
went  into  business  activities  and  had  some 
experience  with  the  Lake  Belt  Machinery 
Company  in  Chicago  while  pursuing  the 
mechanical  engineering  course  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  the  Class  of  1907,  later,  in 
1915,  receiving  the  degree  of  E.  E.  from 
that  university. 

On  leaving  the  University  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, working  in  the  Testing  Department, 
testing  electrical  machinery  for  two  years, 
and  after  that  was  engaged  for  five  years 
in  research  and  development  in  the  Stand- 
ardizing Laboratory,  and  then  for  three 
years  was  a  member  of  the  Consulting  En- 
gineering Department.  This  service  gave 
him  a  most  thorough  practical  and  tech- 
nical training  in  electrical  work,  in  close 
touch  with  the  developments  of  electrical 
science.  It  covered  a  wide  range  of  devel- 
oping and  consulting  work,  personal  inves- 
tigations conducted  for  Professor  Charles 
P.  Steinmetz,  and  a  large  amount  of  spe- 
cializing on  magnetics.  His  original  re- 
searches led  him  to  extensive  contributions 
to  technical  literature  in  Europe  and  the 
United  States,  including  results  of  original 
research,  published  by  the  Electro-Tech- 
nik  und  Machinebau  (Vienna),  contribu- 
tions to  the  Proceedings  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  General 
Electric  Review,  Electric  Journal,  publica- 
tions of  the  Franklin  Institute,  etc.  He 
was  awarded  the  Edward  Longstreth 
Medal  of  the  Franklin  Institute  for  orig- 
inal research  in  1917. 

He  is  now  dean  of  the  electrical  engi- 
neering department  in  the  School  of  Engi- 
neering at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  bringing  to 
the  chair  the  ripe  results  of  ten  years  of 
thorough  training,  and  of  contact  with  the 
latest  developments  of  electrical  science. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute 


of  Electrical  Engineers   and  of  the   Mil- 
waukee Electric  League. 

His  activities  have  not  all  been  profes- 
sional. He  had  seven  years  of  service  in 
the  Illinois  National  Guard;  has  made  a 
comparative  study  of  religious  systems; 
has  been  deeply  interested  in  astronomy. 
He  is  president  of  the  Mayor's  Civic  Com- 
mission of  the  city  of  Milwaukee  and  sec- 
retary of  the  Public  Affairs  Dept.  of  the 
County  Council  of  Defence.  But  outside 
of  professional  and  family  life  his  particu- 
lar interest  is  along  musical  lines.  He  con- 
ducted an  amateur  symphony  orchestra 
for  seven  years. 


WILLIAM  E.  BARROWS,  JR. 

No  less  essential  to  the  advancement  of 
electrical  enterprise  than  the  throbbing 
machinery  of  industrial  plants  is  the  main- 
tenance of  educational  standards.  Wil- 
liam E.  Barrows,  Jr.,  is  of  a  class  of  scien- 
tific men,  who,  though  rather  in  the  back- 
ground of  events,  are  charged  with  the 
important  tasks  of  guiding  the  first  steps 
of  the  oncoming  generation  of  scientists 
and  of  .keeping  alive  the  detached  and  un- 
prejudiced investigation  of  problems  be- 
yond the  pale  of  present  utilitarian  affairs. 
As  professor  of  electrical  engineering  in 
the  University  of  Maine,  Prof.  Barrows 
returns  to  the  scene  of  his  undergraduate 
days  where  he  was  a  student  of  electrical 
engineering.  He  came  there  from  the 
public  schools  of  Augusta,  Me.,  the  date 
and  place  of  his  birth  were  Feb.  20,  1878, 
Ludlow,  Vermont,  graduating  in  1902 
and  supplementing  his  academic  training 
by  a  two-year  period  of  applied  practice  as 
student  engineer  in  the  Lynn  (Mass.) 
works  of  the  General  Electric  Company. 
His  pedagogic  labors  date  from  1904, 
when  he  became  instructor  in  electrical  engi- 
neering at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
Two  years  later  he  joined  the  faculty  of 
the  Armour  Institute  of  Technology  as 
assistant  professor  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing, leaving  there  in  1912  to  become  full 
professor  and  head  of  the  electrical  de- 
partment of  the  University  of  Maine  at 
Orono,  where  he  also  makes  his  home. 
Prof.  Barrows  is  especially  interested  in 
the  problems  of  illuminating  engineering, 
to  which  subject  he  has  contributed  two 


528 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


widely  read  books,  "Electrical  Illuminat- 
ing Engineering"  and  "Light,  Photometry 
and  Illumination,"  the  former  published 
in  1908  and  the  latter  in  1912.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  the  Illuminating  Engineer- 
ing Society,  the  National  Electric  Light 
Association,  and  the  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Engineering  Education. 


FREDERICK  BEDELL 

Professor  Bedell,  scientist  and  educator, 
combines  to  an  exceptional  degree  the 
teaching  gift  with  the  faculty  for  fruitful 
research  and  invention. 

He  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  April 
12,  1868,  was  graduated  from  Yale  Uni- 
versity, A.  B.,  1890,  and  from  Cornell 
University  as  M.  S.,  1891,  and  Ph.  D. 
1892;  and  he  was  elected  to  Sigma  Xi, 
1891.  In  teaching  service  at  Cornell  for 
the  past  twenty-five  years  he  was  instructor 
in  physics,  1892-1893,  assistant  professor 
of  physics,  1893-1904,  and  since  1904  pro- 
fessor of  applied  electricity. 

Professor  Bedell  has  been  continuously 
active  in  research  work,  especially  in  the 
field  of  alternating  currents,  theoretical 
and  experimental.  He  has  patented  im- 
provements in  telegraphy,  telephony  and 
power  transmission,  including  a  system  for 
the  joint  transmission  of  direct  and  alter- 
nating currents. 

He  has  been  a  member  since  1892,  and 
many  years  Fellow  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
was  secretary  of  Section  B  (physics)  in 
1897;  secretary  of  the  Council  in  1898, 
and  general  secretary  of  the  Association 
in  1899.  He  became  associate  member  in 
1892  and  member  in  1896  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  has 
served  as  vice-president,  manager,  and  as  a 
member  of  its  most  important  committees. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Aeronautical  Society 
of  America  and  in  1917  was  member  of  a 
commission  for  planning  the  U.  S.  Schools 
of  Military  Aeronautics.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Physical  Society,  was 
one  of  the  three  editors  of  the  Physical 
Review  when  that  publication  was  con- 
trolled by  Cornell  University,  1893-1912, 
and  since  its  control  was  transferred  to  the 


American  Physical  Society  in  1913  has 
been  its  managing  editor.  He  is  author 
(with  Dr.  Albert  C.  Crehore)  of  "Alter- 
nating Currents,  an  Analytical  and  Graph- 
ical Treatment  for  Students  and  Engi- 
neers" (1892)  ;  and  (with  E.  L.  Nichols) 
of  "A  Laboratory  Manual  of  Physics  and 
Applied  Electricity"  (1894).  In  1896  he 
published  "The  Principles  of  the  Trans- 
former," and  his  later  works  are  "Airplane 
Characteristics,"  and  "Direct  and  Alterna- 
ting Current  Manual."  He  has  also  con- 
tributed important  papers  to  the  proceed- 
ings of  technical  and  scientific  societies; 
contributed  several  scientific  articles  to 
Johnson's  Universal  Encyclopedia  in  1895, 
definitions  of  electrical  units  to  two  editions 
of  the  Standard  Dictionary;  and  prepared 
the  electrical  definitions  for  the  recent  re- 
vision of  Webster's  International  Diction- 
ary. 


MURRAY  CHARLES  BEEBE 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  has  gained 
deserved  prominence  and  repute  for  the 
special  excellence  and  thoroughness  of  its 
technical  courses,  built  up  and  maintained 
by  a  technical  faculty  of  exceptionally  high 
character  and  marked  ability.  One  of  this 
technical  staff  is  Professor  Murray  Charles 
Beebe,  alumnus  of  the  University,  long  con- 
nected with  its  teaching  staff  and  now  hold- 
ing, and  adorning  by  his  abilities  the  chair 
of  electrical  engineering  in  that  institution. 

He  was  born  in  Racine,  Wisconsin,  Feb- 
ruary 25,  1876,  the  son  of  Charles  Seth 
and  Selma  Barsena  (Eastman)  Beebe. 
Through  his  father  he  traces  descent  from 
an  ancestor  who  came  from  England  and 
settled  near  Hartford,  Connecticut,  about 
1640. 

After  a  thorough  elementary  and  pre- 
paratory training  he  entered  the  University 
of  Wisconsin,  from  which  he  was  gradu- 
ated Bachelor  of  Science,  with  special  hon- 
ors and  election  to  Tau  Beta  Pi  and  Eta 
Kappa  Nu  with  the  Class  of  1897.  His 
college  fraternity  membership  is  with  Chi 
Psi. 

Upon  graduation  he  became  connected 
with  the  teaching  staff  as  instructor  in  elec- 
trical engineering  in  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin, from  1897  to  1900.  He  followed 
this  with  valuable  professional  practice  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


529 


development  work  for  George  Westing- 
house  from  1900  to  1902,  and  after  that 
from  1902  to  1905  was  chemist  and  tech- 
nical superintendent  with  the  Nernst  Lamp 
Company,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 

In  1905  he  was  recalled  to  the  depart- 
ment of  electrical  engineering  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin,  with  which  he  has 
ever  since  been  connected,  being  associate 
professor  of  electrical  engineering  until 
1907,  and  since  then  professor  of  electrical 
engineering. 


Professor  Beebe,  through  his  special 
identification  with  electric  light  problems, 
is  a  prominent  and  influential  member  of 
the  National  Electric  Light  Association, 
and  is  a  member  of  its  Committee  on  Re- 
lations with  Educational  Institutions.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he  was  granted  leave  of  absence 
and  engaged  in  research  work  on  the  engi- 
neering staff  of  the  Western  Electric  Co. 
of  New  York.  He  is  also  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  a  member  of  the  University  Club  of 
Madison,  Wisconsin. 


"If  a  man  writes  a  better  book,  preaches 
a  better  sermon,  or  makes  a  better  mouse- 
trap than  his  neighbor,  though  he  build  his 
home  in  the  wilderness,  the  world  will  make 
a  beaten  path  to  his  door,"  said  Emerson. 
The  case  in  point  concerns  electric  motors 
as  made  by  the  Bell  Electric  Motor  Com- 
pany at  Bell  Terminal,  Garwood,  New  Jer- 
sey. From  there  radiate  paths  to  all  cor- 
ners of  the  country  over  which  go  Bell 
electric  motors  to  animate  the  machinery 
of  industry. 

The  Bell  Electric  Motor  Company  turns 
out  two  popular  and  distinct  types  of  mo- 
tors, invented,  manufactured  and  patented 
by  the  two  Bell  brothers.  These  are  the 
Bell  Repulsion  Induction  Motor  for  single 
phase  and  alternating  current  and  the  Bell 
compensated  Polyphase  Motor  for  A.C. 
polyphase  current.  The  first  is  a  simplifi- 
cation of  the  single  phase  type  of  motor, 
entirely  automatic  in  operation,  dispensing 
with  compensators  and  clutch  pulleys,  can 
be  totally  enclosed  and  made  dust-proof — 
in  fact,  there  are  numerous  improved  fea- 
tures. The  polyphase  motor  represents  the 
most  advanced  type  of  polyphase  machin- 
ery, highest  in  both  power  factor  and  effi- 
ciency, supplanting  the  old  squirrel-cage 
motor.  The  claims  made  for  the  Bell  poly- 
phase motor  cover  many  reasons  in  support 
of  its  superiority  over  preceding  types. 

Alonzo  C.  Bell  and  Thaddeus  R.  Bell 
are  the  sons  of  Alonzo  Bell,  who  was  as- 
sistant secretary  of  the  Department  of  the 
Interior  under  Presidents  Garfield,  Arthur 
and  Hayes,  and  a  descendant  of  Francis 
Bell,  the  early  founder  of  Stamford,  Con- 


necticut. Alonzo  C.  Bell,  born  at  Wash- 
ington, D.  C.,  February  16,  1877,  is  the 
founder  of  the  enterprise  which  bears  his 
name.  Educated  in  the  New  York  public 
schools  and  devoting  his  nights  afterward 
to  studies  at  Cooper  Union,  he  started  in 
1892  as  an  office  boy  at  the  old  station  of 


ALONZO   C.  BELL 

the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating  Company 
at  Pearl  and  Elm  streets.  Five  of  the  six 
ensuing  years  were  spent  in  the  inspection 
department  under  Mr.  Arthur  Williams. 
The  study  of  electricity  became  his  dom- 
inant passion  and  working  on  motors  his 


530 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


favorite  occupation.  It  must  have  taken  a 
deal  of  faith  to  establish  the  Bell  Electric 
Motor  Company  in  1898  without  any  capi- 
tal. He  had  his  brother's  help,  and  to- 
gether they  took  a  room  on  the  fourth  floor 
of  713  Broadway.  Prospering  there,  they 
moved  to  Bleecker  Street,  and  again  to  bet- 
ter quarters  at  Prince  Street  and  West 
Broadway.  Then  the  factory  at  Garwood 
was  built.  About  125  men  are  employed. 
Besides  manufacturing  motors,  the  com- 
pany controls  a  process  of  electroplating 
patterns  for  foundry  use,  builds  engine 
lathes,  etc.  Alonzo  C.  Bell  is  president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Bell  Electric  Motor 
Company,  the  Bell  Factory  Terminal  and 
the  Powers  &  Robinson  Foundry  and  Ma- 
chine Company.  Mr.  Bell  is  a  member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers and  the  Power  Club. 

The  career  of  Thaddeus  R.  Bell  closely 
parallels  that  of  his  brother,  with  whom  he 
has  been  co-inventor,  business  partner  and 
maintainer  of  the  fine  reputation  they  have 
jointly  established.  He  participates  largely 
in  the  present  active  management  of  the 
business,  being  the  vice-president  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  company.  He  was 
born  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  December  25, 
1879,  and  educated  in  New  York  schools, 
including  Cooper  Union  night  school.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society. 

The  New  York  offices  of  the  Bell  Elec- 
tric Motor  Company  are  at  30  Church 
Street. 


JOHN  ROBERT  BENTON 

One  of  the  well  known  instructors  who 
has  given  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of 
eng:neering  education  is  Dean  John  Rob- 
ert Benton,  of  the  College  of  Engineering 
of  the  University  of  Florida.  He  was 
born  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  June  6, 
1876.  He  was  graduated  from  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  with  the  de- 
gree of  B.  S.  in  1897,  and  afterward  at- 
tended the  University  of  Gottingen,  Ger- 
many, from  which  he  received  the  degree 
of  Ph.  D.  in  mathematical  physics.  He 
had  always  been  deeply  interested  in  sci- 


entific studies,  which  led  him  to  speciali/a- 
tion  as  a  physicist  and  mathematician. 

He  began  his  teaching  career  on  his  re- 
turn from  Gottingen  as  instructor  in  ap- 
plied mathematics  in  Princeton  University, 
and  after  that  becoming  instructor  in  phy- 
sics in  Cornell  University  until  1902.  In 
1905  he  became  professor  of  physics  and 
electrical  engineering  in  the  University  of 
Florida,  which  chair  he  still  holds,  and  in 
1910  he  also  became  dean  of  the  College  of 
Engineering,  in  which  position  he  contin- 
ues, having  had  gratifying  success  in  build- 
ing up  the  applied  science  feature  of  the 
University  to  a  favored  place  in  the  cur- 
riculum. 

Professor  Benton's  services  have  been 
from  time  to  time  enlisted  in  work  as  mag- 
netic observer  for  the  United  States  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey,  and  also  in  varied 
phases  of  scientific  work  for  the  United 
States  Naval  Observatory,  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Standards,  and  the  Geo- 
graphical Laboratory  of  the  Carnegie  In- 
stitution, chiefly  in  connection  with  work 
involving  problems  in  elasticity.  In  Trin- 
ity College  he  was  a  member  of  I.  K.  A.,  a 
local  fraternity,  recently  absorbed  by  Delta 
Phi;  he  has  also  been  elected  to  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  and  Sigma  Xi.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Physical  Society,  an  asso- 
ciate member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  Fellow  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  advancement  of 
Science,  member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Engineering  Education,  and 
of  the  Florida  Engineering  Society. 


ARTHUR  S.  BIESECKER 

Arthur  S.  Biesecker  was  born  at  New- 
ton, Lackawanna  County,  Pennsylvania,  on 
August  12,  1878.  After  attending  the 
public  schools  until  sixteen  years  of  age 
he  entered  Wyoming  Seminary,  where  he 
prepared  for  college  and  also  took  a  busi- 
ness course.  In  1900  he  entered  Penn- 
sylvania State  College  and  was  graduated 
in  Electrical  Engineering  in  the  Class  of 
1904.  The  following  year  was  spent  in 
the  Testing  Department  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  at  Schenectady.  In  1905 
he  accepted  a  position  in  the  Elecrtical  De- 
partment of  the  D.  L.  &  W.  R.  R.  at 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


531 


ARTHUR  S.  BIESECKER 


Scranton,  where  he  remained  for  eight 
years.  Since  1913  he  has  been  Electrical 
Engineer  for  the  Scranton  Electric  Con- 
struction Company,  which  represents  the 
General  Electric  Company  in  the  anthracite 
region  of  Pennsylvania,  In  iqo8  he 


married  Miss  Norma  Decker,  and  has  two 
children,  Keith  and  Jean.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Engineers  Society  of  North- 
eastern Pennsylvania,  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Rotary 
Club  of  Scranton,  and  other  organizations. 


532 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


PUTNAM  ASBURY  BATES 


Putnam  A.  Bates,  whose  wide  experi- 
ence as  an  electrical  and  consulting  engi- 
neer led  to  his  engagement  by  the  city  of 
New  York  in  1914  as  chief  electrical  engi- 
neer, was  born  in  New  York  City,  Decem- 
ber 27,  1875.  His  education  at  Columbia 
University,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1897,  was  during  the  earlier  days  of  the 
development  of  the  electrical  industry  and 
his  inclination  turned  naturally  toward  the 
class  of  engineering  work  in  which  the 


greatest  progress  was  being  made.  Dur- 
ing his  college  course  in  the  School  of  Ap- 
plied Sciences,  he  devoted  himself  intensely 
to  experimental  labor,  research  and  orig- 
inal investigations,  in  addition  to  the  pre- 
scribed courses.  The  product  of  this  effort 
was  an  accumulation  of  practical  informa- 
tion of  such  value  as  to  win  for  him  im- 
mediate recognition  in  the  engineering 
field. 

After    finishing    his    collegiate    course, 


WILLIAM    LORD   BLISS 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


533 


from  which  he  graduated  with  the  highest 
honors,  Mr.  Bates  entered  the  engineer- 
ing department  of  the  Crocker-Wheeler 
Company,  electrical  engineers  and  manu- 
facturers of  electrical  machinery.  He 
acted  in  the  capacity  of  engineer  for  this 
organization,  later  becoming  an  executive 
officer  of  the  corporation.  His  duties  gave 
him  the  opportunity  to  study  at  close  range 
untold  varieties  of  problems  as  it  became 
his  responsibility  to  determine  the  manner 
in  which  increased  productivity  could  be 
created  through  a  broader  application  of 
electrical  appliances.  These  duties  in- 
volved problems  bearing  upon  water-power 
developments,  electrification  of  railway 
systems,  smelting  and  refining  of  copper 
and  other  metals,  reduction  of  iron  ore, 
fabrication  of  structural  steel,  manufacture 
of  materials  of  many  kinds,  including  food 
products  and  the  betterment  of  agricul- 
tural conditions  through  the  introduction 
of  power.  Activity  in  these  fields  soon 
showed  direct  results,  by  doubling  the  busi- 
ness of  the  company. 

This  intimate  contact  with  America's 
leading  industries  gave  Mr.  Bates  an 
abundance  of  information  not  to  be  had 
otherwise,  concerning  the  most  effective 
way  of  using  electric  energy,  and  in  many 
instances  his  originality  in  planning  the  in- 


stallations was  responsible  for  the  success- 
ful outcome  where  the  possibility  of  such 
application  had  not  previously  been  con- 
templated. Consequently  these  many  prob- 
lems of  complex  nature  fitted  him  for  a 
broad  professional  career,  and  in  1904  he 
severed  his  connection  with  the  Crocker- 
Wheeler  Company  to  establish  a  private 
practice  as  consulting  engineer.  He  opened 
the  offices  since  maintained  at  2  Rector 
Street,  New  York  City.  Like  other  suc- 
cessful engineers,  Mr.  Bates  has  found  his 
ideas,  in  the  case  of  difficult  engineering 
operations,  can  best  be  advanced  by  his 
being  in  a  position  to  carry  on  the  construc- 
tion work  with  his  own  business  organiza- 
tion. In  1915,  therefore,  he  organized  The 
Bates  Company,  engineers  and  construc- 
tors, of  which  corporation  he  has  become 
president. 

Mr.  Bates,  whose  achievements  have 
made  him  one  of  the  most  prominent  of 
New  York  City's  engineers  in  independent 
practice,  has  long  been  a  member  of  many 
leading  technical  societies,  which  he  has 
from  time  to  time  made  the  recipient  of 
results  from  his  professional  experience. 
During  the  Great  War  his  services  were 
utilized  by  the  United  States  Government 
in  the  carrying  out  of  special  electrical  con- 
struction projects  for  the  War  and  Navy 
Departments. 


WILLIAM  L.  BLISS. 


William  Lord  Bliss,  Chief  Engineer  of 
the  United  States  Light  and  Heat  Corpora- 
tion of  Niagara  Falls,  was  born  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  July  1 6,  1871.  He  entered  the 
Adelphia  Academy  of  Brooklyn  in  1880, 
and  remained  six  years,  after  which  he  en- 
tered the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn, 
in  1886,  and  remained  five  years.  Com- 
pleting the  course  in  civil  engineering 
through  the  junior  year  and  the  entire 
course  in  electrical  engineering,  he  received 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  June, 
1891.  He  then  entered  the  senior  class  of 
Cornell  University  in  1891,  and  remained 
two  years,  completing  the  course  in  me- 


chanical engineering  and  a  year's  post-grad- 
uate study,  specializing  in  electrical  engi- 
neering, and  in  June,  1893,  received  the 
degree  of  Master  of  Mechanical  Engineer- 
ing. In  August,  1893,  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Riker  Electric  Motor  Company 
of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  as  electrician.  Mr. 
Bliss  had  entire  charge  of  designing  stand- 
ard generators  and  motors  and  much  spe- 
cial electrical  machinery.  He  designed  and 
superintended  the  construction  of  car  light- 
ing apparatus  built  by  the  Riker  Company 
for  inventors  of  such  machinery,  and 
thereby  became  interested  in  this  subject, 
which  subsequently  became  his  life  work. 


534 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


In  April,  1895,  he  left  the  Riker  Company 
to  take  a  position  with  the  Consolidated 
Gas   Company   of   New   York,    assuming 
charge  of  photometric  and  burner  work. 
He  later  conducted  exhaustive  experiments 
in   isolated  electric  lighting  plants,   using 
gas  engines  as  prime  movers.    He  designed 
and  built  an  experimental  and  demonstrat- 
ing electric  light  plant  for  the  gas  com- 
pany.    This    plant    consisted    of    a    large 
Crossley  engine  imported  from  Manches- 
ter,  England,   and  was   equipped  with   a 
starting   device,   which  was   the   first   gas 
engine  starter  he  had  ever  seen.     In  May, 
1897,  he  left  the  Consolidated  Gas  Com- 
pany to  devote  his  entire  time  to  electric 
car  lighting  and  the  development  of  inven- 
tions made  during  the  years  of   1893   to 
1897.     After    four    years    of    continuous 
work,  he  had  brought  apparatus  to  such  a 
satisfactory  state  as  to  warrant  the  forma- 
tion of  a  company  to  exploit  his  inventions. 
He    incorporated   the    Bliss   Electric   Car 
Lighting  Company  of  New  Jersey,   with 
himself  as  president,  but  due  to  lack  of  suf- 
ficient capital,  this  company  was  operated 
only  until  March,   1904,  when  it  was  dis- 
solved and  a  new  company,  having  the  same 
name,  was  incorporated  in  Wisconsin,  with 
Mr.  Bliss  again  as  president.     This  new 
company  was   controlled  by  The   Cutler- 
Hammer  Manufacturing  Company.     The 
new  Bliss  Company  exploited  and  marketed 
apparatus  built  upon  Mr.  Bliss'  patents  and 
designed  by  him.     The  Bliss  Co.  became 
the  second  largest  concern  in  this  line  in 
the  United  States.     His  apparatus  became 
known  as  the  "Bliss  System,"  and  is  thus 
spoken  of  all  over  the  country  today.     In 
January,  1909,  a  consolidation  of  the  Bliss 
Electric  Car  Lighting  Company,  the  Na- 
tional Battery  Company,  and  the  United 
States  Light  and  Heating  Company  of  New 
Jersey,  was  effected,  and  a  new  company 
known   as   the   United    States    Light   and 
Heating   Company  of   Maine   was   incor- 
porated.    This  new  company  was  organ- 
ized to  manufacture  car  lighting  apparatus 
and    storage    batteries,    and    for    a    time 
operated  factories  in  Milwaukee,  Buffalo 
and  New  York.     Mr.  Bliss  was  appointed 


chief  engineer  of  the  new  company  by  the 
president,  the  late  William  H.  Silverthorn. 
In  May,  1910,  a  new  factory  was  designed 
and  built  at  Niagara  Falls,  where  all  the 
work  of  the  three  previously  mentioned  fac- 
tories was  concentrated.     Mr.  Bliss  was  in 
complete   charge   of   this   new  work,    and 
finished  and  equioped  the  plant  and  oper- 
ated it  for  two  years  until  January  i,  1913. 
The  company  having  taken  on  a  new  and 
extensive    line    of    manufacture    of    self- 
starters  for  automobiles,  it  became  neces- 
sary for  him  to  drop  manufacturing  details 
and  devote  himself  to  further  research  and 
development,   still   retaining  the  title  and 
authority  of  chief  engineer.     He  has  taken 
out   over    80   United    States   patents   and 
about  one-quarter  that  number  of  applica- 
tions are  now  pending  in  the  Patent  Office. 
Many  of  his  inventions  have  been  patented 
abroad.      The  majority   of   these  patents 
relate  to  electric  car  lighting,  while  others 
relate  to   starters,   storage  batteries,   rail- 
road equipment  and  general  lighting  appa- 
ratus.    The  link  suspension  for  mounting 
generators  on  car  trucks  and  the  ampere 
hour  meter  system  of  controlling  battery 
charging  in  car  lighting  are  covered  by  his 
patents.    In  1 9 1 5  he  was  awarded  a  diploma 
and  silver  medal  by  the   Panama   Pacific 
Exposition    for    his    car    lighting    appa- 
ratus as  collaborator  with  the  United  States 
Light  and  Heating  Company.     Mr.  Bliss 
is  a  Fellow  of  the  A.  I.  E.  E.,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Automotive  Engi- 
neers,  the   American  Electrochemical   So- 
ciety, the  Association  of  Railway  Electrical 
Engineers,  the  Chi  Psi  Fraternity  and  the 
principal  railroad  clubs.    The  U.  S.  Light 
and   Heat   Corporation   succeeded   to   the 
business  of  the  United  States  Light  and 
Heating    Company,    after    a    receivership 
lasting  a  year,  and  he  still  holds  the  posi- 
tion of  Chief  Engineer  with  the  new  cor- 
poration, which  has  become  the  largest  of 
the  electric  car  lighting  and  storage  bat- 
tery manufacturing  companies.     The  car 
lighting  apparatus  invented,  patented,  de- 
signed and  built  by  Mr.  Bliss  has  become 
the  standard  lighting  equipment  of  the  day 
on  the  railroads  of  the  United  States. 


ANTHONY    N.    BRADV 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


535 


ANTHONY  NICHOLAS  BRADY 


The  creation  of  "public  utilities,"  one 
of  the  developments  of  the  past  half  cen- 
tury, was  of  vast  social  and  economic  im- 
port. It  was  the  destiny  of  Anthony  Nich- 
olas Brady  to  write  his  name  indelibly  in 
the  history  of  this  phase  of  industrial 
progress,  for  he  infused  into  the  many  pub- 
lic service  companies  and  commercial  en- 
terprises whose  affairs  he  watched  over 
those  qualities  of  efficiency  and  broad  pol- 
icy that  have  made  them  models  of  organ- 
ization. Mr.  Brady's  life  ended  in  London, 
England,  July  22,  1913,  after  he  had 
rounded  out  a  long  career  of  exceptional 
usefulness  and  distinction.  He  was  born 
in  Lille,  France,  August  22,  1841,  of  par- 
ents who  had  migrated  there  from  Ireland 
and  while  still  an  infant  he  was  brought 
to  America,  the  family  settling  in  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  and  there  he  received  his  education. 
Being  a  boy  of  unusual  energy  and  ambi- 
tion, he  quickly  founded  a  business  for 
himself — the  purveying  of  tea,  which  he 
carried  on  so  successfully  in  Albany  and 
vicinity  that  he  acquired  a  moderate  cap- 
ital for  investing  in  new  enterprises.  As  a 
next  step  in  his  career  he  revived  the  opera- 
tion of  several  granite  quarries  near  Al- 
bany, putting  them  into  a  flourishing, 
profit-producing  condition.  The  gas  light- 
ing companies  of  Albany  and  Troy  were 
at  that  time  the  object  of  adverse  criticism 
on  account  of  mismanagement  and  faulty 
service,  one  reason  for  which  was  the 
defective  processes  of  manufacturing  em- 
ployed. Mr.  Brady,  believing  that  he  could 
effect  a  needed  reform  and  enlisting  the 
aid  of  ex-Governor  Roswell  P.  Flower, 
Edward  Murphy  (later  United  States 
Senator)  and  E.  C.  Benedict,  succeeded  in 
securing  control  of  the  Albany  Gas  Light 
Company.  One  of  the  first  improvements 
introduced  was  a  gas-making  process  in- 
vented by  the  French  chemist,  Tessie  du 
Montay,  and  improved  in  America  by 
Jerzmanowski.  As  expected,  it  proved  one 
factor  in  the  subsequent  excellent  service 
rendered  the  public.  The  Chicago  Gas 
Company,  also  suffering  from  difficulties, 
chiefly  financial,  was  rejuvenated  by  Mr. 


Brady,  who  reorganized  the  property  with 
the  aid  of  the  A.  M.  Billings  Estate.  His 
business  horizon  rapidly  widened  to  em- 
brace larger  spheres  of  action,  especially 
in  the  field  known  as  "public  utilities."  In 
passing,  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  he 
was  the  first  competitor  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company,  supplying  nearly  all  the  oil 
sold  in  Chicago,  through  the  medium  of 
the  Manhattan  Oil  Company  of  Lima, 
Ohio.  Securing  interest  in  the  street  rail- 
way systems  and  electric  light  companies 
of  Albany  and  Troy,  he  was  instrumental 
in  having  the  former  merged  and  extended 
and  the  latter  raised  to  a  higher  standard 
of  efficiency.  Eventually  he  became  a  dom- 
inant personality  in  similar  though  larger 
undertakings  at  various  points  from  New 
York  west  to  Chicago.  In  the  Eastern 
metropolis  he  was  best  known  for  his 
reorganization  of  the  Brooklyn  Rapid 
Transit  Company,  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  board  of  directors.  With  the  acquire- 
ment of  the  Coney  Island-Brooklyn  line, 
the  entire  traction  facilities  of  the  borough 
were  unified  under  one  control.  No  less 
influential  and  resultful  of  benefit  was  his 
leadership  as  president  and  chairman  of 
the  board  of  the  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany, and  president  of  the  Kings  County 
Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  About 
a  half  hundred  other  traction,  lighting 
and  industrial  corporations  numbered  him 
in  their  directorates.  This  much  seems  a 
sufficient  burden  of  responsibility  for  one 
man,  yet  Mr.  Brady  was  equal  to  more. 
His  status  as  a  manufacturer  involved  the 
merchandising  of  commodities  upon  a 
large  scale  in  both  foreign  and  domestic 
markets.  By  way  of  illustration,  he 
participated  in  the  direction  of  such  en- 
terprises as  the  British  Columbia  Copper 
Company,  the  General  Rubber  Company, 
the  International  Cigar  Manufacturing 
Company,  the  Rubber  Goods  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  the  Union  Bleaching  and 
Finishing  Company,  the  Union  Carbide 
Company,  the  United  States  Rubber  Com- 
pany and  the  United  States  Cast  Iron  Pipe 
and  Foundry  Company.  At  the  time  of  his 


536 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


death  he  was  associated  with  the  Cowdray 
group  of  English  financiers,  including  the 
Mexican  Oil  Company,  with  whom  he  was 
in  negotiation  for  the  establishment  of  a 
line  of  tank  steamers  to  carry  Mexican 
crude  oil  to  England  for  refining,  and  for 
the  use  of  the  oil-burning  ships  in  the  Brit- 
ish navy. 

There  were  certain  characterictics  of 
Mr.  Brady's  business  career  and  person- 
ality more  enduring  in  the  memory  of  his 
friends  and  associates  than  the  mere  record 
of  the  many  positions  he  held.  First  of 
all,  he  zealously  sought  to  cultivate  the 
best  spirit  between  his  organizations  and 
the  public,  adopting  every  practical  means 
to  that  end;  and  the  same  was  true  as  ap- 
plied to  the  internal  relations  of  those  or- 
ganizations in  which  it  was  ever  his  aim 
to  promote  voluntary  co-operation  between 


employer  and  employee,  based  upon  fair, 
equitable  dealing.  Among  his  clubs  were 
the  Down  Town,  New  York  Athletic, 
Manhattan,  Automobile  of  America, 
Sleepy  Hollow,  and  the  Fort  Orange 
Clubs;  but  these  knew  him  little,  for  al- 
ways he  was  essentially  a  home-loving 
man.  At  his  home  in  Albany,  in  the 
charmed  circle  of  family  and  friends,  he 
was  best  appreciated.  His  friendship  was 
treasured  and  the  breadth  of  his  intelli- 
gence admired  wherever  he  went.  Mr- 
Brady  is  survived  by  his  wife  Marcia  A. 
Myers,  to  whom  he  was  married  August 
20,  1867,  and  their  children,  Nicholas 
Frederic,  and  James  Cox  Brady,  Mrs. 
Margaret  Brady  Farrell,  Mrs.  Marcia  M. 
Brady  Tucker,  Mrs.  Mabel  Brady  Gar- 
van.  Another  daughter,  Flora  M.  Brady 
Gavit,  died  October  3,  1912. 


NICHOLAS  FREDERIC  BRADY 


The  chairman  of  the  board  of  the 
Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company  and 
president  of  The  New  York  Edison  Com- 
pany is  a  leader  and  administrator  of  pub- 
lic service  systems  who  has  been  foremost 
in  demonstrating  the  efficacy  of  new  ideals 
in  industrial  affairs.  The  policies  of  the 
many  organizations  in  which  the  name  of 
Nicholas  Frederic  Brady  has  appeared 
are  examples  of  what  is  praiseworthy  in  a 
business  career  filled  with  onerous  duties 
and  responsibilities.  Mr.  Brady  entered 
professional  life  well  equipped  by  birth 
and  education  for  the  difficult  tasks  lying 
before  him.  He  is  the  son  of  Anthony  N. 
and  Marcia  A.  (Myers)  Brady,  and  was 
born  at  Albany,  New  York.  The  Albany 
Academy  prepared  him  for  entrance  to 
Yale  University,  where  he  graduated  with 
honors  in  1899,  having  taken  the  A.B.  de- 
gree. The  ending  of  academic  studies  was 
only  the  beginning  of  others  of  more  prac- 
tical bearing,  for  immediately  thereafter, 
becoming  connected  with  The  New  York 
Edison  Company,  he  devoted  himself  to 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  administra- 
tive problems  of  that  industry.  During 
the  several  years  following  he  served  as 
vice-president.  His  election  to  the  presi- 
dency came  in  1913  and  he  is  now  in  di- 
rect personal  charge  of  the  company's  af- 


fairs.    The   fruits   of   his   leadership   are 
evident  in  every  department  of  the  busi- 
ness and  his  policies  have  received  the  ap- 
proval of  the  public  as  well  as  the  indus- 
try.   Principles  of  justice,  co-operation  and 
reciprocity  are  the  foundation  of  the  New 
York  Edison  Company's  policies  towards 
patrons   and  employees  alike.     As   presi- 
dent of   the   Brooklyn  Edison   Company, 
Mr.  Brady  is  at  the  head  of  a  vast  system 
of   electric   transmission   and   distribution 
for  light,  heat  and  power  over  a  vast  ter- 
ritory.    Here,  too,  enlightened  policy  has 
accomplished  much.    The  employees  share 
in  the  profits  of  the  company  to  an  extent 
that  has  constituted  them  a  considerable 
body  of  stock  holders.     Mr.  Brady  was 
chairman  of  the  board  of  the   Brooklyn 
Rapid  Transit  Company  in  a  period  of  un- 
precedented   construction    uniting    in    one 
network   of   lines   hundreds    of   miles    of 
track  serving  the  transportation  necessities 
of  the  metropolis.     His  influence  is  felt  in 
many   and   various   enterprises,    in   which 
he  is  a  director  or  trustee,  including  the 
following    organizations :    The    American 
Tobacco     Company;     Consolidated     Gas 
Company;     National     Surety     Company; 
United   Electric  Light   and   Power   Com- 
pany;  Brooklyn  Heights    Railroad   Com- 
pany; New  York  Consolidated   Railroad 


NICHOLAS      F.    BRADY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


537 


Company;  Yonkers  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company;  Consolidated  Gas,  Elec- 
tric Light  and  Power  Company  of  Bal- 
timore; Brooklyn  Edison  Company;  Man- 
hattan Refrigerating  Company;  Durham 
Coal  and  Iron  Company,  Durham,  N.  C. ; 
Chattanooga  and  Tennessee  River  Power 
Company,  and  the  United  States  Rubber 
Company.  Other  enterprises  in  which  he 
is  interested  might  be  added  to  this  suffi- 
ciently representative  list  of  concerns. 

Being  so  familiar  with  commercial  elec- 
trical developments,  it  seems  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  Mr.  Brady  is  interested  in 
the  progress  of  applied  electrical  science, 
attested  by  his  membership  in  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  and 
the  New  York  Electrical  ^Society.  The 
range  of  his  social  activities  is  evidenced 
by  membership  in  the  New  York  Yacht, 
Atlantic  Yacht,  Yale,  and  New  York  Ath- 
letic clubs;  the  Railroad  Club  of  New 
York;  the  Automobile  Club  of  America, 
Rumson  Country  Club  and  others. 

Mr.  Brady  was  married  in  1906  to  Miss 
Genevieve  Garvan  of  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut. 


JOHN  BALCH  BLOOD 

An  engineer  of  distinction  and  a  naval 
officer  now  in  active  service,  John  Balch 
Blood  has  long  been  identified  with  impor- 
tant electrical  work.  He  was  born  in  New- 
buryport,  Mass.,  July  21,  1870,  the  son 
of  George  Whitefield  and  Mary  Nelson 
(Balch)  Blood.  He  is  of  old  New  F.ig- 
land  lineage,  paternally  descendant  of  Rob- 
ert Blood,  who  settled  in  Concord,  Mass., 
in  1635,  and  maternally  from  John  Balch, 
who  settled  in  Beverly,  Mass.,  in  1630. 

He  was  graduated  from  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  of  Technology  in  1890,  with 
special  courses  in  electrical  er  *ineering, 
and  on  graduation  entered  the  employ  of 
the  Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company 
at  Lynn,  Mass.,  in  its  "Expert"  course,  on 
completion  of  which  he  went  into  the  Rail- 
way Department  and  became  assistant  en- 
gineer in  that  department,  in  charge  of  the 


design  of  railway  motors  and  their  applica- 
tion. When  the  company  was  merged  in 
the  General  Electric  Company  he  remained 
assistant  engineer  with  that  corporation 
until  1896;  then  was  engineer  at  Berlin, 
Germany,  with  the  Union  Elektricitats 
Gesellschaft,  1896-1897;  was  member  of 
Blood  &  Hale,  consulting  engineers,  Bos- 
ton, 1898-1910;  and  after  that  with  the 
Stone  &  Webster  Engineering  Corporation 
as  Inspecting  Engineer. 

He  served  in  the  Massachusetts  Naval 
Militia  for  nine  years,  retiring  as  Captain 
and  Chief  of  the  Naval  Bureau  in  1913. 
He  went  into  service  in  the  United  States 
Navy  as  Lieutenant  on  mobilization  for 
war  with  Germany,  and  was  stationed  as 
First  Lieutenant  of  U.  S.  S.  "Nebraska," 
executive  officer  of  U.  S.  S.  "Nokomis," 
and  commanding  officer  of  U.  S.  S. 
"Kwasind." 

He  has  made  special  and  intensive  stud- 
ies of  ship  design  and  navigation,  and  has 
worked  out  a  new  system  of  navigation 
whereby  a  ship's  position  can  be  taken  di- 
rect from  tables  without  trigometrical 
calculation. 

He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers;  member  of 
the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers; associate  member  of  the  United 
States  Naval  Institute;  past  member  of 
the  Boston  Society  of  Civil  Engineers, 
member  of  the  American  Economic  Asso- 
ciation, the  Army  and  Navy  Club,  of  New 
York,  the  Ward  Room  Club,  Boston,  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution  and  other  so- 
cieties. 

He  has  been  active  in  civic  matters  in 
his  home  and  native  town  of  Newburyport, 
Mass.,  where  he  has  served  as  Councilman 
and  Alderman. 


EDWARD  P.  BURCH 

As  a  student  at  the  University  of  Min- 
nesota, in  1889,  he  found  himself  absorbed 
in  the  study  of  physics,  and  particularly 
the  principles  and  application  of  electric- 
ity. In  the  summer  of  1890  he  worked  as 
a  wireman,  armature  winder  and  "calcu- 


538 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


lator"  for  the  Chicago  Edison  Company. 
The  next  year,  under  Professor  Frederick 
S.  Jones,  now  dean  of  Yale  College,  he 
stood  at  the  head  of  his  class  in  physics, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1890  was  made  under- 
graduate instructor  in  electrical  engineer- 
ing at  the  University.  In  1891-1892  he 
took  electrical  engineering  work  under 
George  D.  Shepardson,  the  first  professor 
of  electrical  engineering  at  the  University 
of  Minnesota,  and  was  graduated  as  an 
electrical  engineer,  in  1892. 

Horse  car  lines  were  then  being  changed 
to  electric,  and  Burch  realized  the  oppor- 
tunities in  this  field,  and  decided  that  the 
electric  railway  would  make  a  good  life 
work.  In  1891  he  selected  as  a  graduating 
thesis  "Electric  Railway  Motor  Tests," 
results  from  which  are  outlined  in  an  A.  I. 
E.  E.  paper  of  July,  1892.  Following 
some  hard  work  on  the  testing  of  inter- 
urban  car  equipment,  design  of  feeder  sys- 
tems, and  operation  of  power  plans,  he 
was  made  electrical  engineer  for  the  Twin 
City  Rapid  Transit  Company,  in  1893. 
During  seven  years'  service  for  that  com- 
pany he  had  charge  of  the  motor  equip- 
ment and  the  steam  and  water  power 
plants.  Between  1892  and  1900  the  com- 
pany increased  its  electric  track  from  about 
100  miles  to  218  miles. 

In  1897  there  was  installed  under  his 
supervision  one  of  the  first  power  systems 
of  its  kind — embracing  alternating  current 
generators  of  7,ooo-kilowatt  capacity,  at 
the  St.  Anthony  Falls  station,  and  three- 
phase  underground  transmission  at  3,300 
and  12,000  volts  to  four  rotary  converter 
substations  for  electric  railway  service  in 
and  near  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul. 

In  1900,  with  the  increasing  opportunity 
in  heavy  electric  traction,  he  opened  an 
office  as  a  consulting  engineer.  His  first 
clients  were  water  power  companies  which 
sold  and  transmitted  energy  to  electric 
street  and  interurban  railways.  Later  he 


carried  on  engineering  work  for  complete 
water  powers,  high-voltage  transmissions, 
and  converter  substations,  the  principal 
work  being  at  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  Pe- 
terboro,  Ontario,  Seattle  and  Everett,  Eau 
Claire,  Winnipeg,  and  for  the  principal  in- 
terurban railways  in  Iowa.  His  work  in 
steam  railroad  electrification  embraced  the 
conversion  of  branch  lines  near  Minneap- 
olis and  St.  Paul,  the  Snohomish  branch 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  and  elec- 
trification reports  on  the  Great  Northern 
Railway's  Cascade  Tunnel,  and  on  the 
Butte,  Anaconda  &  Pacific  Railway.  In 
connection  with  consulting  work,  detailed 
inspections  were  made  of  the  principal 
electrified  steam  roads  in  the  United 
States  and  Europe.  His  book  on  "Elec- 
tric Traction  for  Railway  Trains"  (Mc- 
Graw,  1911),  was  the  first  of  its  kind  to 
outline  the  history,  status,  and  financial 
results  of  the  electrification  of  steam  rail- 
roads. 

From  1911  to  1914,  Mr.  Burch  was  pro- 
fessorial lecturer,  and  afterwards  associ- 
ate professor  of  Railway  Electrical  Engi- 
neering at  the  University  of  Minnesota. 
In  1912,  he  was  engaged  by  the  Minne- 
sota Railroad  Commission  in  an  advisory 
capacity  on  electric  railways.  In  1914,  he 
was  engineer  in  charge  of  the  valuation  of 
the  Detroit  United  Railway;  in  1915  as 
consulting  engineer  for  the  Detroit  Elec- 
tric Railway  Commission;  in  1916,  on  the 
track  work  of  the  Cincinnati  Traction  Co., 
and  as  advisory  to  the  Department  of  Law 
for  the  City  of  Cleveland  on  the  valuation 
of  the  Cleveland  Electric  Illuminating  Co., 
and  on  the  1917  power  contract  with  the 
Cleveland  Electric  Railway.  In  1917  Mr. 
Burch  was  engaged  as  a  consulting  engi- 
neer at  Minneapolis,  and  in  war  research 
work  for  the  Minnesota  Commission  of 
Public  Safety;  and  in  1918  on  economic 
problems  before  a  price-fixing  committee 
of  the  War  Industries  Board. 


RICHAR  D    E.   BREED 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


539 


RICHARD    E.    BREED 


The  directing  executive  and  organizer  of 
the  American  Gas  and  Electric  Company, 
Richard  E.  Breed,  is  one  of  the  exemplars 
of  efficient  management  of  public  utilities. 
Mr.  Breed  was  born  March  17,  1866,  at 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  After  school 
days  in  Kentucky  and  a  beginning  in  busi- 
ness at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  he  made  the 
technique  of  finance  his  especial  prov- 
ince and  figured  with  increasing  frequency 
in  financial  transactions  concerning  import- 
ant enterprises.  The  most  interesting 
event  ensued  in  1906,  when  Mr.  Breed, 
joined  by  S.  Z.  Mitchell,  Anson  W.  Bur- 
chard,  Harrison  Williams,  and  Henry  L. 
Doherty,  formed  the  American  Gas  and 
Electric  Company.  The  collaboration  of 
these  men  brought  the  new  organization 
into  relationship  with  the  interests  of  the 
General  Electric  Company.  The  incor- 
poration was  attended  by  the  taking  over 
of  all  the  property  and  assets  of  the  Elec- 
tric Company  of  America,  which  consisted 
of  gas  and  electric  light  plants  throughout 
the  country. 

Under  unified  control  the  separate 
branches  of  the  company's  service  have 
shown  a  steady  increase  of  business,  and  as 
a  whole  the  company  has  developed  from 
year  to  year  at  a  substantial  rate  of  prog- 
ress. The  subsidiaries,  or  operating  com- 
panies, are  located  principally  in  communi- 
ties of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois and  West  Virginia.  Among  them 
are:  The  Atlantic  City  Electric  Company, 
Atlantic  City,  N.  J. ;  The  Albany  Water 
and  Light  Company,  Albany,  Indiana;  the 
Central  Power  Company,  Newark,  Ohio; 
the  Indiana  General  Service  Company, 
Muncie,  Indiana;  the  Jonesboro  Water 


Company,  Jonesboro,  Indiana;  the  Lacka- 
wanna  Light  Company,  Scranton,  Penn- 
sylvania; the  Montpelier  Utilities  Com- 
pany, Montpelier,  Indiana;  the  Ohio 
River  Power  Company,  Steubenville,  Ohio; 
the  Ohio  State  Power  Company,  Fremont 
Ohio;  the  Rockford  Electric  Company, 
Rockford,  Illinois;  the  Scranton  Electric 
Company,  Scranton,  Pennsylvania ;  and  the 
Wheeling  Electric  Company,  Wheeling, 
West  Virginia.  A  population  of  approxi- 
mately a  million  is  provided  with  electric 
service  and  the  varied  industries  supported 
are  innumerable.  Items  from  the  operat- 
ing statistics  of  the  combined  companies 
show  that  between  1915  and  1917  the 
number  of  customers  increased  from 
69,571  to  95,944,  and  the  miles  of  high 
voltage  transmission  lines  in  operation  for 
the  same  period  increased  from  269  to 
609,  with  additional  lines  under  construc- 
tion. Mr.  Breed  is  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Gas  and  Electric  Company  and  of 
all  the  subsidiary  companies  cited.  S.  Z. 
Mitchell  is  chairman  of  the  Board;  George 
N.  Tidd,  M.  B.  Feldman  and  M.  F.  Milli- 
kan  are  the  vice-presidents;  Frank  B.  Ball 
is  secretary  and  treasurer.  Though  never 
a  holder  of  political  offices,  Mr.  Breed  is 
an  officer  of  long  standing  on  the  military 
staffs  of  the  governors  of  Indiana.  He 
is  a  Colonel  on  the  staff  of  present  Gov- 
ernor Goodrich,  prior  to  which  he  served 
as  Major  under  Governor  Durbin,  and 
Lieutenant-Colonel  under  Governor  Han- 
ley.  In  club  circles  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  and  Army  and  Navy  Clubs 
of  New  York,  the  Union  League  and  Co- 
rinthian Yacht  Clubs,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
the  Sleepy  Hollow  Country  Club. 


540 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM  P.  BONBRIGHT  &  CO., 
INC. 

The  firm  of  William  P.  Bonbright  &  Co. 
was  formed  in  1895  and  grew  out  of  the 
private  banking  business  which  had  previ- 
ously been  established  by  Mr.  William  P. 
Bonbright  in  Colorado  Springs,  Colo.  In 
1897  the  growth  of  the  firm's  foreign  busi- 
ness led  to  the  establishment  of  a  London 
office,  and  in  1902  the  firm  established  its 
New  York  office  at  15  Wall  Street.  In 
1905  they  moved  to  24  Broad  Street, 
where  they  remained  until  1912,  when  they 
moved  to  14  Wall  Street.  In  April,  1917, 
the  firm  removed  to  new  offices  on  the 
ground  floor  of  the  Equitable  Building,  at 
the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Cedar  Streets. 

In  1912  the  company  was  incorporated 
under  its  present  title  under  the  laws  of  the 
State  of  New  York.  In  addition  ,to  its 
New  York,  London  and  Paris  offices,  it  has 
branch  organizations  in  Philadelphia, 
Cleveland,  Detroit  and  Chicago. 

As  early  as  1902  William  P.  Bonbright 
&  Co.  became  interested  in  the  securities  of 
public  utility  companies,  and  it  has  financed 
many  of  the  most  notable  of  these.  The 
firm  clearly  foresaw  the  wonderful  devel- 
opment of  the  utility  business  and  has  spe- 
cialized in  its  securities,  although  it  has 
taken  an  increasingly  important  part  in  in- 
ternational finance,  and  in  the  last  two 
years  has  effected  foreign  commercial 
credits  of  a  gross  amount  of  over 
$100,000,000. 


AUSTIN  BURT 

Austin  Burt,  electrical  engineer  of  not- 
able accomplishment,  was  born  in  Detroit, 
Michigan,  June  20,  1870.  Grandson  of 
William  Austin  Burt  (Michigan  pioneer, 
Territorial  legislator,  inventor  of  Solar 
compass),  who  as  United  States  surveyor 
discovered  the  iron  ore  fields  of  Michigan. 

Austin  Burt  was  graduated  M.  E.  in 
1900  from  Cornell  University,  with  Sibley 
Prize  in  Mechanic  Arts  and  election  to 
Sigma  Xi.  He  began  business  life  at  13 


as  office  boy  for  Crawford  Livingston, 
president  of  the  St.  Paul  Gas  Light  Com- 
pany. He  spent  his  sophomore-junior 
vacation  in  the  engineering  department  of 
the  Pillsbury  mills,  Minneapolis,  was  chief 
engineer  of  a  blast  furnace  at  Spring 
Valley,  Wis.,  at  the  close  of  his  junior 
year,  and  later  was  for  five  years  with  the 
Edward  P.  Allis  Company. 

At  request  of  President  M.  W.  Bartlett, 
he  undertook  the  management  of  the  Cedar 
Falls  (Iowa)  Electric  Light  Company  to 
save  it  from  impending  bankruptcy,  and  in 
two  years  sold  it,  on  terms  that  saved  the 
entire  investment,  to  the  Citizens  Gas  and 
Electric  Company,  of  Waterloo,  Iowa, 
which  elected  him,  in  1902,  manager  of 
the  combined  plants.  The  company's 
growth  under  his  management  is  indicated 
by  increase  of  consumers  from  725  to 
6,075;  motors  connected  from  32  H.P.  to 
5,069  H.P. ;  plant  output  from  289,700 
kilowatts  to  10,255,000  kilowatts;  station 
capacity  433  kilowatts  to  4,200  kilowatts. 
A  new  plant  of  20,000  kilowatts  capacity 
has  just  been  built  under  his  supervision  to- 
gether with  200  miles  of  transmission  line, 
serving  eighteen  other  towns  and  cities  be- 
sides Waterloo.  Mr.  Burt  has  also  had 
much  experience  in  steam  turbine  engineer- 
ing, and  in  designing  and  installing  a  com- 
bined light  and  power  underground  system 
for  Waterloo. 

He  is  past  president  of  the  Iowa  Elec- 
tric Light  Association  and  Iowa  District 
Gas  Association;  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers;  member 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers, 
State  Historical  Society,  Board  of  Trade, 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Golf  and  Country 
Clubs;  past  president  Board  of  Education, 
trustee  Congregational  Church,  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.;  vice-president 
Public  Library  Board;  president  Rotary 
Club  and  Bunker  Hill  Chapter  Sons  of 
American  Revolution;  Knight  Templar 
Mason,  and  Chancellor  Commander 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  vice-president  of 
the  Social  Welfare  League. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


541 


WALDO  CALVIN  BRYANT 


Waldo  Calvin  Bryant  was  born  at 
Winchendon,  Massachusetts,  on  December 
17,  1 863,  the  son  of  Calvin  T.  and  Almeda 
(Dexter)  Bryant.  He  is  of  English  an- 
cestry, tracing  his  descent  back  to  the  I3th 
or  1 4th  century.  The  American  branch  of 
the  family  owes  its  origin  to  Stephen  Bry- 
ant, who  emigrated  to  America  in  1632 
and  settled  in  Plymouth  and  Duxbury.  He 
was  also  the  progenitor  of  the  poet,  Wil- 
liam Cullen  Bryant,  and  members  of  this 
family  served  as  officers  in  the  War  of  the 
Revolution.  The  Bryants  have  remained  in 
and  about  the  State  of  Massachusetts  since 
Stephen  Bryant's  time.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen Waldo  began  to  learn  the  machinist's 
trade  at  the  shops  of  Baxter  D.  Whitney, 
of  Winchendon,  by  working  during  his 
school  vacations.  At  the  age  of  sixteen, 
after  finishing  his  course  of  study  at  the 
grammar  school,  he  entered  Gushing  Acad- 
emy, at  Ashburnham,  preparing  for  the 
Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute.  He  was 
graduated  from  that  institution  in  1884, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  with  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Science.  He  immediately  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  Thomson-Houston 
Electrical  Company  in  their  expert  depart- 
ment at  Lynn,  Mass.  He  remained  there 
one  month,  and  was  transferred  to  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  as  assistant  to  George  Cutter, 
to  operate  the  local  electric  light  plant,  re- 
maining there  until  the  spring  of  1885, 
when  he  went  to  Waterbury  to  take  a  simi- 
lar position  with  the  Waterbury  Electric 
Light  Company.  He  remained  in  Water- 
bury  until  October,  1888,  whefi,  having  in- 
vented the  Bryant  Push  and  Pull  Switch 
during  the  summer  of  that  year,  he  went 
to  Bridgeport,  and  started  in  the  business 
of  making  electric  light  supplies  under  the 
name  of  The  Bryant  Electric  Company. 
Starting  this  business  with  a  very  small 
capital,  he  took  out  several  patents  on  elec- 
tric lighting  devices,  and  continued  their 
manufacture  until  July,  1889,  when  he  in- 
corporated The  Bryant  Electric  Company, 
with  a  capital  stock  of  five  thousand  dol- 
lars. The  business  grew  from  that  time  to 
its  present  proportions,  having  now  a  capi- 
talization of  two  million  dollars,  and  spe- 


cializing in  the  manufacture  of  sockets, 
switches,  and  wiring  devices  used  in  incan- 
descent lighting,  both  in  this  country  and 
abroad. 

The  Bryant  Electric  Company  has  one 
of  the  largest  plants  in  Bridgeport.  It  em- 
ploys 1,500  hands  when  running  full,  and 
the  buildings  at  State  and  Organ  streets  are 
four  stories  and  basement,  occupying  near- 
ly an  entire  city  block,  and  having  a  total  of 
340,000  feet  of  floor  space.  The  company 
has  its  own  offices  in  New  York  City,  San 
Francisco  and  Chicago. 

Mr.  Bryant  is  president,  treasurer,  gen- 
eral manager  and  director  of  the  concern. 
He  is  also  president,  treasurer,  general 
manager  and  director  of  The  Perkins  Elec- 
tric Switch  Manufacturing  Company,  a  di- 
rector in  the  First  Bridgeport  National 
Bank,  trustee  of  the  People's  Savings- 
Bank,  vice-president  of  The  Siemon  Hard 
Rubber  Corporation,  and  a  director  in  the 
Bridgeport  Hydraulic  Company,  the 
Bridgeport  Brass  Company,  the  Bead 
Chain  Manufacturing  Company,  and  the 
Bridgeport  Hospital,  the  Boys'  Club  and 
the  Public  Library  Board.  On  February 
19,  1918,  Mr.  Bryant  was  called  to  the 
service  of  the  War  Department  of  the 
United  States  Government  as  District 
Chief  of  Ordnance  for  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut and  four  counties  in  Western 
Massachusetts,  having  charge  of  the  pro- 
duction of  munitions,  guns,  etc.,  for  that 
district.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Union 
League  Club  of  New  York,  University 
Club,  New  York,  of  the  Bankers'  Club, 
the  Engineers'  Club,  the  New  England 
Society,  and  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  in  New  York, 
of  the  Brooklawn  Country  Club,  the 
Black  Rock  Yacht  Club,  the  University 
Club,  and  the  Algonquin  Club  of  Bridge- 
port; and  of  the  Metabetchouan  Fishing 
and  Game  Club  of  Canada,  and  the 
Fisher's  Island  Sportsmen's  Club  of  New 
York. 

He  is  married  and  has  two  children: 
Waldo  Gerald,  born  July  30,  1891,  and 
Doris,  born  March  26,  1902. 


542 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ANSON   W.    BURCHARD 


In  a  vice-president  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company  one  expects  to  find  a  superior 
order  of  executive  ability  cultivated  by  ex- 
tensive experience.  The  sequence  of  events 
in  the  life  of  Anson  W.  Burchard  proves 
the  supposition  correct.  Mr.  Burchard  is  a 
native  of  Hoosick  Falls,  New  York,  born 
April  21,  1865.  Completing  his  studies  at 
the  local  high  schools  he  matriculated  with 
the  favorite  old  Alma  Mater  of  engineer- 
ing science,  the  Stevens  Institute  of  Tech- 


nology. The  institution  of  which  he  is 
now  a  trustee,  graduated  him  in  1885 
with  the  degree  of  mechanical  engineer. 
With  a  similar  professional  designation, 
and  in  the  same  year,  he  connected  with 
the  J.  M.  Ives  Company,  engaged  in  steam 
and  general  factory  engineering  at  Dan- 
bury,  Conn.  The  transition  from  tech- 
nical to  executive  position  followed  in 
1891,  when  he  became  treasurer  and  man- 
ager of  the  T.  &  B.  Tool  Company  of 


WINTHROP    G.    BUSH  NELL 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


543 


Danbury,  continuing  there  almost  to  the 
end  of  the  century.  At  this  point  his  chief 
interest  was  temporarily  diverted  to  the 
mining  of  copper.  From  1900-1902  he 
was  vice-president  of  the  Cananea  Consoli- 
dated Copper  Company,  operating  mines 
at  Cananea,  province  of  Sonora,  Mexico. 
He  soon  returned  to  the  destined  channel 
of  his  labor,  which  has  widened  greatly 
since  the  year  of  1902  when  he  joined  the 
organization  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany. Until  1904  he  was  comptroller  at 
their  headquarters  in  Schenectady,  at  which 
early  date  he  became  assistant  to  the  Presi- 
dent, a  no  less  signal  acknowledgment  of 
capacity  than  his  election  in  1912  to  be  vice- 
president.  Mr.  Burchard's  counsel  is 
sought  by  numerous  interests  outside  the 
immediate  sphere  of  his  activity,  particu- 
larly in  the  field  of  electric  power  develop- 
ment. Besides  being  a  director  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  he  is  on  the 
boards  of  the  American  Power  &  Light 
Co.,  the  American  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany, the  Worthington  Pump  and  Machin- 


ery Corporation,  the  Western  Power  Cor- 
poration, the  Central  States  Electric  Co., 
the  Republic  Railway  &  Light  Co.,  the 
Schenectady  Illuminating  Co.,  the  Mo- 
hawk Gas  Co.,  Mahoning  and  Shenango 
Railway  &  Light  Co.,  and  the  Electrical 
Utilities  Corporation.  Nor  are  his  elec- 
trical affiliations  all  strictly  business.  He 
keeps  abreast  of  engineering  achievement 
in  every  department  through  the  fraternal 
associations  of  one  deeply  concerned  in  the 
welfare  of  his  profession.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  and  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
of  Great  Britain.  Catholicity  of  taste  in 
recreative  diversions  accounts  for  his  mem- 
bership in  many  clubs,  including  the  Metro- 
politan, University,  Bankers,  Railroad, 
Recess  and  others  of  like  character.  As  a 
keen  follower  of  outdoor  sports,  he  is  also 
on  the  roster  of  the  Riding,  Automobile, 
Sleepy  Hollow,  Piping  Rock  and  West- 
chester  Country  clubs. 


WINTHROP  G.  BUSHNELL 


Winthrop  G.  Bushnell,  of  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  has  been  active  in  the  development 
of  public  utilities  in  southern  New  England 
since  1890.  Working  his  way  through 
Yale  College,  he  graduated  in  1888,  and 
a  few  months  thereafter  identified  himself 
with  the  Edison  and  later  with  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  interests  in  southern  New 
England,  in  the  practical  applications  of 
electrical  machinery  for  central  station 
light,  power  and  railway  service. 

Mr.  Bushnell's  chief  contribution  to  this 
development  has  been  in  perceiving  the  in- 
trinsic value  of  certain  properties,  which 
he  has  purchased  and  improved  in  accord- 
ance with  the  best  engineering  practice.  In 
1905  he  bought  the  control  of  the  New 
Milford  (Conn.)  Power  Company,  which 
had  a  partially  completed  6,000  kw.  hydro- 
electric plant  of  no  feet  head  on  the 
Housatonic  River.  This  company  had  con- 
tracts to  supply  electric  power  at  Water- 
bury  and  New  Britain  for  a  period  of 
thirty  years.  By  wise  and  constructive 
methods  he  improved  the  property  until  its 
demonstrated  value  attracted  purchasers, 


to  whom  he  surrendered  it  at  a  substantial 
profit. 

For  more  than  half  a  century  the  old 
Falls  Village  Water  Power  Company  at 
Falls  Village,  Conn.,  had  been  idle  and 
abandoned.  He  purchased  it  and  later 
merged  it  into  the  Connecticut  Power  Com- 
pany with  the  New  London  Gas  and  Elec- 
tric Company;  and  under  the  guidance 
and  control  of  Stone  &  Webster,  the  Con- 
necticut Power  Company,  of  which  he  is 
vice-president,  has  now  become  one  of  the 
foremost  lighting  and  power  properties  of 
the  State,  supplying  northwestern  Connecti- 
cut, and — either  at  wholesale  or  retail — 
Torrington,  Winsted,  Thomaston,  Bristol 
and  Middletown.  The  company  also  sup- 
plies electric  power  at  wholesale  to  New 
Britain  and  Hartford  through  the  exist- 
ing local  companies. 

Shortly  after  the  Spanish-American  War 
Mr.  Bushnell  purchased  the  lighting  and 
power  plant  at  Camaguey,  Cuba,  the  larg- 
est inland  city,  rebuilt  and  enlarged  the 
plant  and  sold  it  several  years  later  to 
Canadians  who  wished  to  install  a  trolley 


544 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


system  in  that  city.  He  was  also  associ- 
ated for  several  years  with  the  late  Alden 
M.  Young,  of  Branford,  one  of  the  pio- 
neer builders  of  trolley  roads;  but  on  close 
study  he  found  that  many  trolley  proper- 
ties were  not  as  substantial  as  they  should 
be,  and  he  disposed  of  all  such  investments 
advantageously  and  in  time  to  escape  finan- 
cial loss. 

During  the  World  War  Mr.  Bushnell 
was  chairman  of  the  State  executive  com- 
mittee in  1917  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  War 
Work  campaign,  whose  State  budget  was 
$700,000.  Connecticut  was  the  first  State 
to  secure  its  quota  and  then  raised  as  much 
more.  He  was  chairman  of  the  State  ex- 
ecutive committee  for  the  United  War 
Work  campaign  in  November,  1918,  and 
in  this  capacity  helped  to  raise  $4,300,000, 
which  was  eighty  per  cent,  more  than  the 
State's  quota;  only  one  northern  State, 
Delaware,  exceeded  Connecticut's  percent- 
age of  oversubscription  in  this  National 
campaign.  Ex-President  William  Howard 
Taft  was  secured  by  Mr.  Bushnell  to  open 
both  the  Red  Triangle  and  the  United 
War  Works  campaigns  and  gave  them 
such  an  impetus  at  the  start  that  the  State 
conference  of  leaders  voted  unanimously 
to  accept  and  raise  twenty-five  per  cent, 
more  than  the  State's  quota.  The  people 
of  Connecticut  responded  most  generously, 
especially  in  the  latter  campaign,  in  recog- 
nition of  the  heroic  work  of  the  26th  Di- 
vision which  had  been  in  the  thickest  of 
all  the  fighting  by  the  American  forces  in 
France. 

That  Mr.  Bushnell  inherited  some  vi- 
sion and  constructive  ability  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  his  father,  the  late  Cor- 
nelius S.  Bushnell,  was  responsible  for  the 
financing  and  quick  construction  of  Capt. 
John  Ericsson's  Monitor,  the  first  tur- 
reted  warship,  whose  victory  over  the  Con- 
federate Merrimac,  March  9,  1862,  was 
the  turning  point  in  the  naval  affairs  of  the 
Civil  War.  He  was  also  one  of  the  build- 
ers of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad. 

Mr.  Bushnell  lives  in  New  Haven.  He 
is  president  of  the  New  Haven  Country 
Club  and  a  member  of  four  other  golf 
clubs.  He  is  a  member  of  Center  (Congre- 
gational) Church,  a  director  in  the  local 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  a  member  of  both  the 
Union  League  and  Railroad  Clubs,  of 
New  York  City. 


FRED  BRAINARD  COREY 

Engineering,     invention,     salesmanship 
and  sundry  other  occupations  are  united  in 
the  chronicle  of  Mr.  Corey's  professional 
work.      Fred  Brainard  Corey  was   origi- 
nally a  New  York  man,  born  at  Homer, 
September  28,    1869,  taking  up  electrical 
engineering  studies  at  Cornell  University 
and  graduating  in   1892  with  the  degree 
of     mechanical     engineer.       Immediately 
thereafter  he  went  into  the  employ  of  the 
Elektron     Manufacturing     Company,     of 
Springfield,    Mass.,    makers    of    the    once 
popular   Perret  electric  motors   and  gen- 
erators.    Several  months'  intensive  train- 
ing in  their  office  and  factory  departments 
fitted   him    to    become   the   Eastern    New 
England  representative  at  Boston,  and  he 
thus  acquired  early  a  practical  sales  and 
engineering   experience.      He   is   now  effi- 
ciency engineer  of  the  Pittsburgh  Valve  & 
Fittings    Company,   making   his   home    at 
Barberton,   Ohio.      But  during  the   inter- 
vening years  he  was  active  in  a  wide  range 
of  endeavor,  serving  successively  the  A.  B. 
See  Electric  Elevator  Co.,  as  electrical  en- 
gineer, the  Springfield  Elevator  &  Pump 
Co.   as  secretary  and  superintendent,   the 
General   Electric    Company   as   designing 
engineer,  and  the  Union  Switch  &  Signal 
Co.   as   engineer  of   inspection   and  tests. 
Mr.    Corey's    inherited   instincts,    coupled 
with  his  first  studies  in  physics,  bred  a  pen- 
chant for  invention  which  has  been  culti- 
vated to  the  extent  of  some  seventy-eight 
United   States    patents    (others   pending) 
taken  out  on  numerous  electrical  and  me- 
chanical devices,  for  the  most  part  relat- 
ing to  electric  and  steam  railway  opera- 
tion.    Engineering  subjects  form  the  con- 
tent of  articles  which  he  frequently  con- 
tributes to  general  and  technical  publica- 
tions, and  he  has  delivered  timely  lectures 
of   similar  character  before   professional 
societies.    Mr.   Corey  is  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,   a   member  of  the 
American    Society    of     Mechanical   Engi- 
neers; and  a  long  line  of  Colonial  ancestry 
brings  him  into  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


545 


CHARLES    DAY 


JOHN    E.    ZIMMERMAN 


Day  &  Zimmerman,  Inc.,  Philadelphia,  Designing,    Constructing   and   Operating   Engineers 


After  the  discoverer,  the  inventor  and 
the  manufacturer  had  brought  their  offer- 
ing of  electricity  and  the  apparatus  for  its 
application  to  the  world's  work,  came 
those  whose  function  it  was  to  assemble 
the  various  elements  so  as  to  meet  the  spe- 
cific industrial  and  public  needs.  The 
development  of  the  large  central  power  sta- 
tion, with  its  transmission  system  and  its 
network  of  distribution  lines,  has  unques- 
tionably been  the  most  noteworthy  achieve- 
ment in  this  line.  This  function  came  to 
embrace  the  multitudinous  factors  involved 
in  the  correct  estimate  of  the  amount  and 
character  of  business  obtainable  and  the 
provisions  which  should  be  made  for  the 
supply  of  power;  the  selection  of  the 
power  plant  site,  with  due  reference  to 


such  matters  as  water  and  fuel  supply, 
transmission  requirements,  etc. ;  the  design 
and  construction  of  buildings,  transmission 
and  distribution  systems  and  installation  of 
equipment.  Then,  in  order  to  make  their 
work  more  effective,  the  engineers  by 
degrees  assumed  the  functions  of  actual 
operation.  The  present-day  engineering 
organization's  activities  therefore  will 
often  be  found  to  include  not  only  experts 
in  preliminary  determination  of  require- 
ments, in  design  and  construction,  but  men 
who  install  and  supervise  the  detail  meth- 
ods of  production,  distribution,  securing 
new  business,  dealing  with  customers;  men 
who  dictate  the  utility's  policies  concerning 
public  relations,  make  rates,  deal  with 
competitive  situations  and  even  take  an 
active  part  in  financing  the  company. 


546 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


A.  j.  DECAMP 


Back  in  1881,  about  the  time  the  Brush 
Electric  Light  Company  was  empowered 
to  provide  electric  lighting  for  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  under  the  first  ordinance 
passed  for  such  a  purpose,  the  company 
acquired  the  services  of  a  young  man  who 
was  to  become  one  of  its  staunch  pillars. 
A.  J.  DeCamp  effected  an  entrance  into  the 


A.  j.  DECAMP 

electrical  fold  by  a  policy  curiously  strange 
to  the  ways  of  modern  youth,  but  then  the 
business  ways  of  1920  seem  less  direct  and 
simple  than  those  of  1881.  However  that 
may  be,  Mr.  DeCamp,  when  he  joined  the 
Brush  Electric  Company,  was  minus  elec- 
trical experience  though  plus  genuine  en- 
thusiasm and  confidence  in  himself,  which 
he  transmitted  to  certain  prominent  execu- 
tives of  the  day,  including  the  late  Thomas 
Dolan,  who  started  him  off  with  the  "Let- 
us-see-what-you-can-do"  injunction.  He 
did  not  ask  for  any  salary  and  he  did  not 
get  any.  The  powers  somehow  forgot  to 
put  him  on  the  payroll,  but  in  the  mean- 


time he  was  living  on  the  accumulated 
savings  of  his  early  thrift,  and  rapidly  as- 
suming important  responsibilities  in  the 
business  management  of  the  company.  He 
actually  directed  others  whose  salaries  ran 
into  substantial  figures  and  handled  large 
sums  of  money  while  still  without  a  cent 
of  remuneration  for  himself.  Of  course 
the  company  was  awakened  to  this  fact  at 
the  end  of  a  year  or  so  and  adjusted  mat- 
ters to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 
Since  then  Mr.  DeCamp  has  served  con- 
tinuously in  the  capacity  of  secretary  and 
general  manager  until  recently,  when  he 
ostensibly  retired.  Lifelong  habits  are  not 
easily  cast  off  by  a  business  man  of  his 
school. 

In  point  of  fact  he  is  still  at  his  desk, 
active,  hale  and  hearty.  The  Brush  Elec- 
tric Light  Company  and  its  successor,  the 
Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  stand  in 
his  debt  for  years  of  sterling  service,  during 
which  he  has  been  instrumental  in  promot- 
ing the  healthy  growth  of  the  business. 

Mr.  DeCamp  is  country  bred,  of  French 
Huguenot  stock,  born  at  Georgetown,  Bur- 
lington County,  N.  J.,  April  2,  1842,  and 
raised  on  his  grandfather's  farm.  He  ar- 
rived in  Philadelphia  in  1859  and  appren- 
ticed himself  to  Sharpless  Brothers,  a 
wholesale  drygoods  house,  remaining  with 
them  for  eight  years.  Then  he  took  a  nine- 
year  term  in  the  grocery  business,  followed 
by  five  years  of  experience  in  insurance.  He 
had  the  old-fashioned  Yankee  versatility 
and  adaptability,  and  thus  equipped  won 
an  honored  place  in  the  electrical  frater- 
nity, as  told  above.  Mr.  DeCamp  has 
been  a  lifelong  Republican.  He  has  never 
become  a  principal  in  political  struggles, 
but  he  has  served  one  term  in  the  Philadel- 
phia City  Council.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
UnionLeague  Club  of  Philadelphia  andwas 
formerly  member  of  leading  clubs  in  New 
York.  In  ways  of  diversion  he  became 
known  for  the  skilled  use  of  gun  and  rod. 

Mr.  DeCamp's  office  is  at  1000  Chest- 
nut Street,  Philadelphia. 


KERN    DODGE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


547 


KERN  DODGE 


As  a  consulting  engineer,  Kern  Dodge 
has  rendered  service  to  more  than  five 
hundred  clients.  A  space  of  nearly  twenty 
years  of  broad  experience  is  covered,  from 
the  time  when  he  came  a  partner  in  the 
firm  of  Dodge  &  Day,  to  1912,  when  he 
sold  his  interest  in  that  firm,  and  from 
then  to  date  in  his  independent  practice. 
Industries  of  Philadelphia  and  vicinity  in 
particular,  and  of  the  country  in  general, 
have  many  cases  in  which  Mr.  Dodge  has 
been  concerned,  and  can  testify  to  the 
excellence  of  his  judgment  and  constructive 
ability.  His  expert  knowledge  has  been 
applied  to  the  design  and  layout  of  indus- 
trial plants  and  public  utility  properties  and 
to  the  supervision  of  their  construction. 
This  has  included  work  of  especial  note 
on  the  Panama  canal.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  industrial  enterprises  with  which  he 
is  connected  as  a  director  or  otherwise. 
Two  of  these  are  the  Link  Belt  Company 
and  the  Vacuum  Refrigerator  Company. 

Among  the  first  tasks  undertaken  by  Mr. 
Dodge  \vere  the  installations  in  1901  and 
1902  of  variable  speed  control  of  motors 
for  machine  tool  driving.  As  instance, 
four-wire  multi-voltage  systems  were  in- 
stalled in  the  Link  Belt  Company  plant 
and  that  of  the  Jeanesville  Iron  Works 
Company.  The  adaptation  of  modern 
electrical  methods  to  industrial  processes, 
and  the  modernizing  of  plants  was  one 
interesting  phase  of  his  earlier  career.  A 
great  deal  was  accomplished  in  the  begin- 
ning by  re-designing  old  machine  tools  for 
the  installation  of  individual  motor  drives. 
The  former,  in  addition  had  to  be  strength- 
ened to  withstand  the  new  requirements 
brought  about  by  the  introduction  of  high- 
speed steel.  During  the  same  early  period, 
elaborate  and  exhaustive  tests  of  high- 
speed steels  were  conducted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  meeting  the  new  demands  of 
machine  tool  design.  The  evolution  of 
machine  tool  practice  was  then  at  a  revo- 
lutionary stage,  affecting  the  whole  range 
of  metal  manufacturing  processes. 

The  Dodge  family  is  one  of  long  stand- 
ing in  America,  calling  to  mind  names 
associated  with  science  and  letters.  The 
father  of  Kern  Dodge  was  James  Mapes 
Dodge,  manufacturer  and  engineer  and  a 
past  president  of  the  American  Society  of 


Mechanical  Engineers.  A  great-grand- 
father was  Prof.  James  J.  Mapes,  an 
American  scientist  of  distinguished  attain- 
ments, and  there  was  Mary  Mapes  Dodge, 
a  grandmother,  who  was  the  originator  and 
editor  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Magazine. 

July  20,  1880,  in  Chicago,  Kern  Dodge 
was  born.  He  was  a  student  at  the 
Germantown  (Philadelphia)  Academy  and 
later  at  the  Drexel  Institute,  coming  out 
with  the  class  of  1901.  Even  in  his  school 
days,  Mr.  Dodge  displayed  an  omnivorous 
appetite  for  work  and  an  absorption  in 
advanced  problems  of  electrical  science  that 
was  hardly  short  of  precocious.  During 
the  four  years  preceeding  graduation,  he 
was  assiduously  laboring  before  and  after 
class  hours  at  the  electric  plant  of  the 
Link  Belt  Company  at  Nicetown.  He  was 
given  the  entire  responsibility  and  labor 
of  the  wiring  and  of  the  installation  of 
motors.  Already  to  his  credit  was  the 
building  of  small  motors  and  dynamos  up 
to  l/4  H.P.,  and  of  one  dynamo  of  2^  K. 
W.  which,  it  transpired,  gave  service  from 
1895  to  1915  and  is  said  to  still  be  in  good 
condition.  Prior  to  1897  he  was  accepting 
house  wiring  commissions.  He  could 
experiment  without  wires,  too,  and  very 
successfully,  constructing  a  wireless  tele- 
graph apparatus  in  1898  that  operated 
over  a  distance  of  1,000  feet. 

Mr.  Dodge  has  never  confined  his  ener- 
gies to  narrow  boundaries.  The  brief  but 
intensive  struggle  to  adjust  the  country's 
life  and  industry  to  a  European  war  found 
Mr.  Dodge  centering  his  attention  upon 
the  crucial  problems  of  munition  produc- 
tion. He  had  strong  support  for  the 
stand  he  took  in  advocacy  of  a  govern- 
ment civilian  rather  than  military  organi- 
zation in  control  of  the  munitions  industry. 

Mr.  Dodge  belongs  to  many  scientific 
societies  and  clubs,  among  which  are:  The 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers; American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers ;  Illuminating  Engineering  Soci- 
ety; Engineers'  Club,  of  New  York;  New 
York  Electrical  Society;  Franklin  Institute 
(of  which  he  is  manager) ,  Engineers'  Club, 
Union  League  Club,  Sea  View  Country 
Club  and  City  Club  of  Philadelphia;  also 
the  Aero  Club  of  America.  His  offices  are 
in  the  Morris  Building,  Philadelphia. 


548 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


GLENDOWER  DUNBAR 

The  city  of  Seattle,  Washington,  justly 
boasts  a  municipal  electric  system  without 
parallel  in  the  country.  It  comprises  a 
plant  valued  at  $8,000,000,  which  renders 
service  to  55,000  customers,  including  two 
hydro  plants  and  one  steam  plant  having 
a  combined  capacity  of  30,000  kw.  This, 
America's  most  ambitious  municipal  project 
of  its  kind,  has  been  created  entirely  since 
1904,  and  among  its  creators  the  name  of 
Glendower  Dunbar  ranks  high.  Every 
deed  of  his  professional  career  has  been 
as  a  milestone  in  the  rapid  extension  of 
the  Seattle  Municipal  Light  &  Power  Sys- 
tem; its  beginning  was  his  beginning  and 
its  growth  up  to  date  (1918)  finds  him 
appointed  assistant  superintendent  while 
continuing  in  the  post  of  chief  electrical 
engineer  assumed  in  1911.  His  first  task 
as  a  young  man  fresh  from  college,  was 
upon  transmission  line  construction.  He 
entered  the  machine  shop,  in  due  time  be- 
coming foreman,  and  from  there  was 
transferred  to  the  general  offices,  where 
he  became  chief  electrical  rate  clerk. 
Through  the  medium  of  his  attainments 
after  he  was  later  promoted  to  be  assist- 
ant electrical  engineer,  it  was  but  a  step 
to  his  still  greater  present  responsibilities. 
Probably  no  man  knows  more  intimately 
than  he  the  many  sided  problems  involved 
in  the  success  of  such  an  undertaking.  His 
part  in  this  one  has  been  described  in  de- 
tail in  Volume  3  of  the  Official  History 
of  Seattle.  Mr.  Dunbar  is  a  native  of 
Michigan,  born  Dec.  16,  1880,  at  New- 
burg,  but  he  owes  both  education  and  op- 
portunity to  his  adopted  State.  As  early 
as  1896  he  was  clerking  in  a  western  lum- 
ber mill.  Education  and  industry  went 
hand  in  hand,  for  during  his  school  days 
he  was  working  betimes  in  a  newspaper 
office,  in  a  grocery  store,  and  in  his  father's 
hardware  business.  At  the  University  of 
Washington,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1904,  he  was  president  of  his  class  in 
the  senior  and  junior  years.  Mr.  Dunbar 
is  a  Member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  and  the  Municipal 
League  of  Seattle. 


ELECTRIC  BOND  AND  SHARE 
COMPANY 

Electric  Bond  and  Share  Company  oc 
cupies  a  prominent  position  in  the  publi 
utility  field.  It  is  both  a  financing  and  in 
vesting  company  and  acts  as  fiscal  agent 
engineering  and  operating  manager  fo 
companies  in  which  it  is  interested.  It  ha 
organized  and  acts  as  fiscal  agent  for  sev 
eral  successful  holding  companies;  it  own 
various  amounts  of  securities  in  a  largi 
number  of  public  utility  companies,  and  i 
maintains  an  extensive  operating  and  engi 
neering  staff.  While  it  is  interested  in  com 
panics  operating  all  kinds  of  public  utilit 
service  its  principal  field  is  the  electric  ligh 
and  power  industry. 

The  company  was  incorporated  in  1905 
It  began  business  with  a  capital  stock  o 
$4,000,000,  equally  divided  between  pre 
ferred  and  common  shares  of  a  par  valui 
of  $100  each.  The  amount  of  capita 
stock  has  gradually  been  increased,  unti 
now  there  is  outstanding  a  total  of  $17, 
000,000,  one-half  being  preferred  and  one 
half  common  stock.  All  of  the  commoi 
stock  is  owned  by  the  General  Electrii 
Company.  The  company  also  has  a  sur 
plus  in  excess  of  $4,000,000,  so  that  it 
total  paid-up  capital  stock  and  surplus  ag 
gregates  more  than  $21,000,000. 

During  the  first  full  business  year  of  th< 
company  its  gross  income  was  $483,243 
For  the  year  ended  December  31,  1917 
its  gross  income  was  $3,140,020.  Fron 
the  beginning  of  business  up  to  Decembei 
31,  1917,  gross  income  aggregated  $15, 
745»953  and  net  income  $11,559,066 
During  this  period  dividends  amounting 
to  $2,627,639  were  paid  on  the  preferrec 
stock  and  $5,425,222  on  the  commor 
stock.  The  company's  surplus  and  undi< 
vided  profits  at  the  close  of  business  De 
cember  31,  1917,  after  reappraisement  ol 
securities  and  the  creation  of  a  reserve 
fund,  amounted  to  $4,393,665. 

Among  the  principal  companies  foi 
which  the  Electric  Bond  and  Share  Com- 
pany acts  as  fiscal  agent  on  November  ist, 
1918,  at  which  date  the  figures  in  this  ar- 
ticle were  prepared,  are  the  American 
Power  and  Light  Company,  American  Gas 
&  Electric  Company,  Utah  Securities  Cor- 
poration, Lehigh  Power  Securities  Corpo- 
ration, Carolina  Power  &  Light  Company 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


549 


nd  National  Securities  Corporation  and 
11  the  subsidiaries  of  these  companies. 
American  Power  &  Light  Company,  the 
irgest  of  the  groups  of  properties  for 
rhich  the  Electric  Bond  and  Share  Corn- 
any  acts  as  fiscal  agent,  controls  the  Kan- 
as  Gas  &  Electric  Company,  the  Pacific 
'ower  &  Light  Company,  the  Portland 
»as  &  Coke  Company,  the  Nebraska 
'ower  Company  and  the  Southwestern 
'ower  &  Light  Company.  These  compa- 
ies,  either  directly  or  through  controlled 
Dmpanies,  serve  a  total  of  194  communi- 
es,  of  which  174  are  supplied  with  elec- 
•ic  light  and  power.  Among  the  cities 
srved  with  electric  light  and  power  or 
as,  or  both,  by  the  American  Power  & 
,ight  Company  subsidiaries  are  Portland, 
lood  River  and  Astoria,  Oregon;  Walla 
lla  and  Yakima,  Wash. ;  Lewiston, 
daho,  Wichita,  Pittsburgh,  Hutchinson 
nd  Newton  Kan.;  Omaha,  Nebraska; 
ouncil  Bluffs,  la.,  and  Fort  Worth,  Waco, 
ralveston  and  El  Paso,  Tex.  The  total 
opulation  served  is  in  excess  of  i,- 
25,000.  The  annual  gross  earnings  of  all 
American  Power  &  Light  Company  prop- 
:rties  aggregate  approximately  $13,100,- 
>oo  and  the  annual  net  earnings  approxi- 
nately  $5,200,000. 

American  Gas  &  Electric  Company  con- 
rols  companies  operating  electric  light 
ind  power  systems  in  107  communities 
laving  an  aggregate  population  '  of 
^25,000.  Among  the  cities  served  are 
kranton,  Pa.;  Atlantic  City,  N.  J. ;  Ma- 
rion and  Muncie,  Ind. ;  Rocklford,  111. ; 
Wheeling,  W.  Va. ;  and  Canton,  Mount 
Vernon,  Fremont,  Fostoria,  Tiffin  and 
Newark,  Ohio.  The  annual  gross  earn- 
ings of  all  American  Gas  &  Electric  Com- 
pany subsidiaries  aggregate  approxi- 
mately $9,200,000  and  the  annual  net 
earnings  approximately  $2,750,000. 

Utah  Securities  Corporation  controls  the 
Utah  Power  &  Light  Company,  which 
:ompany,  either  directly  or  through  sub- 
sidiary companies,  supplies  electric  light 
and  power  service  in  an  extensive  territory 
in  Utah,  southeastern  Idaho  and  south- 
western Colorado.  More  than  100  com- 
munities are  thus  served,  among  the  most 
important  cities  being  Salt  Lake  City,  Og- 
den,  Provo  and  Logan,  Utah;  Idaho  Falls, 
Rexburg,  Preston  and  Montpelier,  Idaho; 


and  Durango,  Telluride,  Montrose  and 
Delta,  Colo.  Street  railway  service  is 
also  supplied  in  Salt  Lake  City  and  gas 
service  in  Ogden.  Annual  gross  earnings 
of  all  the  Utah  Securities  Corporation 
properties  aggregate  approximately  $7,- 
000,000  and  net  earnings  approximately 
$3,750,000. 

Lehigh  Power  Securities  Corporation 
owns  all  the  stock  of  the  Lehigh  Naviga- 
tion Electric  Company  (and  through 
such  ownership  controls .  The  Harwood 
Electric  Company  and  other  subsidiaries), 
a  substantial  majority  of  both  classes  of 
stock  of  the  Lehigh  Valley  Transit  Com- 
pany (and  through  such  ownership  con- 
trols the  Lehigh  Valley  Light  &  Power 
Company)  and  all  the  stocks  of  companies 
formerly  controlled  by  the  Northern  Cen- 
tral Company.  The  operating  Compan- 
ies supply  a  total  of  90  communities  with 
electric  light  and  power,  gas  and,  or  street 
and  interurban  railway  service.  Among 
the  communities  served  are  Bethlehem, 
Allentown,  Williamsport,  Easton,  Norris- 
town,  Shenandoah  and  Mahony  City,  Pa., 
Hagerstown,  Md.,  and  Phillipsburg,  N.  J. 
The  total  population  served  is  estimated 
at  600,000.  Approximately  59,500  cus- 
tomers are  supplied  with  electric  light 
and  power  or  gas  service.  Annual 
gross  earnings  of  the  properties  are 
about  $8,100,000  and  net  earnings  about 
$2,640,000. 

Carolina  Power  &  Light  Company 
operates  electric  light  and  power  systems 
in  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  and  fifteen  other  com- 
munities, the  street  railway  and  gas  sys- 
tems in  Raleigh  and  the  gas  system  in 
Durham,  N.  C.  In  addition  to  operating 
these  properties,  the  Carolina  Power 
&  Light  Company  controls,  through 
ownership  of  all  their  common  stock,  ex- 
cept directors'  shares,  the  Yadkin  River 
Power  Company,  which  owns  and  oper- 
ates a  hydro-electric  development  with  an 
initial  installed  capacity  of  32,000  horse- 
power and  an  extensive  system  of  high- 
tension  transmission  and  distributing  lines, 
and  the  Asheville  Power  &  Light  Com- 
pany, which  operates  the  electric  light, 
street  railway  and  gas  services  in  Ashe- 
ville, N.  C.  The  Yadkin  River  Power  Com- 
pany, in  turn  owns  all  the  stock,  except 
directors'  shares,  of  the  Carolina  Gas  & 


550 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Electric  Company,  operating  electric  light 
and  power  systems  in  six  cities.  The  an- 
nual gross  earnings  of  all  properties  op- 
erated and  controlled  by  the  Carolina 
Power  &  Light  Company  are  in  excess  of 
$2,000,000  and  the  net  earnings,  are  in 
excess  of  $918,000. 

National  Securities  Corporation  con- 
trols the  Idaho  Power  Company,  which 
supplies  electric  light  and  power  service 
to  a  large  part  of  the  state  of  Idaho. 
Idaho  Power  Company  controls  the  Boise 
Valley  Traction  Company.  About  22,800 
customers  are  supplied  with  electric  light 
and  power  service.  Annual  gross  earn- 
ings of  the  properties  aggregate  approxi- 
mately $1,800,000  and  net  earnings  ap- 
proximately $825,000. 

The  properties  of  the  American  Power 
&  Light  Company,  American  Gas  &  Elec- 


tric Company,  Utah  Securities  Corpora- 
tion, Lehigh  Power  Securities  Corpora- 
tion, Carolina  Power  &  Light  Company 
and  National  Securities  Corporation  are 
located  in  nineteen  states.  A  total  of  573 
communities  are  served  by  the  operating 
companies.  The  aggregate  number  of 
customers  is  approximately  535,000.  The 
companies  have  aggregate  gross  earnings 
of  approximately  $41,200,000  and  aggre- 
gate net  earnings  of  approximately  $16,- 
100,000. 

The  earnings  of  the  operating  proper- 
ties have  grown  rapidly,  due  to  the  Electric 
Bond  and  Share  Company's  policy  of  con- 
structing the  most  modern  high  efficiency 
plants  with  the  purpose  in  view  of  provid- 
ing the  largest  and  best  service  to  the  pub- 
lic at  the  lowest  rates  consistent  with  the 
most  satisfactory  service. 


CHARLES  L.  EIDLITZ 


Looking  through  a  copy  of  "Notable 
New  Yorkers,"  issued  in  the  late  90*5,  one 
is  confronted  by  the  features  of  not  a  few 


CHARLES  L.  EIDLITZ 


of  the  public  men,  leaders  in  the  arts,  sci- 
ences and  industries,  who  are  still  among 


the  familiar  personalities.  A  sight  of  them 
in  youthful  guise  gives  a  curious  sensation 
of  the  transitory  nature  of  mundane  things 
and  emphasizes  the  interest  attached  to 
recording  within  the  covers  of  a  book  what 
might  not  otherwise  be  preserved.  In  this 
family  album  of  Father  Knickerbocker  ap- 
pears Charles  L.  Eidlitz.  We  do  not  mean 
to  suggest  that  Mr.  Eidlitz  is  to  be  iden- 
tified only  with  a  bygone  day,  but  that  now 
as  then  he  is  one  of  the  representative  fig- 
ures of  his  profession  in  the  metropolis. 
It  remains  to  briefly  chronicle  a  few  bio- 
graphical facts.  Mr.  Eidlitz  began  being 
a  New  Yorker  at  birth,  or  September  3, 
1866.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late  Marc 
Eidlitz,  well  known  in  New  York  construc- 
tion circles.  Things  electrical  were  his 
penchant  from  the  very  first.  As  a  boy 
he  was  one  of  the  numerous  youthful 
apprentices  at  the  old  Edison  Machine 
Works  on  Goerck  Street,  New  York  City. 
"Testing  boys"  they  were  called,  being 
u.>ed  in  the  testing  room.  About  two  years 
after  graduation  from  Columbia  Univer- 
sity in  the  Class  of  1888,  Mr.  Eidlitz  had 
formed  his  plan  for  an  independent  busi- 
ness, organizing  Charles  L.  Eidlitz  Com- 
pany, electrical  contractors.  The  firm's 
affairs  progressed  successfully  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  or  until,  as  president. 


WILLIAM     B.    ELLIOTT 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


551 


Mr.  Eidlitz  retired  in  1913,  bringing  its 
operations  to  a  close.  Though  nominally 
in  retirement  from  active  business,  he  is 
actually  a  very  busy  man  at  the  present 
day.  He  is  president  of  the  Metropolitan 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  which 
he  organized  in  1902,  president  of  the  At- 
lantic Electric  Goods  Company  of  recent 
inception,  and  interested  less  directly  in 
several  other  enterprises.  Mr.  Eidlitz's 
influence  has  been  strongly  felt  in  the  coun- 
sels of  his  associates,  the  electrical  con- 
tracting profession  at  large,  to  which  he 
has  brought  marked  organizing  and  execu- 
tive ability.  Of  the  fruits  of  this  participa- 


tion in  activities  of  extended  scope,  it  is 
to  be  recalled  that  he  founded  the  National 
Electrical  Contractors  Association,  serv- 
ing as  its  first  president  from  1901  to  1903, 
and  established  the  Building  Trades  Em- 
ployers' Association  of  New  York  City  in 
1903,  and  of  which  he  was  president  until 
1905.  Mr.  Eidlitz  is  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  the  Building 
Trades'  Club  and  a  founder  member  of 
Edison  Pioneers;  in  post-collegiate  inter- 
course, of  the  Columbia  University  and 
Delta  Upsilon  clubs;  also  the  Briarcliff 
Golf  Club.  Mr.  Eidlitz's  offices  are  at 
1170  Broadway,  and  his  residence  at  270 
Park  Avenue,  New  York  City. 


WILLIAM  BREWSTER  ELLIOTT 


The  record  of  accomplishment  made  by 
William  Brewster  Elliott  has  evidenced 
those  qualities  of  constructive  ambition 
combined  with  self  reliance  which  are 
associated  in  the  public  mind  with  the  up- 
building of  our  great  industries.  In  his 
own  sphere  he  began  at  an  early  age  to 
seek  out  opportunity.  By  dint  of  labor 
and  the  merit  of  his  ideas  he  has  achieved 
a  position  recognized  as  well  won.  Mr. 
Elliott's  native  town,  Montgomery,  Orange 
County,  New  York,  where  he  was  born 
December  22,  1866,  gave  him  an  academic 
schooling,  but  for  broader  education  he 
went  to  the  metropolis.  In  New  York  he 
started  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder,  learn- 
ing the  trade  of  machinist  as  an  appren- 
tice with  the  National  Machine  Company, 
at  15  i  West  29th  Street,  and  taking  special 
courses  at  Cooper  Union.  No  greater  self 
satisfaction  is  to  be  had  perhaps  than  that 
enjoyed  by  the  fortunate  individuals  who 
have  the  passion  for  making  things,  for 
handling  tools  and  watching  the  growth  of 
their  own  handiwork.  It  had  been  Mr. 
Elliott's  boyhood  delight  and  it  became 
fruitful  of  invention  in  after  years  when 
he  turned  his  attention  to  the  intricacies 
of  motor  construction.  Aided  by  his  friend, 
J.  W.  Eskholm,  he  perfected  and  patented, 
in  1894,  a  novel  motor  having  a  stationary 
armature  and  revolving  field.  The  design 
of  the  machine,  which  was  built  so  that 
the  brushes  ran  on  the  inside  of  the  com- 


mutator, overcame  the  imperfections  of 
similar  but  less  developed  types  of  motors. 
Mr.  Elliott  was  the  co-inventor  with  Mr. 
Eskholm  of  a  system  for  controlling  the 
speed  of  electric  motors  used  in  operating 
printing  presses.  Further,  and  in  a  like 
exercise  of  his  talent,  he  originated  the  so 
called  C.  &  C.  system  of  control,  by  means 
of  which  the  electrical  operation  of  news- 
paper printing  presses  was  much  acceler- 
ated and  improved.  The  worth  of  the 
system  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  it 
made  possible  a  speed  range  of  over  twenty 
to  one,  attained  without  armature  resis- 
tance or  any  mechanical  appliances  such  as 
gear  changes.  When  electric  welding  by 
the  arc  method  was  first  broached,  Mr. 
Elliott  was  among  those  whose  interest  was 
strongly  attracted,  so  much  so  that  he  has 
devoted  considerable  effort  to  encourag- 
ing the  commercial  adaptation  of  the  pro- 
cess and  to  advocating  the  use  of  the  con- 
stant current  dynamo  for  its  purpose. 
Upon  his  entrance  into  the  electrical  pro- 
fession Mr.  Elliott  was  favored  by  the 
friendship  of  Harvey  Lamb  Lufkin,  who, 
as  general  sales  agent  of  the  C.  &  C. 
Electric  Motor  Company,  was  instru- 
mental in  his  being  offered  and  accepting 
the  position  of  installing  engineer  with  that 
company.  His  hopes  were  brightened  by 
the  fine  future  predicted  for  the  industry 
and  the  encouragement  of  Mr.  Lufkin. 
Mr.  Lemuel  E.  Serrell  was  his  immediate 


552 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


superior,  and  their  plant  at  the  time  was  in 
the  Marvin  Safe  Company's  factory  on 
South  Fifth  Avenue,  near  Bleecker  Street, 
New  York.  Mr.  Elliott  remained  with  the 
company  through  its  reorganization  into 
the  C.  &  C.  Electric  Company,  at  which 
time  they  moved  to  a  new  plant  at  402  and 
404  Greenwich  Street,  New  York  City. 
This  new  plant,  at  402  Greenwich  Street, 
was  remarkable  for  being  the  first  to  be  so 
constructed  as  to  house  the  power  plant  in 
the  basement,  and  also  for  being  equipped 
with  independent  motors  operating  the  in- 
dividual machines  on  different  floors.  The 
plan  was  the  conception  of  H.  L.  Lufkin, 
who  had  the  practicability  of  his  ideas 
successfully  demonstrated.  When  the  plant 
was  again  moved,  this  time  to  Garwood, 
New  Jersey,  Mr.  Elliott  became  works 


manager.  Stated  in  chronological  se- 
quence, Mr.  Elliott's  engagements  in  the 
industry  were:  machinist  with  the  Na- 
tional Machine  Co. ;  machinist  with  the 
Manhattan  Railroad  Co.;  foreman  and 
installation  engineer  of  the  C.  &  C.  Electric 
Motor  Co.;  works  manager  and  general 
manager  of  the  C.  &  C.  Electric  Co. ;  presi- 
dent of  the  Garwood  Electric  Co. ;  and  fi- 
nally, his  present  position  as  partner  in  the 
prominent  firm  of  W.  B.  Elliott  &  Sons 
and  as  manager  of  the  C.  &  C.  Electric 
&  Manufacturing  Co.  He  was  one  of  the 
charter  members  of  the  National  Isolated 
Power  Plant  Association  and  its  treasurer 
for  the  first  year.  Mr.  Elliott  has  offices 
at  114  Liberty  Street,  New  York.  His 
home  is  at  256  Dudley  Avenue,  Westfield, 
New  Jersey. 


FORD,  BACON  &  DAVIS 


The  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis,  which 
is  one  of  the  foremost  in  the  United  States 
in  engineering  work  and  in  public  utility 
finance,  was  established  in  Philadelphia  in 
1894  by  Messrs.  Frank  R.  Ford  and 
George  W.  Bacon.  In  1895,  Mr.  George 
H.  Davis  was  admitted  to  partnership,  and 
in  1912  the  firm  was  further  enlarged  by 
the  admission  of  Mr.  Charles  F.  Uebel- 
acker,  Col.  Charles  N.  Black  and  Mr.  Wil- 
liam von  Phul. 

This  firm  has  specialized  in  public  utility 
engineering,  but  it  has  covered  a  broad 
field  not  only  in  professional  work  but  in 
the  superintendence  of  important  construc- 
tion of  industrial,  hydraulic  and  irrigation 
projects.  This  work  of  construction  super- 
intendence has  so  developed  that  within 
the  past  year  the  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis 
Corporation  has  been  organized  to  handle 
general  engineering  construction  under 
contract.  The  engineering  offices  of  the 
firm,  in  addition  to  consultation  and  design, 
handle  valuations,  reports  and  manage- 
ment of  public  utilities  and  of  industrial 
enterprises  which  present  engineering  prob- 
lems. 

Frank  R.  Ford  was  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  with  the  de- 

grCL°f  B'S'  in  l89°'  and  with  the  degree 
of  M.E.  in  1891.  Previous  to  the  organi- 
zation of  the  firm  he  was  connected  with 


several  electric  manufacturing  concerns, 
including  the  Short  Electric  Railway  Co. 
of  Cleveland.  In  1896-1897  he  repre- 
sented the  American  Electric  Railway 
Association  at  the  National  Conference  of 
Standard  Electrical  Rules,  which  formu- 
lated the  original  National  Electrical  Code. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association's  Committfe 
on  Federal  Relations  since  1908  and  has 
also  served  as  Chairman  of  its  Committee 
on  Rates  and  Fares,  which  submitted  a 
noteworthy  report  in  1911.  In  July,  1917, 
Mr.  Ford  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Edge  of  New  Jersey  as  a  member  of  the 
New  York,  New  Jersey  Port  &  Harbor 
Development  Commission,  which  is  mak- 
ing a  comprehensive  study  and  plan  of 
development  of  the  Port  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Ford  has  contributed  many  articles  to 
technical  journals,  including  the  Electric 
Railway  Journal  and  Annals  of  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers  and  of  the  Univer- 
sity, Railroad  and  Downtown  Clubs  of 
New  York  City. 

George  W.  Bacon  was  graduated  from 
Cornell  University  with  the  degree  of  M.E. 
in  1892.  Subsequently  he  was  employed 
by  electrical,  manufacturing  and  engineer- 
ing companies  until  1894,  when  he  organ- 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


553 


ized  with  Mr.  Ford  the  original  engineer- 
ing firm.  Among  the  earliest  undertakings 
upon  which  he  was  engaged  was  the  trans- 
formation of  the  mule  car  street  railways 
of  New  Orleans  to  electric  traction,  includ- 
ing the  Orleans  Railroad  Co.,  the  Canal  & 
Claiborne  Railroad  Co.  and  the  re-equip- 
ment of  the  New  Orleans  &  Carrollton 
Railroad,  Light  &  Power  Co.,  and  subse- 
quently he  was  actively  connected  with  the 
reconstruction  and  modernization  of  many 
public  utility  properties  in  Washington, 
Atlanta,  Birmingham,  Memphis,  Knox- 
ville,  Nashville,  Houston,  Little  Rock  and 
Kansas  City. 

For  eight  years  he  was  a  Director  and 
Vice-President  of  the  United  Railways  In- 
vestment Company,  owning  and  controlling 
the  Pittsburgh  and  San  Francisco  public 
utilities  and,  during  this  period,  President 
of  the  Sierra  and  San  Francisco  Power 
Company,  in  the  development  of  hydro- 
electric power  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas  and 
its  transmission  to  San  Francisco  and  other 
distribution  points  in  central  California. 
In  1915,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  E.  R. 
Stettinius,  during  his  absence  in  Europe, 
Mr.  Bacon  was  the  acting  head,  of  the 
Export  Department  of  J.  P.  Morgan  & 
Co.,  then  engaged  in  the  purchase  of  muni- 
tions in  the  United  States  for  the  British 
and  French  Governments.  Mr.  Bacon  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  Metropolitan  Mu- 
seum of  Art  and  the  University,  Cornell, 
Piping  Rock  and  a  number  of  other  clubs 
and  organizations. 

George  H.  Davis  also  received  the  de- 
gree of  M.E.  at  Cornell  in  1892.  He  was 
connected  with  several  contracting  and  en- 
gineering concerns  engaged  in  the  recon- 
struction of  electric  railways  in  Greater 
New  York  and  Baltimore  previous  to  his 
connection  with  this  firm  in  1895.  Mr. 
Davis  has  developed  a  number  of  inven- 
tions, among  them  being  the  inverted 
third  rail,  a  duplicate  system  of  steam  pip- 
ing for  power  stations  and  various  acces- 
sories and  devices  for  street  cars.  Work- 
ing jointly  with  other  members  of  the  firm, 
Mr.  Davis  has  been  engaged  in  the  inves- 
tigation, financing,  design,  construction, 
operation,  management  and  valuation  of 
various  plants,  industries  and  properties, 
including : 


1.  Rail  and  ocean  terminals  and  term- 
inal  equipment,    including  belt   railroads, 
railroad  yards,  wharves,  warehouses,  and 
grain  elevators. 

2.  Interurban  and  street  railroads. 

3.  Hydraulic  and  steam  power  plants 
and  power  and  light  transmission  and  dis- 
tribution systems. 

4.  Transfer,   handling  and  conveying 
systems. 

5.  Mining  and  industrial  plants. 

He  has  held  various  positions  in  con- 
nection with  these  transportation  systems, 
plants  and  industries,  including  those  of 
foreman,  superintendent  of  construction 
and  operation,  manager  and  president,  in- 
cluding the  presidency  of  the  American 
Cities  Company. 

Mr.  Davis  has  contributed  numer- 
ous articles  to  technical  publications.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers,  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  Louisiana  Engineering 
Society,  American  Gas  Institute,  American 
Electric  Railway  Association,  Railroad, 
Engineers  and  Cornell  Clubs  of  New  York, 
and  the  Pickwick,  Boston,  Country  and  va- 
rious other  clubs  of  New  Orleans. 

Charles  F.  Uebelacker  was  graduated  in 
1890  as  Electrical  Engineer  from  Prince- 
ton University.  He  was  subsequently  em- 
ployed by  various  manufacturing  concerns, 
having  been  designing  engineer  of  the  Short 
Electric  Railway  Co.  and  assistant  super- 
intendent of  the  Brush  Manufacturing  Co. 
of  Cleveland,  division  superintendent  and 
chief  engineer  of  the  Consolidated  Trac- 
tion Co.  of  Newark,  N.  J.,  and  chief  engi- 
neer and  manager  of  the  Peckham  Truck 
Co.  of  Kingston,  N.  Y.  In  1899  he  be- 
came connected  with  the  firm  of  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis,  representing  them  as  vice- 
president  and  general  manager  of  the 
Elmira  Water,  Light  &  Railroad  Co. 
From  1902  to  1912  he  was  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  firm  and  in  the  latter  year  became 
a  partner.  In  addition  to  a  number  of 
important  inventions  of  electrical  appa- 
ratus and  street  railway  trucks,  he  de- 
veloped the  scientific  basis  upon  which 
the  operation  of  the  Union  Loop  of  the 
Chicago  Elevated  Railways  was  conducted 
and  also  a  basically  sound  method  of  de- 
termining the  ultimate  yield  of  natural  gas 


554 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


wells.  Mr.  Uebelacker  is  a  member  of  the 
Engineers'  Club,  the  Lotos  Club,  the  Rail- 
road Club  and  Princeton  Club  of  New 
York,  the  Chicago  Athletic  Association  and 
the  University  and  Athletic  Clubs  of  Pitts- 
burgh, and  also  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  and  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers. 

Charles     N.     Black     graduated     from 
Princeton  University  with  the  degree   of 
A.B.,  in  1888,  and  after  a  post-graduate 
course  in  the  same  University,  was  given 
the    degree    of    Electrical    Engineer    in 
1890.      His    business    career   commenced 
with  the  Brush  Electric  Co.,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  with  which  concern  he  was  connected 
for  five  years,  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
time  as  superintendent  and  general  elec- 
trician.   He  then  accepted  a  position  with 
the  Walker  Manufacturing  Co.  of  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  and  continued  with  that  con- 
cern until  it  was  acquired  by  the  Westing- 
house  Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company. 
He  became   associated  with   the   firm   of 
Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  in  1900,  and  after 
reconstructing   electrically  the   cable   rail- 
ways of  Kansas  City,  became  Chief  En- 
gineer and  finally  Vice-President  and  Gen- 
eral Manager  of  the  Kansas  City  Railway 
&  Light  Co.       In  1907  he  took  the  posi- 
tion  of  vice-president   and   general  man- 
ager of  the  United  Railroads  of  San  Fran- 
cisco.   In  1  9  1  6  Mr.  Black  returned  to  New 
York  and  was  engaged  in  the  Export  De- 
partment of  J.   P.   Morgan  &  Co.   until 
January  i,  1918.     In  January,  1918,  Mr 
Black  entered  the  military  service  with  a 
MajorS  commission  in  the   Procurement 
Division    of    the    Ordnance    Department. 
He  subsequently  became  the  head  of  this 
important  division  of  the  Government  with 
the  rank  of  Colonel,  which    position    he 
filled  until  ordered  to  France  for  duty  on 
the  staff  of  Brigadier  General  Samuel  Mo 
Roberts    of    the    Ordnance    Department. 
He    has    been    vice-president    and    pres- 
ident of  the  American  Electric   Railway 
Association,    and    is    a    member    of    the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 

r 


>  o 

,  University,  Bohemian,  Burlin- 
game  Country  clubs  of  San  Francisco  and 
Chevy  Chase  of  Washington  ' 


William  von  Phul  was  graduated  from 
Tulane  University  in  1891  as  B.S.  and  two 
years  later  as  M.E.     He  was  subsequently 
employed  as  general  superintendent  of  the 
Louisiana  Electric  Light  Co.   and  of  the 
Edison  Electric  Co.  of  New  Orleans  until 
1902,    when   he    became    associated    with 
Messrs.   Sargent  &  Lundy,   engineers,   of 
Chicago.      He    represented    that   firm    as 
engineer  in  charge  of  construction  for  the 
Cincinnati  Gas  &  Electric  Co.,  later  becom- 
ing general   superintendent  of  that  com- 
pany, until  1905,  when  he  was  employed  by 
Ford,   Bacon  &  Davis.     Since    1907   Mr. 
von   Phul   has    assisted   in   the  firm's   en- 
gineering and  operation  of  the  street  rail- 
way and  lighting  companies  in  a  number 
of  large  Southern  cities.     In  1912  he  be- 
came  a   member  of  this  firm.      He   is   a 
member    of    the    American     Society    of 
Mechanical     Engineers,      the     American 
Society    of     Civil     Engineers,     and     the 
Louisiana    Engineering    Society,     and    is 
responsible     for    a    number    of     impor- 
tant inventions    which    have    made    pos- 
sible the  construction,   at  greatly  reduced 
cost,  of  the  large  cotton  warehouse  terminal 
which  the  firm  has  designed  and  constructed 
at  New  Orleans  for  the  Board  of  Port 
Commissioners  of  the  State  of  Louisiana. 
He  prepared,  in  conjunction  with  members 
of  the  firm  and  its  organization,  reports: 
For  the  State  of  Louisiana  on 

1 i )  New  Orleans  Ship  Canal  and  Ter- 
minal.; 

(2)  Analysis  of  Present  Operation  of 
the  Port  of  New  Orleans  with  Present  and 
Proposed  Systems  of  Rates. 

(3)  Cotton  Warehouses  and  Terminal 
of  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

For  the  Galveston  Wharf  Company: 
Structures  on  Pier  41. 

For  the  City  of  Mobile:  Harbor  De- 
velopment. 

The  various  reports  for  the  State  of 
Louisiana  include  the  investigation  of  har- 
bors and  harbor  structures,  including  canals, 
canal  locks,  bridges,  tunnels,  terminal  rail- 
road yards,  belt  railroads,  wharves,  light- 
erage lines  and  commodity  warehouses  of 
foreign  harbors  and  ports,  including  Ham- 
Srg'L  emen'  Bremerhaven,  Liverpool, 
Manchester  and  various  ocean-rail  termi- 
nals of  the  United  States.  These  reports 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


555 


also  involved  recommendations  regarding 
the  co-ordination  of  the  rail  transportation 
systems  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  terminat- 
ing in  the  Gulf  ports,  particularly  New  Or- 
leans, the  steamship  lines  using  these  ports 
and  the  port  equipment  employed  in  the 
transfer  and  storage  of  freight. 

In  June,  1916,  Mr.  von  Phul  succeeded 
Mr.  Black  as  vice-president  and  general 
manager  of  the  United  Railroads  of  San 
Francisco  and  also  conducts  the  business 
of  the  firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  in  its 
San  Francisco  office.  Mr.  von  Phul  is  a 
member  of  the  Boston  Club  of  New  Or- 
leans; New  Orleans  Chess,  Checkers  and 
Whist;  Bohemian  Club  of  San  Francisco; 
Olympic  Club  of  San  Francisco;  Engineers 
Club  of  San  Francisco;  and  of  the  Rail- 
road Club  of  New  York. 

The  main  office  of  the  firm  of  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis  is  at  115  Broadway,  New 
York  City,  with  branch  offices  in  New  Or- 
leans and  San  Francisco.  The  firm's  or- 
ganization is  most  complete  and  includes 
a  large  force  of  mechanical,  electrical  and 
civil  engineers,  managers,  accountants, 
statisticians  and  expert  operators  of  promi- 
nence in  their  special  lines.  It  has  accum- 
ulated one  of  the  largest  collections  of 
statistics  on  the  electric  railway  and  power 
industry  in  this  country,  and  it  has  had,  as 
the  personnel  of  the  individual  members 
show,  the  widest  experience,  not  only  with 
expert  work  of  this  character,  but  also  as 
engineers  in  the  planning  and  construction 
of  electric  railway  and  power  systems  and 
in  the  supervision  of  their  operations. 
Some  idea  of  the  wide  scope  of  the  work  of 
Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  may  be  gleaned  from 
a  brief  mention  of  their  activities. 

The  firm  has  acted  as  engineers  in  the 
construction,  improvement  and  valuation 
or  extended  examination  of  street  railway, 
electric  light  and  power  properties  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Brooklyn,  Chicago, 
St.  Louis,  Cleveland,  Pittsburgh,  Balti- 
more, San  Francisco,  New  Orleans,  Wash- 
ington (D.  C),  Kansas  City,  Toledo,  At- 
lanta, Birmingham,  Memphis,  Houston, 
Providence,  Richmond,  Nashville,  Duluth, 
Sioux  City,  Little  Rock,  Montgomery, 
Elmira,  Knoxville  and  numerous  other 
smaller  cities,  and  of  various  interurban 
and  suburban  plants  in  many  of  the  former 


and  other  cities.  During  the  last  decade 
the  firm  has  paid  especial  attention  to  the 
broad  engineering  and  expert  problems 
dealt  with  by  public  bodies,  such  as  the  In- 
terstate Commerce  Commission  and  vari- 
ous public  utility  commissions  and  state 
and  municipal  authorities  throughout  the 
country.  In  1910  the  firm  was  employed 
by  the  Pennsylvania  State  Railroad  Com- 
mission to  make  an  investigation  of  the 
property  and  operations  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Rapid  Transit  Co.,  with  recommenda- 
tions covering  various  complaints,  all  of 
which  are  embodied  in  its  report  in  two  vol- 
umes, dated  March  7,  1911.  This  report 
is  notable  from  the  fact  that  it  prescribes 
certain  standards  by  which  the  adequacy 
and  efficiency  of  a  railway  company's  op- 
erations may  be  determined.  The  firm  was 
also  employed  by  the  City  of  Philadelphia 
in  1912  to  investigate  and  report  upon  a 
proposed  system  of  subways  and  elevated 
railroads  for  that  city.  As  a  result,  a  re- 
port was  prepared  in  collaboration  with 
Transit  Commissioner  A.  M.  Taylor, 
which  is  believed  to  be  the  most  compre- 
hensive study  of  high-speed  transportation 
in  large  cities  that  has  yet  been  made. 
The  firm  was  subsequently  engaged  for 
three  years  as  consulting  engineers  on  the 
construction  design  of  the  system,  which 
will  cost  approximately  $100,000,000.  In 
1914  it  was  engaged  by  the  State  of  Lou- 
isiana to  investigate  and  report  upon  a 
cotton  warehouse  terminal  at  New  Orleans, 
and  later  to  design  and  supervise  the  con- 
struction of  this  work.  Additional  work 
for  the  same  state  comprised  the  design 
and  construction  of  a  grain  elevator  and 
the  design  of  a  terminal  ship  canal.  The 
firm  was  also  retained  by  the  City  of  Mo- 
bile to  report  upon  and  design  a  compre- 
hensive system  of  harbor  improvements. 
Among  the  firm's  most  notable  work  was 
its  report  in  1905  upon  the  property  and 
operations  of  the  Chicago  City  Railway 
Co.,  its  report  upon  the  street  railway  and 
other  utility  systems  of  the  Philadelphia 
Company  of  Pittsburgh,  which  is  consid- 
ered to  be  the  most  comprehensive  report 
of  a  public  utility  ever  made;  and  its  work 
for  the  receivers  of  the  Metropolitan 
Street  Railway  Co.  of  New  York  City  in 
the  rehabilitation  of  and  valuation  of  this 
property. 


556 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


The  firm  has  taken  an  active  and  pro- 
gressive part  in  the  development  of  valua- 
tion methods  and  principles  and  has  ex- 
tended this  work  from  the  public  utility  to 
the  industrial  field.  This  work  has  as- 
sumed such  proportions  that  a  special  de- 
partment to  handle  Valuations  and  Reports 
has  been  organized.  This  firm's  experi- 
ence, equipment  and  organization  is  such 
that  it  is  prepared  to  furnish  complete  en- 
gineering, management,  valuation  and  con- 
tracting service  for  a  wide  variety  of  un- 
dertakings, such  as: 

Inland,  port  and  railroad  terminals, 
hydro-electric  power  plants,  steam  power 
plants,  public  utilities,  steam  and  electric 
railroads,  docks,  warehouses,  grain  eleva- 
tors, municipal  improvements,  tunnels  and 
subways,  gas  and  coal  distillation  by- 
product plants,  industrial  and  manufactur- 
ing plants,  irrigation,  real  estate  and  town 
planning  projects. 

Heavy  demand  was  made  upon  this 
firm's  services  for  engineering  and  con- 
struction work  involved  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  Its  more  important  activities 
in  this  connection  comprised  the  following: 

During  the  design  and  construction  of 
the  Smokeless  Powder  Plants  at  Nashville, 
Tenn.,  and  Nitro,  W.  Va.,  with  daily  pro- 
duction capacities  of  900,000  and  500,000 
pounds  respectively  of  smokeless  powder, 
Mr.  C.  F.  Uebelacker,  for  the  firm,  acted 
as  Chief  Consulting  Engineer  to  Mr.  D. 
C.  Jackling,  Special  Director  of  the  U.  S. 
Government  Smokeless  Powder  Plants; 
the  design  and  supervision  of  construction 
for  the  Newport  News  Shipbuilding  &  Dry 
Dock  Co.  of  a  boiler  plant  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  for  the  manufacture  of  marine  boilers 
for  the  U.  S.  Shipping  Board  Emergency 
Fleet  Corporation;  design  and  construction 
for  the  Ordnance  Department,  U.  S. 
Army,  of  the  smokeless  fuel  (carbocoal) 
and  by-product  coal  distillation  plant 
erected  by  the  International  Coal  Products 
Corporation  at  South  Clinchfield,  Va. ; 
design  and  supervision  for  the  Construc- 
tion Division  of  the  U.  S.  Army  of  the 
Army  Supply  Depot  located  on  the  Missis- 
sippi River  at  New  Orleans;  representa- 
tion as  engineers  of  the  National  Petro- 
leum War  Service  Committee  in  the  studies 
made  by  this  Committee  with  a  view  to 


equalizing  the  retail  prices  of  petroleum 
products,  and  in  their  other  negotiations 
with  the  Oil  Division  of  the  U.  S.  Fuel  Ad- 
ministration; representation  as  engineers 
of  the  War  Service  Committee  of  the 
Typewriter  Industry,  comprising  all  the 
manufacturers  of  typewriters  in  the  United 
States;  representation  as  engineers  of  Mr. 
Joseph  F.  Guffey,  Director  of  the  Bureau 
of  Sales  for  the  Alien  Property  Custodian 
of  the  U.  S.  Government,  Mr.  A.  Mitchell 
Palmer,  this  work  involving  the  valuation 
of  a  large  number  of  industrial  and  other 
plants;  preparation  of  studies  and  maps 
respecting  the  street  railway  facilities 
along  and  adjacent  to  the  Atlantic  Coast, 
under  the  direction  of  the  American  Elec- 
tric Railway  Association,  for  the  use  of 
the  War  Department;  and,  as  before 
stated,  Colonel  C.  N.  Black,  of  the  firm, 
was  during  the  year  1918  attached  to  the 
Procurement  Division  of  the  Ordnance 
Department  of  the  U.  S.  Army  at  Wash- 
ington, succeeding  Brigadier  General  Sam- 
uel McRoberts  as  the  head  of  the  same 
before  Colonel  Black's  departure  for 
France  as  a  member  of  General  McRob- 
erts' staff. 


THEODORE  F.  GROVER 

Theodore  F.  Grover,  a  master  operator 
in  electric  traction  and  electrical  engineer 
of  notable  accomplishment,  was  born  at 
Blairtown,  N.  J.,  March  5,  1864,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools  there  and  at 
Portland,  Pa.  He  went  to  work  at  an 
early  age,  but  put  every  available  moment 
into  intensive  study  of  mechanical  and 
electrical  engineering.  He  worked  for 
thirteen  years  in  various  engineering  ca- 
pacities in  the  construction  of  electric  rail- 
ways, lighting  plants,  and  became  super- 
intendent of  the  Milwaukee  and  Wanwa- 
tosa  Electric  Company,  operating  a  rail- 
way and  lighting  system  in  and  between 
those  towns,  with  such  success  that  it  was 
sold  in  1896,  with  substantial  profit  to 
stockholders,  to  the  Milwaukee  Electric 
Railway  and  Light  Company.  The  same 
year  he  became  financially  interested  in  and 
assumed  management  of  the  Fond  du  Lac 
(Wis.)  electric  properties.  He  secured 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


557 


valuable  electric  light,  railway  and  gas 
franchises  in  1899;  built  the  city  railway 
in  Fond  du  Lac  and  North  Fond  du  Lac, 
1900,  consolidated  the  properties  as  the 
Fond  du  Lac  Street  Railway  and  Light 
Company,  of  which  he  was  President  and 
General  Manager;  organized,  financed, 
built  the  interurban .  railway  and  became 
president  of  the  Fond  du  Lac  and  Osh- 
kosh  Railway  Company,  in  1902;  consoli- 
dated these  properties  as  the  Eastern  Wis- 
consin Railway  and  Light  Company,  in 
1904,  and  was  its  vice-president  and  gen- 
eral manager,  with  financial  and  operating 
success  until  he  sold  out  in  1906  to  repre- 
sent financial  interests  in  the  purchase  and 
consolidation  of  electric  light,  city  and  in- 
terurban railway  and  gas  properties  in 
Southern  Colorado. 

In  1907  Mr.  Grover  became  Gen- 
eral Manager  of  the  Terre  Haute,  Indian- 
apolis and  Eastern  Traction  Company, 
lessees  for  999  years  of  the  properties  of 
the  Terre  Haute  Traction  and  Light  Com- 
pany. He  was  also  president  of  the  Terre 
Haute  and  Western  Railway  Company, 
vice-president  of  the  Chicago,  Southi  Bend 
and  Northern  Indiana  Traction  Company, 
and  of  the  Indiana  and  Michigan  Railway 
Company. 

He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Elec- 
trical Congress,  St.  Louis,  1904;  is  past 
President  of  the  Northwestern  Electrical 
Association;  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Electric  Railway  Association,  Illinois  Elec- 
tric Railway  Association  (director),  Indi- 
ana Electric  Light  Association  (past  presi- 
dent), Terre  Haute  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Merchants'  Association,  Fort 
Harrison,  Terre  Haute  and  Rotary  clubs 
(Terre  Haute),  and  Columbia  Club  (Indi- 
anapolis). He  bears  a  reputation  as  one 
of  the  foremost  creators  of  far  reaching 
and  satisfying  electric  service  in  light  and 
traction. 

Mr.  Grover  resigned  from  actual  opera- 
tion in  July,  1918,  although  he  retains 
financial  interests  in  Railway  and  Lighting 
properties  and  is  engaged  in  making  re- 
ports of  public  utility  properties  and  the 
purchase  and  sale  of  bonds  and  other  secu- 
rities. 


HARTFORD  ELECTRIC  LIGHT 
COMPANY 

Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  its  progress 
from  a  small  colonial  settlement  into  a 
great  modern  city,  has  gone  through  all 
the  stages  of  slow  and  painful  progress  in 
methods  of  lighting  that  belong  in  the  his- 
tory of  a  city  with  such  a  development 
There  was  no  lighting  at  all  at  the  public 
expense  until  1821,  when  a  few  feeble  oil 
lamps  were  installed.  After  a  time,  burn- 
ing fluid  was  substituted  to  some  extent. 
In  1848  the  Hartford  City  Gas  Light 
Company  was  chartered,  and  the  first  pub- 
lic gas  lamps  were  lighted  on  November 
14,  1849.  The  first  electric  lights  were 
arc  lights,  used  experimentally  in  1881, 
when  the  Hartford  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany was  incorporated.  The  company 
had  little  patronage  and  was  in  a  bad  way 
financially,  when  the  late  Austin  C  Dun- 
ham became  interested  in  the  concern.  He 
was  director  in  the  Thomson-Houston 
Electric  Company  and  in  1883  he  intro- 
duced that  system  in  Hartford,  and,  after 
a  spirited  campaign  with  much  opposition, 
the  City  Council  of  Hartford  ordered 
thirty-three  Thomson-Houston  arc  lamps 
erected.  Later  it  increased  the  number, 
under  a  rule  adopted  by  the  Council  that 
each  lamp  must  displace  six  gas  lamps,  and 
cost  no  more  than  the  sum  previously  paid 
for  the  gas. 

The  company  has  from  time  to  time  in- 
troduced the  improvements  that  have  been 
made  in  the  electric  lighting  art,  has  ex- 
tended its  lines  through  suburbs  and  near- 
by towns  and  now  supplies  Hartford,  West 
Hartford,  Windsor,  East  Hartford, 
Wethersfield,  Rocky  Hill,  Tariffville, 
Bloomfield,  East  Granby,  Granby  and 
Newington.  The  company  also  supplies 
the  large  plant  of  Cheney  Brothers,  silk 
manufacturers,  at  South  Manchester, 
Connecticut,  Connecticut  Power  Company, 
and  the  Union  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company  at  Unionville,  Connecticut. 

The  company  operates  under  a  per- 
petual charter,  serves  a  population  of 
about  150,000  people  and  in  1917  had 
28,877  customers,  besides  which  it  had 
4,918  public  incandescent  lamps  installed, 


558 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


and  the  sales  during  the  year  1917  aggre- 
gated 84,000,000  kilowatt  hours.  For  a 
long  time  the  capital  stock  of  the  company 
stood  at  $2,400,000.  It  was  increased  to 
$3,000,000  in  1910;  from  that  to  $3,- 
600,000  in  January,  1913;  was  increased 
to  $4,500,000  in  June,  1916;  and  in 
June,  1917,  the  authorized  capital  stock 
was  increased  to  $10,000,000,  of  which 
there  was  outstanding  August  7,  1918, 
$6,000,000. 

The  early  non-success  of  the  company 
was  soon  overcome  after  Mr.  Austin  C. 
Dunham  took  executive  charge  of  its  af- 
fairs, and  from  a  deficit  the  company  soon 
passed  to  a  dividend-paying  position  and 
the  dividends  were  for  a  long  time  steady 
at  eight  per  cent,  per  annum,  until  1909, 
and  after  that  they  were  increased  to  ten 
per  cent.  An  increase  of  the  outstanding 
capital  stock  to  $6,000,000  was  author- 
ized in  1917  upon  the  basis  that  the  15,000 
new  shares  should  be  offered  at  par  to 
stockholders  of  record  in  the  ratio  of  one 
share  of  new  stock  for  three  shares  of  old 
stock,  which  increase  has  since  been  made. 

The  president,  Austin  C.  Dunham,  re- 
mained at  the  head  of  the  company  until 
1912,  when  he  retired  from  the  active  exec- 
utive duties  of  the  company,  his  brother,  S. 
G.  Dunham,  becoming  the  president  of  the 
company,  which  has  since  continued  in  the 
same  progressive  and  successful  career 
that  had  been  inaugurated  and  carried  on 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  Austin  C. 
Dunham.  That  gentleman  died  on  March 
17,  1918. 

The  officers  are:  S.  G.  Dunham,  Presi- 
dent; Samuel  Ferguson,  Vice-President; 
Townsend  H.  Soren,  Vice-President;  J.  E. 
Lynch,  Secretary;  Leonard  D.  Way,  As- 
sistant Secretary,  Hartford;  D.  N.  Barney, 
Treasurer,  Farmington,  Connecticut;  E. 
S.  Nutting,  Assistant  Treasurer;  E.  F. 
Lawton,  General  Manager;  A.  D.  Colvin, 
Assistant  General  Manager,  Hartford. 

The  Board  of  Directors  is  composed  of: 

D.  N.   Barney,   M.   G.   Bulkeley,   W.   O. 
Burr,  L.  R.  Cheney,  Atwood  Collins,  W. 
F.  Henney,  Henry  Roberts,  E.  K.  Root, 
Samuel  Ferguson,  S.  G.  Dunham,  Clarence 

E.  Whitney,  Townsend  H.  Soren,  Hart- 
ford,   Connecticut,   and   George    G.    Wil- 
liams,  Farmington,  Connecticut. 


HODENPYL,  HARDY  &  CO.,  INC. 

Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Co.,  Inc.,  operate 
enterprises  doing  a  public  utility  business 
in  the  six  States  of  Michigan,  Illinois,  In- 
diana, Wisconsin,  Ohio  and  Kentucky. 
The  properties  under  their  management 
and  supervision  are  controlled  by  the  Com- 
monwealth Power  Railway  and  Light  Com- 
pany and  the  Northern  Ohio  Electric  Cor- 
poration. The  combined  capitalization  of 
these  companies  and  their  subsidiaries  out- 
standing in  the  hands  of  the  public  amounts 
to  $166,582,000.  Some  of  the  larger  and 
more  important  cities  in  which  the  various 
subsidiary  companies  operate  are:  Grand 
Rapids,  Saginaw,  Bay  City,  Kalamazoo, 
Flint,  Jackson,  Lansing,  Battle  Creek, 
Muskegon  and  Pontiac,  Michigan;  Peo- 
ria,  Springfield,  Rockford  and  Freeport, 
Illinois;  Evansville,  Indiana;  Akron,  Can- 
ton, Massillon  and  Springfield,  Ohio,  and 
Beloit  and  Janesville,  Wisconsin. 

In  the  development  of  the  properties 
above  mentioned,  the  problem  of  a  high 
voltage  long  distance  inter-connected  trans- 
mission system  was  first  worked  out.  The 
entire  power  -generating  system  in  Michi- 
gan is  designed  to  operate  as  one  combined 
hydro-electric  and  steam  electric  power  sta- 
tion with  its  individual  units  located  in 
many  communities,  all  inter-connected  by 
high  tension  transmission  lines.  It  is, 
therefore,  possible  to  utilize  the  entire  out- 
put of  the  hydro-electric  power  stations 
with  the  minimum  use  of  the  steam-electric 
stations. 

The  combined  capacity  of  the  electric 
generating  plants  amounts  to  334,000  h.p., 
approximately  one-third  of  which  is  hydro- 
electric development.  There  are  1,402 
miles  of  transmission  lines,  of  which  700 
miles  are  high  tension  galvanized  struc- 
tural steel  tower  lines.  The  distribution 
system  consists  of  over  1,800  miles  of  pole 
line,  with  8,000  miles  of  wire  and  126,467 
meters  in  use.  The  total  sales  of  elec- 
tricity of  the  subsidiary  companies  for  the 
calendar  year  1917  amounted  to  over  half 
a  billion  kilowatt  hours. 

The  operations  of  the  subsidiary  com- 
panies are  not  confined  to  the  electric  busi- 
ness alone.  The  companies  have  very  ex- 
tensive operations  in  both  the  railway  and 
gas  departments.  The  railway  lines  aggre- 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


559 


gate  over  1,100  miles  of  single  track,  of 
which  460  miles  are  street  railway  lines 
and  660  are  interurban  lines  and  serve 
over  125  cities  and  towns,  16  of  these  cities 
having  street  railway  service.  During  the 
year  1917  revenue  passengers  carried 
amounted  to  168,330,035. 

Gas  properties  are  operated  in  14  cities 
with  an  aggregate  of  950  miles  of  mains 
and  over  91,000  meters  in  use.  There  are 


32  holders  with  a  combined  capacity  of 
8,418,000  cu.  ft.,  and  two-thirds  of  the 
plants  have  both  coal  and  water  gas  gen- 
erating sets. 

The  total  population  served  by  all  the 
properties  is  conservatively  estimated  at 
over  2,000,000,  and  the  combined  gross 
earnings  of  these  properties  for  the  cal- 
endar year  1917  were  in  excess  of  $26,- 
000,000. 


INDEPENDENT  LAMP  &  WIRE  COMPANY 


Independent    Lamp    &    Wire    Company 


Tungsol  and  Argolyte  are  two  names 
that  have  found  wide  circulation  in  the 
incandescent  lamp  market.  They  are 
Tungsten  vacuum  and  gas-filled  lamps 
manufactured  by  the  Independent  Lamp 
&  Wire  Company,  whose  successful  record 
since  its  incorporation  in  1912  leads  to  the 
belief  that  it  is  destined  to  remain  and 
increase  as  one  of  the  electrical  industry's 
progressive  manufacturers  and  distributors 
of  each  succeeding  development  in  modern 
lamp  and  wire  specialties.  The  firm  is 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  N.  Hof- 
heimer,  widely  known  as  an  executive  of 


approved  abilities.  To  Dr.  A.  J.  Liebman 
is  entrusted  factory  management  and 
supervision  of  manufacturing  processes. 
He  is  fitted  by  education  and  experience  to 
dispose  of  all  technical  problems  arising  in 
the  laboratories  and  shops  and  bears  a 
reputation  for  thoroughly  grounded  knowl- 
edge of  the  practical  side  of  the  business. 
The  principal  factory  at  Weehawken, 
New  Jersey,  originally  employed  but  80 
workers.  Two  years  after,  or  in  1914, 
demand  had  so  increased  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  increase  facilities  and  a  large 
addition  was  built.  The  total  of  employees 


560 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


has  now  reached  850.  Though  the  prod- 
uct of  this  factory  is  highly  specialized, 
it  meets  many  different  electrical  needs. 
Besides  the  lamps  first  mentioned,  the  com- 
pany produces  large  quantities  of  tungsten 
and  molybdenum  wire.  Their  platinum 
substitute  wire,  so-called  copper-clad  wire, 
has  approximately  the  same  co-efficient  of 
expansion  as  glass  and  is  extensively  used 
as  a  lead-in  wire  for  glass  bulbs  and  several 
other  kinds  of  vitreous  vessels.  Automo- 
bile and  other  ignition  systems  are  well 
served  by  their  tungsten  make-and-break 
contacts.  They  make  contacts  adapted  to 
scientific  apparatus  such  as  X-ray  tubes  and 
wireless  telegraph  and  telephone  instru- 
ments; in  fact,  these  are  just  a  hint  of  the 
varied  applications  of  the  device.  Numer- 
ous tungsten  and  molybdenum  products 


manufactured  by  this  company  find  an 
equally  diversity  of  usage. 

The  second  factory  is  situated  at  York, 
Pa.,  it  is  the  manufactory  of  the  company's 
insulated  wire  products  which  have  taken 
a  recognized  place  among  the  best  grades 
to  be  obtained.  These  include  their  as- 
bestos insulated  wire  for  steel  mill  motor 
connections,  searchlights,  controllers,  mov- 
ing picture  machines,  switchboards,  electric 
ovens,  heaters,  etc. ;  a  standard  wire  amply 
described  as  Salamander  pure  asbestos  insu- 
lated magnet  wire;  and  a  recent  addition 
to  the  catalogue,  an  enamel  magnet  wire. 

The  quality  of  all  Independent  Lamp  & 
Wire  Company  products  has  been  the 
foundation  of  their  popularity.  The  main 
offices  in  New  York  are  at  1737  Broadway. 


KELVIN  ENGINEERING  COMPANY,  INC. 


The  Kelvin  Engineering  Company,  Inc., 
the  first  to  introduce  electrification  of  su- 
gar plants  in  Cuba  and  other  Latin- Amer- 
ican countries,  was  organized  in  1911  by 
Gustavo  Lobo,  who  became  the  first 
secretary  and  afterwards  the  president. 
Associated  with  him  in  the  management  of 
the  company  is  E.  Antonio  Vasquez,  who 
is  vice-president  and  chief  engineer.  The 
first  efforts  of  the  company  to  use  elec- 
tricity exclusively  for  the, mechanical  opera- 
tion of  the  sugar  factory  met  with  con- 
siderable opposition  and  the  first  installa- 
tions of  the  electrical  drive  had  to  be  car- 
ried out  under  guarantees.  The  immediate 
success  and  great  economy  of  the  electri- 
fication soon  changed  the  opinion  of  the 
conservative  sugar  planters,  and  during  the 
last  two  years  an  increasing  number  of 
electrified  mills  have  been  projected  and 
installed.  The  success  of  the  company  has 
introduced  a  new  word  to  the  English 
language— -"Kelvinization,"  which  means 
the  electrification  of  a  sugar  factory  by  the 
Kelvin  System  as  perfected  by  Mr.  Lobo 
and  Mr.  Vasquez,  who  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  seeing  their  pioneer  idea  put  into 
general  practice  wherever  sugar  produc- 
tion in  anything  approaching  a  large  scale 
is  required.  The  advantages  accruing 
from  the  use  of  the  Kelvin  System  are: 


Lower  initial  cost,  increased  extraction  of 
sucrose  and  consequently  a  greater  pro- 
duction of  sugar,  greater  economy  in  fuel, 
decreased  cost  of  maintenance,  greater  ease 
of  operation,  greater  safety  in  operation, 
decreased  cost  of  manufacture,  greater 
cleanliness,  and  general  increased  efficiency 
and  economy  throughout  the  entire  plant. 
The  reduction  in  labor  and  other  costs  of 
manufacture  is  generally  found  to  be  from 
20%  to  25%,  when  compared  with  the 
costs  in  a  steam-driven  factory  of  the  usual 
design.  The  company  originally  developed 
and  perfected  the  herring-bone  gear  drive 
which  made  possible  the  utilization  of  high 
speed  motors  and  which  insures  greater 
economy,  greater  reliability  and  more  per- 
fect control  of  the  operation  of  the  cane 
mill.  The  company  has  designed  special 
machinery  of  different  kinds  and  has  im- 
proved and  perfected  various  standard 
machines  in  order  that  better  service  could 
be  secured  in  their  operation;  in  fact,  there 
is  no  part  of  the  equipment  of  a  sugar  fac- 
tory that  Mr.  Lobo  and  Mr.  Vasquez  have 
not  studied  carefully,  and  their  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  process  of  sugar  manu- 
facture makes  it  possible  for  them  to  get 
the  best  obtainable  service  from  the  va- 
rious units.  The  first  cane  sugar  mill  in 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


561 


GUSTAVO   LOBO 

the  world  to  be  completely  electrified  was 
Central  Amistad  of  Guines,  Cuba,  which 
was  designed  and  installed  by  Vice-presi- 
dent Vasquez  of  the  Kelvin  Engineering 
Company.  The  mill  was  formerly  driven 
by  steam  engines  and  in  1913  was  remod- 
eled and  completely  electrified.  Since  that 
time  scores  of  mill  owners  have  been  con- 
verted to  "Kelvinization"  and  are  using 
the  improved  method  of  production. 
Among  the  many  Centrals  remodeled  and 
electrified  by  the  Kelvin  Engineering  Com- 
pany, Inc.,  is  "Providencia,"  near  Havana, 
familiar  to  all  tourists  by  reason  of  the 
daily  excursions  to  the  place  conducted  by 
the  United  Railways  of  Havana.  Another 
Central  electrified  is  "Mercedita,"  which 
has  five  mills  and  two  crushers  in  tandem, 
all  electrified.  The  Company  also  designed 
and  furnished  the  material  for  the  quad- 
ruple effect  evaporator  at  the  Central 
Socorro,  which  has  a  heating  surface  of 
twenty-five  thousand  square  feet,  the  larg- 
est ever  installed  at  that  time.  During  the 


last  year  the  company  has  obtained  control 
of  the  Nazareth  Foundry  and  Machine 
Company,  a  large  foundry,  machine  and 
steel  plate  shop,  near  Easton,  Pa.,  for  the 
purpose  of  manufacturing  under  its  own 
supervision  and  in  strict  accordance  with 
its  own  designs,  such  equipment  as  is  de- 
veloped by  its  own  corps  of  engineers,  em- 
bodying the  latest  ideas  as  suggested  by 
practical  experience  in  the  field  together 
with  correct  theory.  The  main  offices  of 
the  company  are  in  the  Hudson  Building, 
32  Broadway,  New  York  City,  with 
branches  in  Havana,  Cuba;  San  Juan, 
Porto  Rico;  Mexico  City,  Mexico;  Buenos 
Aires,  Argentina ;  and  Madrid,  Spain.  The 
organizer  and  president  of  the  company, 
Gustavo  Lobo,  was  born  in  Venezuela, 
South  America,  and  graduated  from  the 
School  of  Mines,  Columbia  University,  in 
1898.  He  began  along  electrical  lines  in 


E.  A.  VASQUEZ 

the  same  year  with  the  New  York  Edison 
Company.  He  afterwards  went  with  the 
General  Electric  Company,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  and  later  with  the  Lachine  Rapids 
Power  Company,  Montreal,  Canada.  He 
was  for  a  time  engaged  in  the  practice  of 


562 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


his  profession  in  Mexico,  where  he  de- 
signed and  supervised  the  construction  of 
several  electric  light  and  power  plants. 
Since  the  organization  of  the  Kelvin  En- 
gineering Company  he  has  cooperated  with 
Mr.  Vasquez  in  designing  and  installing 
electrically-driven  sugar  factories  in  Cuba, 
they  being  the  pioneers  in  this  work.  He 
also  was  secretary,  treasurer  and  manager 
of  the  Cambridge  Gas,  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company,  Cambridge,  Md.,  from 
1912  to  1915.  Mr.  Lobo  is  a  Fellow  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers, a  member  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion of  the  School  of  Mines,  Columbia 
University,  the  Brooklyn  Engineers  Club, 
the  Columbia  University  Club,  the  Jamaica 
Country  Club  and  the  Engineers  Country 
Club.  He  resides  at  139  Maple  Street, 
Brooklyn. 

E.    A.    Vasquez,    vice-president    of   the 
company,  is  an  electrical  and  mechanical 


engineer.  He  was  born  in  Spain  and  re- 
ceived his  technical  training  in  that  coun- 
try. He  has  resided  in  Cuba  for  many 
years,  where  he  had  the  management  of 
several  prominent  sugar  mills  prior  to  tak- 
ing up  practice  as  a  Consulting  Engineer. 
While  in  private  practice  he  was  engaged 
in  some  very  important  work  on  the  Island 
and  brought  to  the  Kelvin  Engineering 
Company,  Inc.,  a  wide  experience  in  va- 
rious engineering  projects,  which  has  been 
of  inestimable  value  to  the  company  of 
which  he  is  now  vice-president.  Mr. 
Vasquez  conceived  the  idea  of  the  com- 
plete operation  of  a  large  cane  sugar  fac- 
tory by  electricity  and  was  in  charge  of  all 
the  work  done  in  connection  with  the  first 
factories  which  were  electrified.  He  also 
has  designed  and  supervised  the  construc- 
tions of  industrial  plants  of  different  kinds, 
such  as  ice  factories,  soap  factories,  sugar 
refineries,  etc. 


P.  O.  KEILHOLTZ 


First  of  all  Mr.  Keilholtz  is  a  Baltimo- 
rean,  not  merely  by  virtue  of  his  birth, 
which  occurred  in  that  city  in  1862,  but 


P.  O.  KEILHOLTZ 


principally  because  of  the  unstinted  meas- 
ure  of  his  devotion   to   the   welfare   and 
growth  of  the  city's  civic  and  popular  insti- 
tutions.   The  electric  lighting,  power  and 
traction    facilities    of    Baltimore    as    they 
exist    today    are    built    upon    the    foun- 
dations    laid     by     Mr.     Keilholtz,-    for 
prior  to   1907   he  bore  the  responsibility 
of  the  designing,  construction  and  opera- 
tion  of   all   the   vitally   important   public 
utilities    then    projected.      The    thorough 
type  of  technical  training  provided  by  the 
United     States     Naval     Academy,     from 
which  he  graduated  in   1884,   augmented 
by  studies  at  the  Johns  Hopkins  Univer- 
sity,  was   the   initial   stock  of  knowledge 
which   from   the   start  made  him   eligible 
to    responsible   positions    in   creative    and 
constructive  enterprises.  Thus  his  first  prac- 
tical employment  in  the  electrical  profes- 
sion was  as  assistant  superintendent  of  the 
Brush    Electric    Company    of    Baltimore. 
From   that  year,    1887,   until    19°7,    Mr. 
Keilholtz  gave   almost  his  exclusive  time 
and  attention  to  Baltimore  organizations. 
Leaving  the  Brush  Electric  Company,  he 
became  manager  of  the  U.  S.  Electric  Light 
and  Power  Company.    Relinquishing  that 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


563 


position,  he  entered  upon  a  period  of  ener- 
getic labor  devoted  to  public  utilities,  dur- 
ing which  he  was  in  succession  the  electri- 
cal engineer  behind  the  works  of  the  three 
principal  agencies  of  their  kind,  the  City 
and  Suburban  Electric  Railway  Company, 
the  United  Railways,  and  the  Consolidated 
Gas,  Electric  Light  and  Power  Company. 
Mr.  Keilholtz,  naturally  enough,  is 
prominent  in  the  business  and  social  life  of 
his  city,  participating  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Merchants  Club  and  the  Baltimore  Coun- 
try Club.  The  national  associations  of  the 
electrical  profession  find  in  him  an  inter- 
esting supporter  of  their  best  aims.  He  is 
an  Associate  of  the  American  Institute  of 


Electrical  Engineers;  a  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers; the  American  Society  of  Naval  En- 
gineers; the  Society  of  Naval  Engineers 
and  Marine  Architects;  and  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Sci- 
ence. An  instance  of  the  recognition  which 
in  the  past  has  been  accorded  to  his  abili- 
ties and  opinions  as  an  engineer  and  to  his 
dependable  judgment  (as  a  man)  was  his 
membership  upon  the  International  Jury  of 
Awards  at  the  memorable  Universal  Ex- 
position held  at  St.  Louis. 

Mr.  Keilholtz'  offices  are  located  in  the 
Continental  Building,  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land. 


CHARLES  E.  KNOX 


At  10 1  Park  Avenue,  New  York,  over- 
looking the  approach  to  the  Grand  Central 
Station,  is  a  large  suite  of  rooms  that  have 
all  the  appearance  of  an  architect's  studio, 
with  drafting  boards  and  blueprints  much 
in  evidence.  These  are  the  offices  of 
Charles  E.  Knox,  who  is  indeed  an  archi- 
tect, broadly  speaking,  an  architect  of  elec- 
trical construction.  Like  the  architect  of 
brick  and  stone,  his  artistry  results  in  things 
of  utility,  parts  of  the  metropolitan  scheme 
of  living.  The  workshop  alluded  to  prac- 
tices the  particular  branch  of  engineering 
implied  in  the  planning  of  electric  light 
and  power  equipments  for  industrial  plants, 
office  buildings,  hotels,  factories,  hospitals 
and  department  stores,  and  elevator  instal- 
lations of  all  kinds.  Among  some  of  the 
more  notable  buildings  of  New  York  which 
have  been  electrically  equipped  by  Mr. 
Knox  are:  Woolworth's  "Cathedral  of 
Commerce";  the  Municipal  Building;  the 
Equitable  Building,  and  the  Metropolitan 
Life  Building.  Farther  uptown  the  same 
consulting  engineer  acted  in  equipping  with 
elevators  and  electric  systems  the  big  Penn- 
sylvania and  Commodore  Hotels;  R.  H. 
Macy's  Department  Store;  the  Columbia 
University  Buildings;  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art;  Bellevue  and  Mt.  Sinai 
Hospitals  and  numerous  smaller  buildings, 
piers,  warehouses,  etc.  He  has  designed 
complete  power  and  lighting  installations, 
including  generating  plants,  motor  drives, 
distributing  systems,  elevator  and  conveyor 


installations  for  many  different  types  of 
factories  as  diverse  as  munition  plants, 
sugar  refineries,  printing  and  lithograph 
establishments,  chocolate,  rubber,  marble, 
stone,  cement,  brass,  electric  apparatus, 
textile,  clothing  and  paper  factories.  Mr. 
Knox  may  be  said  to  be  a  New  Yorker  in 
spite  of  his  having  been  born  September 
17,  1871,  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  of  Scotch- 
Irish  ancestry;  Irish  only  because  his 
grandparents  were  once  driven  to  reside  in 
Ireland  among  other  Scotch  Presbyterians 
exiled  by  the  Church  of  England.  Get- 
ting back  to  New  York,  and  back  also,  in 
time,  to  the  building  of  the  Third  Avenue 
Elevated  Railroad,  there  was  a  youngster 
of  seven  years  whose  home  overlooked  the 
operations  and  who  was  much  interested, 
especially  in  the  riveter's  job,  which  proved 
so  fascinating  a,  sight  that  then  and  there 
his  future  career  was  decided  upon.  Ma- 
turer  consideration  affected  the  decision  as 
to  vocation  but  not  the  tendency  which  later 
grew  into  fondness  for  laboratory,  mechan- 
ical and  electrical  work.  Mr.  Knox  studied 
at  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
and  when  the  School  of  Mines  at  Colum- 
bia University  was  opened  he  entered  for 
the  electrical  engineering  course,  gradu- 
ating with  the  degree  of  electrical  engineer 
in  1892.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year  he 
became  employed  in  research  work  in  the 
laboratory  of  Queen  &  Company  of  Phil- 
adelphia and  next  year  took  the  "Expert's 
Course"  of  the  General  Electric  Company 


564 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES  E.  KNOX 


m  the  Lynn,  Mass.,  plant.  Before  many 
months  had  passed  he  was  an  engineering 
assistant  with  C.  O.  Mailloux,  consulting 
engineer  By  1907  this  connection  had 
developed  into  the  firm  of  C.  O.  Mailloux 
«  C.  L.  Knox.  Since  May,  1913,  Mr. 
Knox  has  continued  the  practice  alone  and 
with  signal  success.  The  study  of  traffic 
problems  furnishes  food  for  thought  at 
odd  hours  and  his  musical  proclivities  are 

r  TgV  «^"  ™VS  Wdl  a  confi™ed  dis- 
ciple of  Ike"  Walton  Mr.  Knox  is  a  fel- 
low of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 


Engineers  and  holds  membership  in  the 
Engineers  Club,  the  New  York  Electrical 
Society,  the  Institute  of  Consulting  Engi- 
neers, and  the  Consulting  Electrical  Engi- 
neers Council;  also  in  the  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Club  and  the  School  of  Mines  and 
Alumni  Association.  He  is  interested  in 
the  Huddersfield  Fish  and  Game  Club  of 
Canada  and  the  North  Fork  Country  Club. 
In  Masonry  he  is  a  York  Lodge  man  and 
belongs  to  the  Palestine  Commandery, 
Mecca  Temple. 


Wl  LLI  AM    S.    L  E  E 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


565 


WILLIAM    STATES   LEE 


The  Southern  States  comprise  some  of 
the  potentially  greatest  virgin  fields  in 
America.  For  years  while  the  rush  was  to 
the  West  this  inherently  rich  country  lay 
almost  untouched  by  the  creative  hands  of 
science  and  finance.  By  degrees  the  awak- 
ening has  come,  bringing  recognition  of 
the  obvious  fact  that  the  South  is  upon  the 
upward  trend  of  a  prosperity  permanent 
and  surely  founded.  The  accomplishment 
is  much  to  the  credit  of  the  southerners 
themselves.  William  States  Lee  is  an  ex- 
ample of  the  builders  of  the  new  South. 
Men  such  as  he  have  put  motive  power  be- 
hind industries,  attracted  the  investment 
of  millions  of  dollars  for  future  develop- 
ment and  infused  fresh  life  into  the  nooks 
and  corners  of  the  land.  He  typifies  the 
combination  of  scientific  ability  with  busi- 
ness acumen.  January  28,  1872,  Lancas- 
ter, South  Carolina,  were  the  date  and 
place  of  his  birth.  He  was  educated  in 
the  common  schools  of  Anderson  County, 
S.  C.,  preparatory  to  the  technical  courses 
of  study  pursued  at  The  Citadel,  Military 
College  of  South  Carolina.  Immediately 
upon  graduation  from  that  institution,  in 
1894,  his  energy  and  worthiness  of  impor- 
tant responsibilities  advanced  him  from 
transit  man  to  resident  engineer  of  the 
Pickens  Railway  Company.  Mr.  Lee's 
engineering  and  businees  exploits  are 
bound  up  with  the  rise  of  electric  power  as 
the  vital  force  in  southern  industry. 

The  network  of  transmission  lines  of  the 
colossal  Southern  Power  Company  repre- 
sent one  phase  of  the  present  whole.  Par- 
ticipation in  so  revolutionary  a  movement 
presupposes  a  talented  cast  of  mind,  and 
as  an  engineer  and  business  executive  Mr. 
Lee  went  in  well  equipped.  He  early  re- 
ceived from  The  Citadel,  Military  College 
of  South  Carolina,  the  degree  of  Civil 
Engineer,  being  one  of  the  first  out  of 
seven  to  be  granted  the  title  made  distinc- 
tive by  reason  of  its  being  restricted  to  men 
who  had  left  college  and  afterward  per- 
formed some  work  of  note.  The  Ander- 
son Water,  Light  and  Power  Company,  a 
pioneer  development,  brought  him  in  touch 
with  practical  hydraulic  engineering.  As 


resident  engineer  he  was  put  in  charge  of 
the  construction  of  a  hydro-electric  plant 
at  Portman  Shoals  on  the  Seneca  River, 
where  was  installed  the  first  10,000  volt 
generator  in  service  in  America.  After 
putting  this  plant  into  operation  he  spent 
about  a  year  on  construction  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  United  States  Government 
coast  defense  plans  for  Charleston  Har- 
bor. Mr.  Lee's  next  alliance  was  with  the 
Columbus  Power  Company  of  Columbus, 
Georgia,  in  the  post  of  resident  engineer, 
and  his  initial  employment  was  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  dam  there  on  the  Chatta- 
hoochee River.  Soon  after  its  completion 
it  was  partly  destroyed  in  a  flood.  The 
company  had  long  contended  against  the 
ungovernable  habits  of  this  ill-reputed 
stream.  Its  quickly  rising  floods  often 
exceeded  fifty  times  the  normal  flow.  With 
the  title  of  chief  engineer,  Mr.  Lee  set 
about  to  overcome  these  diffiulties,  and  the 
mastering  of  their  attendant  problems  pro- 
vided him  with  resources  of  ingenuity 
tested  by  experience,  later  to  prove  effective 
in  meeting  many  an  emergency.  Under 
his  supervision  the  Chattahoochee  dam  was 
modified  in  design  and  raised  in  height. 
Completed  in  1902,  it  was  the  first  large 
dam  built  in  the  South.  The  building  of 
transmission  lines,  sub-stations,  etc.,  also 
occupied  his  attention,  and  in  the  same  con- 
nection he  became  familiar  with  cotton- 
mill  construction.  The  Catawba  Power 
Company,  then  struggling  against  condi- 
tions similar  to  those  encountered  by  Mr. 
Lee  on  the  Chattahoochee  River,  and 
hearing  of  his  successful  work,  prevailed 
upon  him  to  become  their  chief  engineer. 
Three  contractors  had  failed  to  effect  the 
construction  of  the  company's  projected 
dam  and  plant  at  India  Hook  Shoals,  near 
Rock  Hill,  S.  C.,  owing  to  the  persistent 
floods.  Mr.  Lee  went  in  and  brought 
them  to  completion  in  1904,  together  with 
transmission  lines  to  Rock  Hill  and  Char- 
lotte. The  entire  output  of  the  10,000 
h.  p.  plant  was  immediately  sold,  confirm- 
ing the  promoters'  belief  in  the  existence  of 
an  increasing  market  for  electric  power. 
This  was  the  nucleus  of  the  Southern 


566 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


Power  Company.  Purchases  were  made  of 
water-power  rights  on  the  Catawba  and 
Broad  Rivers.  In  the  creation  of  the 
larger  organization  in  1905,  Mr.  Lee  was 
made  chief  engineer,  also  acting  in  an  exec- 
utive capacity  as  second  vice-president. 

Heretofore,  hydro-electric  developments 
in  the  South  had  been  local  in  scope,  having 
for  an  object  the  supply  of  power  to  a  few 
cotton  mills  in  the  immediate  neighborhood 
of  the  power  plant  or  at  the  end  of  a  com- 
paratively short  transmission  line.  The 
metamorphosis  of  these  small,  scattered 
units  into  the  present  unrivaled  hydro- 
electric system  has  been  startling  and  of 
wonderful  consequence,  but  only  a  precur- 
sor of  what  the  future  holds.  To  the  pre- 
sent stage  Mr.  Lee's  guiding  hand  has  con- 
tinued to  direct  each  step  of  growth.  He 
has  designed  and  supervised  the  building 
of  one  10,000  k.  w.,  two  24,000  k.  w., 
one  18,000  k.  w.,  one  23,000  k.  w.,  one 
36,000  k.  w.,  one  25,000  k.  w.,  and  one 
70,000  k.  w.  hydro-electric  develop- 
ments; 500  miles  of  50,000  volt  line;  400 
miles  of  100,000  volt  line,  and  sixty  sub- 
stations. The  pioneer  work  involved 
putting  in  service  a  high  tension  transmis- 
sion and  distributing  system  reaching  150 
miles  in  one  direction  and  100  miles  in  an- 
other direction,  at  100,000  volts,  tied  to  a 
50,000  volt  distributing  system  and  operat- 
ing as  safely  as  a  low  tension  system.  An 
innovation  originating  with  Mr.  Lee  in 
1910,  and  now  in  very  nearly  universal  use, 
was  the  first  outdoor  (100,000  volt) 
switching  and  transformer  station  installed 
at  Spartanburg  Junction,  S.  C.  The  heavy 
expense  of  housing  construction  and  its 
attendant  dangers  from  fires  and  explo- 
sions were  thus  obviated. 

One  of  the  most  resultful  of  Mr.  Lee's 
studies  has  been  that  of  the  distribution  of 
rainfall  over  the  Piedmont  district.  The 
variableness  of  local  conditions  often 
found  high  water  at  one  end  of  a  river  and 
low  water  at  the  other,  and  similar  dispar- 
ity between  adjacent  streams,  causing  in- 
equality of  production  among  the  various 
power  companies  operating  in  the  region. 
To  relieve  the  situation,  Mr.  Lee  evolved 
a  thoroughly  effective  plan  begun  by  the 
tying-up  of  hydro  plants  located  on  the 
same  stream,  then  of  those  upon  different 


streams  and  finally  connecting  plants  in  se> 
eral  sections  of  the  same  general  regior 
A  connection  on  the  east  with  the  Carolin 
Light  and  Power  Company,  between  Dui 
ham  and  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  and  with  th 
George  Railway  and  Power  Company  o 
the  south,  atTallulah  Falls,  Georgia,  mad 
it  possible  for  heavy  rains  in  any  one  pai 
of  the  country  to  be  made  to  contribute  t 
those  parts  where  there  was  dearth  of  rair 
thereby  utilizing  "fugitive  waters,"  to  th 
inestimable  benefit  of  the  whole  region. 

Few  men,  indeed,  have  had  better  know 
edge  of  the  importance  of  conserving  th 
natural  resources  of  the  country  than  Mi 
Lee,  whose  activities  have  ever  been  er 
listed  for  the  welfare  of  the  community 
Upon  numerous  occasions  he  has  appeare 
before  congressional  committees  in  the  ir 
terest  of  forest  conservation.  The  yea 
of  1911  saw  the  construction  of  the  Piec 
mont  &  Northern  Railway,  begun  unde 
the  direction  of  Mr.  Lee  as  vice-presider 
and  chief-engineer;  a  high  speed  electri 
railway  of  approximately  130  miles  length 
operated  on  1,500  volt  direct  current,  an 
designed  for  general  freight  and  passenge 
traffic.  The  track  is  standard  gauge,  bui] 
on  a  one  per  cent  compensated  grade;  th 
power  is  secured  from  the  Southern  Powe 
Company  at  convenient  points. 

Of  Mr.  Lee's  engineering  achievements 
coupled  so  felicitously  with  commercia 
efficiency,  it  may  be  said  that  the  compas 
of  the  Southern  Power  Company  is  th 
best  criterion.  Approximately  2,000  mile 
of  high  tension  transmission  lines  with  17* 
sub-stations,  containing  about  500  trans 
formers  of  an  average  of  900  Kv-a,  repre 
sents  an  amazing  accumulation  of  powe 
when  we  stop  to  think  that  it  supplies  mor 
than  200  cotton  mills;  50  cities,  and  towns 
150  miles  of  railway;  nine  street  railwa 
systems;  three  army  training  camps;  ; 
dozen  cotton  oil  manufacturing  plants 
many  roller  mills;  cotton  ginneries;  rub 
ber  tire  factories,  etc.,  a  seemingly  endles 
industrial  chain.  We  further  note  tw< 
hydro-electric  developments  now  unde 
way  that  are  located  at  either  end  of  thi 
district  in  which  the  generating  plants  o 
the  company  are  situated.  At  Bridge 
water  on  the  north,  an  immense  impound 
ing  reservoir  for  holding  the  water  o 
heavy  rains,  is  being  built,  and  also  ii 


WALTER     S.   MOODY 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


567 


connection  a  generating  station  with  25,- 
ooo  Kv-a.  At  the  lower,  or  south  end,  at 
Wateree,  the  largest  single  generating 
plant  of  the  system  is  under  construction, 
having  a  capacity  of  70,000  Kv-a. 

Mr.  Lee  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  member 
of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  American  Society  of  Civil  En- 


gineers, the  Canadian  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers,  and  the  Southern  Manufactur- 
ers Club.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Indus- 
trial Committee  of  North  Carolina,  and  of 
the  North  Carolina  State  Council  of 
National  Defense.  Mr.  Lee's  home  is  at 
Charlotte,  N.  C.  His  business  headquar- 
ters are  with  the  Southern  Power  Com- 
pany in  the  same  city. 


WALTER  S.  MOODY 


Modern  electrical  practice  inevitably 
developed  the  specialist,  and  vice  versa. 
Walter  S.  Moody  elected  to  specialize  in 
static  transformers  in  the  early  period  of 
their  trial.  The  judgment  that  dictated  his 
decision  was  justified  overwhelmingly,  not 
only  by  the  later  importance  of  the  device, 
but  because  he  contributed  so  much  to  the 
development  of  it.  His  performance  has 
been  of  uncommon  import  and  aided  by 
uncommon  opportunities.  The  earliest 
auspicious  circumstances,  it  seems,  was  that 
of  his  belonging  to  the  first  class  in  elec- 
trical engineering  to  be  graduated  from  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 
He  was  than  in  his  twenty-third  year,  hav- 
ing been  born  at  Chelsea,  Mass.,  Septem- 
ber 20,  1864.  In  1888,  while  acting  as  an 
instructor  of  physics  and  electrical  engi- 
neering at  the  Institute  the  influence  of  a 
chance  acquaintance  had  decisive  effect. 
The  person  was  William  Stanley,  and  the 
occasion,  the  demonstration  of  the  Gaulard 
and  Gibbs  alternating  current  system  be- 
fore the  Massachusetts  Society  of  Arts. 
Mr.  Moody  had  helped  on  this  occasion 
with  the  preparation  of  the  lecturer's 
equipment,  which  resulted  in  his  being  so 
impressed  with  the  personality  of  the  man 
and  the  exposition  of  the  possibilities  of 
alternating  current  distribution  of  power 
that  he  forthwith  made  it  his  particular 
field  of  research.  One  discerns  the  long 
arm  of  coincidence  when  after  twenty  years 
spent  in  building  up  the  transformer  pro- 
ducing plants  at  the  Lynn  and  Schenec- 
tady  work  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany he  consolidates  these  departments  at 
Pittsfield,  on  the  site  of  Stanley's  early 
work,  and  develops  there  the  largest  plant 


in  the  world  for  the  making  of  trans- 
formers. 

Mr.  Moody  has  devoted  some  thirty 
years  in  all  to  the  improvement  and  com- 
mercial production  of  the  static  trans- 
former. Fortunately,  the  resources  of  the 
General  Electric  Company  afforded  him 
almost  unlimited  facilities  for  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  his  plans.  A  wonderful 
growth  in  production  ensued.  This  is  rep- 
resented by  the  difference  between  15,000 
to  20,000  Kv-a  per  year  at  a  maximum 
voltage  of  1,100  and  a  maximum  size 
of  unit  of  lYi  Kv-a  when  he  began  the 
work,  and  a  recent  figure  of  many  million 
Kv-a  per  year,  maximum  commercial  volt- 
age of  150,000  and  maximum  size  of  unit 
of  25,000  Kv-a. 

The  increase  in  size  of  units,  voltage 
and  total  output  has  been  accompanied  by 
equal  variety  of  demand.  Mr.  Moody  has 
approved  and  produced  commercially 
some  50,000  different  designs  of  trans- 
formers, doubtless  a  greater  number  than 
can  be  credited  to  any  other  engineer. 

The  type  of  transformer  having  circular 
coils  and  core  of  approximately  round 
cross  section  (known  commercially  as  Type 
"H")  is  one  of  his  notable  contributions 
to  electrical  art;  and  another,  second  only 
in  value  to  the  first,  is  the  "air  blast"  trans- 
former design. 

Mr.  Moody  believed  that  the  thoroughly 
competent  designing  engineer  must  be  fa- 
miliar with  all  of  his  materials,  which  led 
him  to  cultivate  an  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  manufacturing  processes  behind  insu- 
lating materials,  as  well  as  the  metallurgy 
of  copper  and  magnetic  steel.  For  his  re- 
search work  on  steel  he  was  in  a  particu- 


568 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


larly  favorable  position  as  a  director  in  the 
Allegheny  Steel  Company,  of  Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  and  while  in  close  touch  with  Sir 
Robert  Hadfield,  inventor  of  silicon  steel 
alloys,  he  there  first  produced  such  steel  in 
large  quantities  in  the  form  of  thin  sheets. 
Mr.  Moody's  engagements  in  the  indus- 
try began  at  the  Thomson  Electric  Weld- 
ing Company,  Lynn,  Mass.,  where  he  was 
assistant  electrical  engineer  from  1888  to 
1892.  He  then  continued  with  the  Thom- 
son-Houston Electric  Company  as  design- 
ing engineer  from  1892  till  after  the  mer- 
ger with  the  General  Electric  Company, 
when  he  became  chief  engineer  of  the 


transformer  department  of  the  latter  coi 
pany,  staying  at  the  Lynn  plant  from  18! 
to  1897,  at  the  Schenectady  plant  fro 
1897  to  1908,  and  from  there  until  da 
continuing  in  charge  of  this  departme 
of  the  company,  with  headquarters  at  tl 
Pittsfield  plant. 

Mr.  Moody  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Ame 
can  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
member  of  the  National  Electric  Light  A 
sociation  and  the  American  Electro-Chen 
cal  Society.  His  club  affiliations  inclui 
the  Mohawk  Club,  of  Schenectady,  N.  1 
the  Country  and  Park  clubs,  of  Pittsfiel 
Mass.,  and  the  Old  Colony  Club. 


HARVEY  E.  MOLE 


Harvey  E.  Mole,  born  at  Philadelphia 
in  1869  and  graduated  from  Cornell  Uni- 
versity with  the  degree  of  mechanical  en- 
gineer in  1897,  is  a  consulting  engineer  of 
New  York  City  whose  record  compels  at- 


HARVEY  E.  MOLE 

tention.      Seemingly  he  has  garnered   ex- 
perience in  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  forms 
f  industrially  applied  electricity.     Electric 


power  plants,  railway  systems,  lightii 
systems,  transmission  lines,  industrial  i 
stallations,  are  only  some  of  the  types  < 
engineering  construction  directed  by  M 
Mole,  which  have  included  many  impoi 
ant  projects  in  the  United  States,  Canad 
England,  Europe  and  South  Americ 
Upon  leaving  the  J.  G.  White  Compai 
in  1901,  for  whom  he  had  been  in  charj 
of  electric  railway  installations,  he  w; 
connected  with  the  Manhattan  Railw; 
Company  for  a  time,  later  spending  foi 
years  designing  and  constructing  pow< 
stations  and  electric  railways  for  the  Bri 
ish  Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufactu 
ing  Company  in  England.  He  was  chit 
engineer  of  the  Russian  Westinghou; 
Company  in  charge  of  the  electrification  ( 
the  Petrograd  (nee  St.  Petersburg)  strei 
railways.  Since  establishing  his  practi< 
in  New  York  in  1909,  with  offices  at  N< 
55  Liberty  street,  he  has  made  numeroi 
investigations,  valuations  and  reports  upo 
public  utility  properties  and  power  cond 
tions  at  industrial  plants  throughout  th 
country,  besides  discharging  large  commi: 
sions  calling  for  design  and  constructioi 
Mr.  Mole  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Ir 
stitute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  He  is  als 
a  member  of  the  American  Society  o 
Mechanical  Engineers  and  the  Nations 
Electric  Light  Association. 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 
PAUL  McJUNKIN 


569 


Tungsten  and  molybdenum,  that  duo  of 
related  elements  embodied  in  our  high- 
powered  incandescent  lighting,  have  been 
the  subject  of  the  most  absorbing  study 
and  investigation  on  the  part  of  Paul 
Mcjunkin.  In  the  course  of  a  practice  as 
consulting  engineer,  begun  in  1903,  he  has 
concentrated  effort  upon  the  development 


PAUL  McJUNKIN 

of  equipment  and  processes  for  the  manu- 
facture of  incandescent  electric  lamps.  His 
office  and  laboratory  are  situated  at  15 
East  Fortieth  Street,  New  York  City. 

Mr.  Mcjunkin  is  much  more  than  a 
seeker  after  commercial  success.  He  is  a 
scientist  for  science's  sake,  has  followed 
and  participated  in  each  step  of  growth  in 
his  especial  branch  of  investigation.  At 
Vienna,  Austria,  in  March,  1906,  Mr. 
Mcjunkin  was  one  of  the  first  few  persons 
to  witness  the  illumination  of  electric  lamps 
with  pure  tungsten  filaments  as  they  burned 
in  the  laboratory  of  Johann  Kremenezky. 
The  filaments  of  these  lamps  were  made 
by  Dr.  Hans  Kuzel  with  his  colloidal  proc- 
ess, a  method  of  manufacture  which  guar- 
anteed extreme  purity  in  that  the  tungsten 
was  precipitated  from  solution  in  the 


est  state  of  chemical  purity  possible,  and 
the  very  finely  divided  metallic  tungsten, 
with  only  colloidal  tungsten  as  a  binder, 
pressed  into  threads,  dried  and  then,  by 
the  passage  of  an  electric  current,  sintered 
into  a  homogeneous  tungsten  filament. 
That  same  year  (April,  1906)  Mr.  Mc- 
junkin brought  three  of  Dr.  Kuzel's  lamps 
to  America.  They  were  the  object  of  great 
interest  to  all  electrical  men  privileged  to 
view  them,  and,  so  far  as  ascertainable, 
were  the  first  pure  tungsten  filament  lamps 
to  be  seen  here. 

Mr.  Mcjunkin  has  a  firm  faith  in  the 
increasing  value  of  tungsten.  Acknowledg- 
ment and  prediction  are  mingled  in  his  fol- 
lowing words:  "The  commercial  produc- 
tion of  pure  tungsten  and  molybdenum, 
compelled  by  their  value  as  an  incandes- 
cent lamp  filament,  has  resulted  in  a  very 
great  advance  in  X-Ray  work,  thanks  to 
Dr.  Coolidge;  in  a  great  improvement  in 
phonograph  needles,  first  suggested  by  Mr. 
C.  H.  Humphries;  in  the  replacement  of 
an  immense  quantity  of  platinum  in  elec- 
tric contacts;  has  made  possible  several 
important  pieces  of  wireless  telegraph  ap- 
paratus, and  these  metals  are  destined  to 
play  an  increasingly  important  role  in  many 
of  the  arts  and  industries."  In  a  technical 
booklet  describing  the  properties  of  tung- 
sten, he  cites  other  diversified  applications, 
including  its  use  for  aeroplane  cables,  wire 
and  ribbon  in  the  heating  coils  of  electric 
furnaces,  the  hastening  of  chemical  reac- 
tions ordinarily  dependent  upon  sunlight, 
strings  for  pianos,  etc.,  ad  infinitum. 

Mr.  Mcjunkin  was  originally  from 
Iowa,  having  been  born  at  Sigourney 
August  2,  1875.  He  is  a  graduate  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
class  of  1898,  and  later  pursued  post- 
graduate work  in  physics  and  chemistry  at 
the  universities  of  Chicago  and  Johns  Hop- 
kins. His  first  industrial  employment  was 
had  in  1899  as  supervisor  of  technical  work 
with  the  Sawyer-Man  Electric  Company 
of  Alleghany,  Pa.  Mr.  Mcjunkin  is  a 
member  of  the  Engineers,  Chemists  and 
Technology  clubs  of  New  York,  the  En- 
gineers' Club  of  Boston,  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the 
American  Chemical  Society. 


570 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  MULLANEY 


Thomas  F.  Mullaney,  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  Third  Avenue  Railroad,  New  York, 
who  is  an  expert  on  the  installation  and 
Operation  of  electric  surface  lines,  was 
born  in  Ireland,  March  3,  1867.  He  was 
brought  to  this  country  by  his  parents 
when  one  year  old  and  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  common  schools  of  New  Brain- 
tree  and  Oakham,  Mass.  He  was  appren- 
tice to  the  firm  of  McMahon  &  Carver, 
tool  makers  of  Worcester,  when  fifteen 
years  of  age,  and  later  while  installing  ma- 
chinery in  the  Thomson-Houston  Lynn 
works,  became  imbued  with  a  desire  for 
electrical  work.  He  thereupon  took  up 
the  student  course  with  that  company,  with 
whom  he  remained  until  after  absorption 
by  the  General  Electric,  his  term  of  ser- 


vice with  the  two  concerns  being  twenty 
years,  during  which  period  he  installed  or 
did  work  for  about  100  electric  railways 
and  power  plants  from  Bangor  to  the 
Pacific  coast,  among  them  being  the  first 
installations  in  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  the  Chicago  Ele- 
vated, New  York  Elevated  and  the  New 
York  Central  R.  R.  He  also  constructed 
the  Lenox  Avenue  Railroad,  the  first  un- 
derground electric  trolley  built  in  New 
York  City.  In  1908  Mr.  Mullaney  was 
appointed  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Third 
Avenue  Railroad,  a  position  he  still  re- 
tains. He  is  the  inventor  of  many  devices 
now  in  use,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  and  the  Scarsdale  Golf  and 
Country  Club. 


CHAPTER    XV 
DEVELOPMENT    OF    HYDRO-ELECTRIC  POWER 


THE  practical  application  of  the  idea 
of  power  development  through  the 
revolution  of  a  wheel  impelled  by  the 
impact  of  a  jet  of  water  upon  it  had  its  in- 
ception back  four  centuries  or  more  in 
Western  Europe.  In  America  the  use  of 
water  wheels  for  the  development  of  power 
for  mills  of  various  kinds  dates  from  the 
earliest  years  of  Anglo-Saxon  colonization. 
The  early  wheels  were  of  various  types 
previously  used  in  Europe,  construction  and 
application  being  modified  to  suit  the  con- 
ditions. 

No  improvements  made  in  America 
were  patented  until  1853,  when  a  patent 
for  an  impulse  wheel  for  hydraulic  power 
development  was  granted  to  an  inventor 
named  Atkins.  Miners  in  California  had, 
however,  from  the  time  of  the  gold  rush  in 
1849  made  for  their  own  use  impulse 
wheels  which  they  used  to  drive  their  mills, 
several  new  ideas  appearing  from  time  to 
time  until  1860,  and  later.  The  ordinary 
form  of  wheel,  as  made  by  these  Califor- 
nians  used  flat  blocks  as  buckets.  The 
pioneers  of  the  Golden  West  found  the 
water  powers  of  the  Sierras  a  great  aid  to 
their  labors,  and  were  taught  by  experience 
and  necessity  to  use  them  with  much  suc- 
cess. 

By  later  inventors  improvements  were 
made  by  which  a  larger  percentage  of  the 
power  capacity  of  the  stream  utilized  was 
rendered  available  for  power  applications. 
As  a  result  of  investigations  and  tests  made 


by  L.  A.  Pelton  and  his  associates  prior  to 
1880  a  form  of  bucket  with  a  dividing 
wedge,  known  as  the  Pelton  bucket,  was 
evolved,  and  the  impulse  wheel  known  as 
the  Pelton  became  a  standard  in  its  class 
and  entered  into  general  use.  Applica- 
tions of  this  wheel  have  been  made  in 
various  hydro-mechanical  ways,  but  in 
1890  the  Electrical  Period  of  water  power 
development  in  America  began  with  two 
150  kw.  single-phase  generators  which 
were  installed  by  the  Telluride  Power 
Company,  at  Ames,  Colorado.  These 
generators  were  operated  by  Pelton  wheels 
under  a  5oo-ft.  head.  Another  early  de- 
velopment, installed  in  1891,  was  at  Vir- 
ginia City,  Nevada.  The  town,  which  is 
situated  on  a  mountainside,  is  noted  as  the 
locality  where  the  deepest  productive 
mines  of  the  famous  "Bonanza"  group  of 
the  Comstock  lode  are  located.  The  mines, 
driven  to  low  levels  to  add  to  the  great  for- 
tunes of  their  millionaire  owners,  experi- 
enced water  troubles  which  made  further 
mining  in  these  workings  dangerous  and 
costly,  the  heat  and  bad  air,  added  to  the 
dampness,  making  the  conditions  worse. 
Arrangements  were  made  with  Adolph 
Sutro  to  drive  a  tunnel  through  the  moun- 
tain 20,500  feet  to  drain  and  ventilate  the 
Comstock  mines,  and  incidentally  to  tap 
new  veins,  at  a  level  of  about  1,700  feet 
below  the  general  surface.  It  was  com- 
pleted at  a  cost  of  $6,500,000.  To  pro- 
vide more  power  for  the  mill  a  generating 


571 


572 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


plant  was  installed  in  the  Chollar  shaft 
consisting  of  six  4O-inch  Pelton  wheels 
driven  by  water  under  1,680  feet  head, 
operating  six  loo-horsepower,  constant 
current  Brush  dynamos,  running  at  a  speed 
of  900  r.p.m.  The  line  was  carried  up 
the  shaft  to  the  mill,  about  one  mile 
distant. 

Among  the  earliest  plants  (single-phase) 
to  transmit  power  to  any  important  dis- 
tance was  one  installed  in  1889  between 
Oregon  City  and  Portland,  Oregon,  a  dis- 
tance of  13  miles,  the  generator  being 
operated  by  turbines;  another  installed  in 
1891  at  Pomona,  California,  the  genera- 
tors of  which  were  driven  by  impulse 
wheels,  and  the  current  transmitted  to 
San  Bernardino,  California,  28^  miles, 
at  10,000  volts  pressure;  another  at  T-ellu- 
ride,  Colorado,  1891,  with  a  transmission 
of  15  miles;  and  one  at  Bodie,  California, 
which  went  into  operation  in  1893,  with  a 
1 20  kw.  single-phase  generator  driven  by 
an  impulse-wheel  under  35O-feet  head,  the 
current  being  transmitted  \2l/2  miles  at 
3,500  volts  pressure. 

A  great  advance  was  marked  in  the  in- 
stallation of  the  three-phase  experimental 
transmission  line  from  Lauffen,  Germany, 
105  miles  to  Frankfort,  built  in  1891. 
Simultaneously  two  plants  (three-phase) 
were  under  construction  in  America,  one 
in  California  from  Mill  Creek  to  Red- 
lands,  7.5  miles,  and  one  at  Guadalajara, 
Mexico,  with  18  miles  transmission.  Sim- 
ilar plants  were,  about  the  same  time,  being 
installed  in  Italy  and  Sweden. 

These  early  plants  established  the  prac- 
ticability and  value  of  the  hydro-electric 
plant  for  long-distance  transmission,  and 
problems  of  engineering  improvement  for 
plants  of  that  kind  have  since  enlisted  the 
interested  attention  of  many  experts  in  hy- 
draulic and  electrical  machinery.  For  con- 
venience plants  are  divided  into  two  types; 
first,  the  low-head  plant,  with  heads  up  to 
200  feet,  in  which  the  water  is  taken  di- 
rectly from  the  stream  in  short  penstocks 
and  used  in  large  quantities,  requiring  the 
turbine  as  a  water-motor.  The  second 
division  includes  the  medium  head  (with 
heads  from  200  to  750  feet),  and  high 
head  plants,  including  all  above  750  feet, 


and  using  as  water  motor  either  the  im- 
pulse wheel  or  the  turbine.  "Head"  in 
this  connection,  means  the  vertical  height 
of  the  column  of  water  above  the  water- 
wheel.  The  range  of  head  determines,  at 
the  two  extremes,  the  type  of  water  motor. 
For  units  under  low  head  and  even  of  mod- 
erate size,  1,000  kw.  or  under,  the  tur- 
bine is  practically  the  only  motor  which 
can  be  used.  For  high  heads,  above  1,000 
feet,  the  impulse  wheel  is  the  only  motor 
that  is  ordinarily  used.  Between  the  two 
extremes  both  types  of  wheels  are  avail- 
able, with  a  tendency  to  use  turbines  on 
higher  and  higher  heads  as  the  size  of 
units  grows  larger.  The  design  of  Ameri- 
can turbines  has  made  rapid  progress 
toward  perfection,  efficiencies  exceeding  93 
per  cent  having  been  revealed  in  various 
tests. 

The  size  of  hydro-electric  units  has 
steadily  increased.  The  3,750  kw.  units  at 
Niagara  Falls  were  the  largest  until  1904, 
at  which  date  there  were  numerous  water- 
wheel  driven  units  of  2,000  kw.  in  the 
West.  The  7,500  kw.  unit  of  the  Cana- 
dian Niagara  Falls  plant  was  placed  in 
operation  in  1905.  The  5,000  kw.  unit  at 
de  Sabla,  California,  1904,  remained  a 
standard  in  the  West  until  in  1908  the 
10,000  kw.  units  at  Las  Plumas,  Califor- 
nia, were  put  in  operation.  Numerous 
units  of  12,000  to  13,500  kw.  are  now  at 
work,  and  there  are  units  of  17,500  kw. 
at  Big  Creek,  California.  No  limit  seems 
to  have  been  reached.  A  unit  of  25,000 
kw.,  with  a  single  runner  turbine  of  36,000 
h.p.,  was  projected  in  1913,  and  manu- 
facturer^ were  ready  to  build  it;  and  the 
possibilities  of  hydro-electric  design  are  il- 
lustrated by  the  actual  building  of  a  steam- 
unit  turbine  of  35,000  kw.  capacity. 

The  size  of  power  plants  has  increased 
at  a  pace  corresponding  with  that  of  the 
sizes  of  hydro-electric  units.  From  the 
pioneer  plants  of  200  to  300  kw.  capacity 
development  has  brought  a  condition 
where  plants  of  50,000  kw.  capacity  are 
common,  and  the  highest  American  devel- 
opment includes  such  plants  as  that  at 
Keokuk,  Iowa,  with  ii2,5OO-kw.  installed 
capacity;  that  at  Cedar  Rapids,  with 
90,ooo-kw.  installed  capacity,  and  the 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


573 


great  Niagara  plants  on  both  sides  of  the 
National  boundary. 

The  United  States  industrial  census  di- 
vides its  statistical  work  concerning  the 
industries  and  resources  of  the  Nation  in- 
to five-year  periods,  and  its  statistics  of 
those  industries  that  can  be  classed  as 
"public  utilities"  are  based  on  their  con- 
dition and  products  in  the  calendar  years 
ending  in  "2"  and  "7";  while  similar  re- 
turns concerning  manufactures  are  based 
on  their  condition  in  the  years  ending  in 
"4"  and  "9."  In  these  two  subdivisions 
of  census  results  the  figures  at  this  writing 
available  are  those  of  1909  for  "manu- 


Of   this    total   the    following    is   water- 
power: 

Commercial  and   municipal  central 

electric  stations,   1912 2,417,081  h.p. 

Street  and  electric  railways,  1912.  471,307    " 

Steam  road  electrification,  1912....  8,000    " 


2,950,388  h.p. 

Manufacturing,    1909 1,822,885    " 

Mines   and   quarries,   1909 97,460    " 


Total  installed  water  power.     4,870,736  h.p. 

Charles  W.  Comstock,  in  a  valuable 
paper  presented  before  the  December, 
1916,  meeting  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers  on  "The  Future 


Power  House  of  the  Cedars  Rapids  Manufacturing  and  Power  Company 


factures"  and  "mines  and  quarries,"  and 
of  1912  for  "public  utilities."  The  fig- 
ures, being  for  different  periods,  are  not 
quite  parallel  in  application,  but  are  to  a 
certain  degree  relevant.  Thus  the  Census 
Bureau  gives  the  total  fixed  installed  pri- 
mary power,  as  expressed  in  horsepower. 

Commercial  and  municipal  central 

electric  stations,  1912 7,528,645  h.p. 

Street  and  electric  railways,  1912..  3,665,051    " 

Steam  road  electrification,  1912 193,956    " 


11,387,655  h.p. 

Manufacturing,    1909 16,802,708    " 

Mines   and   quarries,   1909 4,402,554    " 


Total  fixed  installed  primary 

power 32,592,915  h.p. 


of  Water  Power  in  the  United  States," 
gives  an  estimate  of  the  equivalent  in  fixed 
power  of  the  power  generated  by  the 
steam  locomotives  in  service  in  this  coun- 
try, which  he  established  as  being  in  round 
numbers,  65,000  locomotives  for  the  fiscal 
year  ended  June  30,  1914.  Premising  that 
it  would  be  absolutely  meaningless,  if  even 
the  data  were  obtainable,  to  add  together 
the  rated  horsepower  of  these  locomo- 
tives as  a  workable  total,  Mr.  Comstock 
proceeds  by  indirect  method  on  the  basis  of 
fuel  consumed  by  these  locomotives,  the 
cost  of  which  aggregated  $242,000,000  In 
that  year.  While  this  included  a  small 
proportion  of  fuel  oil,  an  overwhelmingly 
large  part  of  this  fuel  was  soft  coal.  He, 


574 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


therefore,  assuming  $2  per  ton  as  the 
average  price  that  year,  and  allowing  26 
tons  per  h.p.  year  (about  6  pounds  per 
h.p.  hour)  the  equivalent  continuous  out- 
put is  estimated  at  4,692,000  h.p.,  or,  with 
a  60  per  cent  load  factor,  7,820,000  h.p., 
which  equivalent  of  fixed  installed  horse- 
power, added  to  the  census  estimates  of 
32,592,915  h.p.,  would  make  a  grand  total 
of  40,392,915  h.p.  for  the  entire  installed 
primary  power  of  the  country,  including 
locomotives.  Of  that  total  the  installed 
water  power  equals  12  per  cent. 

Water  supply  paper  No.  234  of  the 
United  States  Geological  Survey,  by  M.  O. 
Leighton,  makes  an  estimate  of  the  water 
power  resources  of  the  United  States,  and 
states  the  absolute  minimum  of  total  water 
power  of  the  United  States  as  36,916,250 
h.p.  (based  on  the  stream  discharge  "for 
the  lowest  two  consecutive  seven-day  peri- 
ods in  each  year")  and  an  assumed  maxi- 
mum as  66,518,500  h.p.,  being  the  quan- 
tity which  could  be  generated  during  six 
months  in  the  year.  Neither  of  these  es- 
timates takes  account  of  storage,  which 
Mr.  Leighton  estimates  would,  by  the  use 
of  all  practicable  storage  sites,  bring  the 
grand  total  of  all  possible  water  power  de- 
velopment up  to  200,000,000  h.p. 

The  Commissioner  of  Corporations  in 
1912  revised  the  Leighton  estimate  in  a 
statement  of  the  potential  water-power  de- 
velopment. One  change  was  the  revision 
of  the  figures  for  Niagara,  which  Mr. 
Leighton  gave  as  5,800,000  h.p.  minimum 
and  6,500,000  assumed  maximum.  As 
under  the  present  treaty  only  25  per  cent 
of  the  possible  power  at  Niagara  Falls 
can  be  developed,  and  of  this  the  United 
States  is  entitled  to  only  36  per  cent,  the 
Commissioner  corrected  these  figures  ac- 
cordingly. Other  revisions  of  detail  were 
made  for  various  reasons.  The  Commis- 
sioner's statement  took  no  account  of  any 
increase  of  development  to  be  obtained  by 
storage,  which  he  regarded  as  "mainly 
theoretical."  Without  reference  to  the  ad- 
ditions which  storage  of  water  may  make 
available,  the  Commission  arrives  at  the 
following  figures,  stated  by  groups  of 
States : 


States 
North  Atlantic.  . 
South  Atlantic.  . 
North  Central  .  . 
South  Central.  .  . 
Western  

Assumed 
Minimum          maximum 
horsepower        horsepower 

.     2,225,OOO      4,092,000 

.    2,344,000     4,256,000 
.    1,733,000     3,558,000 
.    1,438,000     2,785,000 
.18,006,000  ^6,  707,000 

26,736,000  51,398,000 

This  same  report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Corporations  arrives  at  a  total  of  4,- 
760,000  h.p.  for  the  installed  water  power 
in  the  United  States,  arranged  by  the  same 
regional  groups,  as  follows: 

North  Atlantic 2,134,000 

South  Atlantic 589,000 

North  Central 729,000 

South  Central 79,000 

Western    1,229,000 


4,760,000 

By  this  estimate  it  appears  that  the 
North  Atlantic  States  had  already  nearly 
exhausted  their  water-power  resources  as 
expressed  in  the  minimum  total  above,  but 
the  figures  are  six  years  old  and  consider- 
able additions  to  the  volume  of  installed 
water  power  have  in  the  intervening  period 
been  made  in  the  North  Atlantic  States, 
so  that  the  total  of  installed  water  power 
has  already  passed  the  minimum  estimated. 
The  omission  of  any  calculation  for  water 
power  developed  from  stored  '  waters 
leaves  out  an  important  equation  of  the 
water  power  problem  as  it  has  been  de- 
veloped in  recent  years,  for  engineers  of 
special  competence  in  the  field  for  hydrau- 
lics count  upon  large  increase  of  water 
power  by  the  construction  of  dams  and 
reservoirs  to  store  waters  for  industrial 
as  well  as  for  irrigation  purposes. 

Heretofore  the  developed  water  powers 
have  been  chiefly  applied  for  the  purposes 
of  generation  and  distribution  of  electric 
current  for  light,  mechanical  power,  and, 
to  a  certain  extent,  for  heating  purposes. 
Except  at  Niagara  Falls  a  very  small  por- 
tion of  this  power  development  has  been 
for  electro-chemical  or  electro-metallurgi- 
cal industries.  Wonderful  results  have 
been  achieved  in  these  branches  at  Niagara 
and  in  Europe;  the  applications  of  electro- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


575 


chemistry  and  electro-metallurgy  through 
the  generation  of  heavy  currents  by  water 
power  have  been  very  great,  but  in  the 
United  States  initiative  in  these  branches 
has  been  very  slow,  until  recently  accelera- 
ted by  war  needs. 

Water-power  developments  for  light, 
heat  and  power  distribution  have  only 
been  possible  on  a  large  and  lucrative 
scale  in  locations  which  are  within  reach 
by  present  transmission  methods  from 
large  centers  of  population  and  industry. 
Niagara  Falls  developments  had  Buffalo 
and  other  near-by  cities  as  a  distributive 
area,  using  the  current  for  lighting  and  for 


of  progress  in  the  South  and  has  allied 
its  forces  to  the  manufacturing  of  high- 
grade  steel.  The  Colorado  Power  Com- 
pany, utilizing  the  water  power  resources 
of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  and  located 
in  the  midst  of  mines  and  towns  hungry 
for  power,  stands  on  the  threshold  of 
great  possibilities  for  growth.  But  the 
other  great  water-power  developments 
have  been  practically  confined  to  the  satis- 
faction of  urban  and  intra-urban  require- 
ments for  light,  transportation,  heating  and 
the  power  needs  of  ordinary  city  industries. 
The  important  plants  of  the  Pacific  Gas 
and  Electric  Company  and  its  subsidiaries 


General  View  of   Power  House  of  the   Mississippi   River  Power  Company  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  taken 

from  the  Iowa  Side 


railway  propulsion,  although  the  power 
was  also  applied  locally  in  building  up 
large  electro-chemical  and  electro-metal- 
lurgical plants,  in  Niagara's  case.  Indus- 
trial conditions  in  the  Southern  States  have 
given  rise  to  the  hydro-electric  power  sys- 
tem of  the  Southern  Power  Company, 
bringing  under  one  control  over  100,000 
h.p.  Very  nearly  one  half  of  the  cotton 
mills  of  the  South  which  depend  upon  out- 
side sources  of  motive  power,  and  they 
number  75%  of  the  South's  total,  are  sup- 
plied by  this  company.  Production  of  fer- 
tilizer and  electro-metallurgical  processes 
are  progressing  under  its  protective  and 
fostering  influence.  The  Alabama  Power 
Company,  with  its  one  thousand  odd 
miles  of  transmission,  is  a  great  feature 


reach  fine  markets  around  San  Francisco 
Bay.  The  Mississippi  River  Power  Co. 
had  a  contract  for  the  delivery  of  60,000 
h.p.  to  St.  Louis  before  completing  the  de- 
velopment of  its  great  plant  at  Keokuk. 
The  McCall  Ferry  water-power  develop- 
ment is  within  seventy  miles  of  Philadel- 
phia and  supplies  Baltimore,  40  miles 
away;  and  the  cities  of  Seattle,  Tacoma 
and  the  entire  Puget  Sound  district  lie 
within  the  direct  range  of  the  hydro-electric 
development  at  Snoqualmie  Falls  and  kin- 
dred plants. 

According  to  the  statistics  already 
quoted,  assuming  the  lowest  estimate  of 
the  minimum  potential  water-power  de- 
velopment possibilities  and  the  highest  esti- 
mate for  installed  water  powers,  less  than 


576 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


twenty  per  cent  has  been  developed  with- 
out taking  into  account  any  possible  in- 
crease of  development  to  be  obtained  by 
storage.  In  the  western  region  where  70 
per  cent  of  the  potential  water  power  is 
located,  there  has  only  been  a  development 
of  6  per  cent.  The  undeveloped  water 
power  resources  of  that  region  have  no 
large  aggregation  of  people  or  industries 
near  them  to  justify  large-scale  develop- 
ment for  the  supplying  of  light,  heat  or 
the  power  needs  of  transportation  lines 
or  ordinary  industries.  How,  then,  can 
these  great  sources  of  reserved  energy  be 
profitably  utilized? 

Without  speculating  upon  the  proba- 
bility of  progressive  development  of 
methods  of  electrical  transmission  of 
power  which  will  greatly  lengthen  the  dis- 
tance that  can  be  covered  effectively  and 
economically,  so  that  communities  much 
more  distant  than  now  reachable  may  be 
served,  many  suggestions  from  foreign 
practice  and  experience  may  be  studied  to 
advantage.  The  French  Alps  are  remote 
from  large  urban  populations  and  the 
water  power  developments  of  that  region 
are  actually  large  and  potentially  larger. 
Most  of  this  hydro-electric  power  is  turned 
to  the  prosecution  of  electro-metallurgical 
processes,  chiefly  in  the  manufacture  of 
special  alloys;  and  there  are  in  that  sec- 
tion numerous  large  plants  producing 
ferro  -  titanium,  ferro  -  tungsten,  ferro  - 
molybdenum,  and  other  alloys  upon  a  large 
scale,  one  of  the  operating  plants  (the 
Paul  Girod  Works)  itself  producing  more 
than  two  million  dollars  worth  of  these 
alloys  every  year.  It  is  notably  true  that 
the  part  of  our  own  Great  West  where 
there  are  the  greatest  number  of  unde- 
veloped water  powers  is  also  precisely  the 
region  of  the  country  where  raw  materials 
for  such  metallurgical  use  are  the  most 
profusely  distributed. 

The  three  Pacific  Coast  States  alone 
contain  approximately  45  per  cent  of  the 
potential  water  power  of  the  country. 
Their  aggregate  present  development  is 
about  900,000  h.p.,  leaving  possibilities 
from  a  minimum  of  10,500,000  h.p.  to  an 
assumed  maximum  of  22,300,000  h.p. 
available  for  development,  without  con- 
sidering the  storage  factor. 

Compare   this   again   with   the   French 


Alps  development  as  summarized  in  Mr. 
Comstock's  paper,  before  referred  to,  and 
quoted  by  him  from  the  statistics  of  1910. 
There  was  an  aggregate  of  475,000  h.p. 
installed,  80,000  h.p.  additional  under 
construction,  and  700,000  h.p.  projected. 
Of  the  power  produced  210,000  h.p.  was 
consumed  in  electro-metallurgical  work, 
60,000  h.p.  in  electro-chemical  work, 
30,000  h.p.  in  the  chemical  and  wood  in- 
dustries and  165,000  h.p.  for  commercial 
power,  light  and  traction. 

Compare,  furthermore,  the  Norwegian 
Nitrate  Company,  which,  in  1913,  had 
260,000  h.p.  already  in  operation,  used 
solely  for  the  process  of  fixation  of  atmos- 
pheric nitrogen,  and  had  planned  to  de- 
velop 280,000  additional  horsepower  for 
the  same  electro-chemical  purpose.  The 
furnace  and  process  used  by  the  company 
were  not  invented  until  1903.  Mr.  Corn- 
stock  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  al- 
though fixation  of  atmospheric  nitrogen  has 
been  claimed  to  be  impractical  in  the  Uni- 
ted States,  that  St.  Louis,  which  receives 
power  from  the  Keokuk  plant  at  $24  per 
k.w.-year  could  at  that  rate  produce  at  a 
power  cost  of  about  $44  a  ton  of  nitric 
acid,  the  selling  price,  of  which  was  about 
$95  per  ton. 

But   it  is   not  necessary  to  use   power 

i  •' 

transmitted  y.0,  niiles  tS' produce  nitric 
acid  by  the  fixation  ofratmospheric  nitro- 
gen. The  industry  demands  cheap  power 
in  great  quantity,  but  it  is  an  industry 
which  is  capable  of  indefinite  expansion, 
because  the  demand  for  the  product  con- 
tinues to  grow.  The  Secretary  of  Agri- 
culture in  his  annual  report  for  1914  called 
attention  to  significant  facts.  The  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  had  increased 
23,000,000  in  fifteen  years,  but  the  strictly 
rural  districts  had  shown  an  increase  of 
barely  6,000,000.  More  mouths  to  feed 
and  fewer  husbandmen  is  the  most  serious 
problem  of  the  age.  The  reports  of  ani- 
mal industry  show  an  actual  decline  in 
numbers  of  meat  animals  in  the  decade 
from  1899  to  1909  in  spite  of  an  increase 
in  population  during  the  same  period  of 
more  than  16,000,000  people,  cattle  de- 
creasing from  50,000,000  to  41,000,000 
sheep  from  61,000,000  to  52,000,000, 
and  hogs  from  63,000,000  to  55,000,000. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


577 


The  acreage  of  cereals  harvested  increased 
from  185,000,000  acres  to  only  191,000,- 
ooo  acres  or  3.5  per  cent,  while  the  popu- 
lation increased  22.4  per  cent  during  the 
decade.  While  there  are  935,000,000 
acres  of  arable  land  in  the  country,  only 
400,000,000  or  43  per  cent  were  under 
cultivation.  Man-power  is  needed,  but 
even  more  vital  (because  mechanical  im- 
provements take  the  place  of  man-power 
very  largely)  is  the  need  of  a  constant  re- 
plenishment of  the  soil.  The  war  has  dis- 


lem,"  on  April  26,  1916,  before  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  said 
in  regard  to  this  problem: 

"The  food  supply  depends,  in  the  last 
analysis,  upon  the  plant  food  supply.  The 
production  of  nitrogen,  which  is  one  of 
the  three  principal,  fertilizer  ingredients, 
is  distinctly  a  water-power  proposition,  in- 
volving the  fixation  of  atmospheric  nitro- 
gen. More  than  80  per  cent  of  mixed 
fertilizer  produced  in  the  United  States  is 
used  east  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  and 


Hydro-Electric  Station  and  Development.    Little  Falls  Washington  Water  Power  Company,  Spokane,  Wash. 


arranged  our  access  to  supplies  of  fertil- 
izers, and  one  of  the  most  important  of 
these  is  nitric  acid.  For  our  supply  we 
depend  chiefly  on  Chile,  which  would  be 
a  menace  in  case  of  war  and  means  the 
payment  of  export  duties  and  profits 
amounting  to  about  $5,000.000  annually 
in  time  of  peace.  The  production  of  many 
of  our  most  highly  nitrogenous  food  prod- 
ucts has  been  steadily  declining,  and  Ameri- 
can farmers  have  been  producing  less  per 
acre  than  have  European  producers.  Al- 
lerton  S.  Cushman,  speaking  on  "Water- 
Power  Development  and  the  Food  Prob- 


for  the  fertilizer  problem  the  water  power 
must  be  developed  in  those  parts  of  the 
country  where  the  demand  for  intensive 
agriculture  exists.  A  feasible  and  proper 
plan  for  a  water-power  development  in 
this  country  will  have  a  profound  influ- 
ence in  the  development  and  distribution 
of  cheap  fertilizer  ingredients  which  are 
so  necessary  under  modern  intensive  con- 
ditions in  the  growth  of  population  and 
its  relation  to  agriculture." 

We  have  seen  in  various  instances  the 
prompt  and  efficient  way  in  which  the 
American  manufacturer  can  rally  to  the 


578 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


solution  of  any  emergency  problem.  The 
war  has  presented  many  instances.  The 
thought  that  we  should  be  forced  into  a 
great  war  which  would  shut  us  off  from 
supplies  of  many  necessary  things  had 
never  occurred  to  Americans.  In  some 
lines,  particularly  many  chemicals,  this 
country  had  permitted  itself  to  become 
wholly  dependent  upon  Germany.  But 
when  it  was  found  that  the  dyestuffs  and 
chemicals  which  had  been  almost  exclusive- 
ly imported  from  Germany  would  be  un- 
obtainable otherwise,  it  did  not  take  Amer- 
ican industry  long  to  find  a  way  to  estab- 
lish their  production  as  a  home  industry. 
The  electro-chemical  industries  are  begin- 
ning, for  similar  reasons,  to  bulk  largely 
in  the  industrial  thought  of  the  United 
States,  and  for  their  enlargement  and 
great  improvement  there  is  a  need  of  cheap 
and  plentiful  power;  a  need  which  can 
only  be  satisfied  through  hydro-electric 
equipment. 

Hydro-electric  plants  upon  a  large  scale 
are  expensive  to  equip,  and  can  only  be 
made  to  pay  when  harnessed  to  industries 
which  are  in  constant  need  of  large  sup- 
plies of  power,  in  which  case  hydro-electric 
power  is  almost  ideal  for  large  scale  pro- 
duction such  as  is  needed  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  atmospheric  nitrogen  and  in  other 
electro-chemical  and  electro-metallurgical 
industries.  The  first  hydro-electric  plant 
in  the  United  States  for  the  manufacture 
of  nitrates  was  ordered  by  the  Govern- 
ment on  February  25,  1918.  It  was  built 
at  Muscle  Shoals  on  the  Tennessee  River 
in  Alabama  on  an  appropriate  power  site. 
The  plant,  now  that  the  war  is  ended,  will 
be  used  for  the  manufacture  of  fertilizing 
material.  Our  domestic  supply  is  insuffi- 
cient and  it  is  quite  necessary  that  we  en- 
gage in  large  scale  production  for  our  own 
needs. 

Almost  equally  pressing  as  our  actual 
war  need  is  that  of  agriculture  for  nitro- 
gen for  fertilizing.  Europe  has  1,200,000 
h.p.  developed  by  hydro-electric  energy  for 
the  purpose  of  fertilization  of  the  land, 
by  production  of  atmospheric  nitrogen  by 
the  fixation  process.  This  is  a  process 
which  can  be  carried  on  upon  a  large  scale 
with  ample  supplies  of  accessible  water 
power.  But  there  are  available  means  of 
securing  a  supply  of  nitrogen  upon  a  large 


scale  by  other  means  than  extraction  from 
the  air.  The  State  of  Idaho  has  a  large 
amount  of  water  power  available  and 
accessible  for  the  nitrate  industry.  As 
those  regions  are  for  the  greater  part  re- 
mote from  coal  supply,  power  derived  from 
steam  is  very  expensive,  but  in  the  same 
region  the  potentialities  of  water  power 
are  greater  and  more  accessible  than  in 
any  other  region  of  the  country.  Much  of 
this  water  power  is  under  Government 
ownership  and  by  recent  decision  is  legally 
reserved  from  location  and  private  owner- 
ship, but  the  tendency  is  toward  a  liberal 
policy  of  fostering  industrial  use  of  the 
power  under  lease,  and  now  that  the  liti- 
gated questions  have  been  decided  and 
those  who  need  the  power  know  what  to 
do  and  the  terms  involved,  the  outlook  is 
for  a  large  increase  in  Western  hydraulic 
power  development  in  connection  with  the 
new  alignments  of  industry  by  which  many 
of  the  electro-chemical  and  electro-metal- 
lurgical products  formerly  supplied  to  this 
country  from  foreign  factories  will  be 
naturalized  in  this  country.  Raw  material 
for  the  nitrate  industry  is  available  in  bil- 
lions of  tons  of  phosphorous  rock  from 
which  nitric  acid  can  be  extracted  in  large 
quantities  by  electrical  process.  This  and 
many  industries  like  it  form  the  most  com- 
plete answer  to  the  most  frequent  objec- 
tions to  the  use  of  far-western  water  pow- 
ers because  of  their  remoteness  from  the 
large  cities  of  the  East  and  Middle  West. 
As  Norway  and  Chile  have  been  our  chief 
sources  of  supply  it  can  hardly  be  con- 
tended that  Idaho  is  too  remote  for  the 
production  of  nitrates. 

The  Food  Administration,  after  we  en- 
tered the  World  War,  kept  up  an  inces- 
sant reminder  of  the  duty  devolving  upon 
citizens  not  only  to  conserve  the  food  sup- 
plies but  also  to  increase  production.  In- 
creased acreage  is  desirable  to  that  end, 
but  an  even  more  important  factor  to  in- 
creased production  in  emergency  is  to 
make  production  in  the  areas  already  un- 
der cultivation  more  intensive.  But  to  do 
this  in  the  present  situation  with  the  ex- 
isting shortage  of  farm  labor  is  not  an 
easy  task.  It  may  be  accomplished  to  a 
considerable  degree  if  the  soil  is  enriched 
by  generous  fertilization.  The  average 
crop  of  wheat  in  this  country  is  fifteen 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


579 


bushels  per  acre  as  against  a  European 
average  of  thirty-two  bushels  per  acre, 
while  that  continent  produces  47  bushels 
of  oats  to  our  29  bushels.  This  is  partly 
due  to  closer  attention  to  more  complete 
pulverization  and  better  care  of  the  culti- 
vation of  the  crop,  but  the  chief  factor  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  we  use  only  28 
pounds  of  fertilizer  to  the  acre  on  an 
average,  while  the  European  farmer  uses 
200  pounds  per  acre  per  annum.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  with  intensive  farm- 
ing equal  to  that  of  the  European  farmer 
(which  with  our  superior  farming  machin- 
ery could  be  done  with  less  man  power 
here  than  there),  and  an  equal  use  of  fer- 
tilizers, there  could  be  obtained  an  acreage 


alone  for  water  distribution  leave  unirri- 
gated  many  valuable  areas  which  by  de- 
veloping water  powers  may  be  fed  with 
needed  water  by  means  of  pumps  operated 
by  hydro-electric  power. 

In  the  greater  development  of  water 
power  the  larger  success  of  our  manufac- 
tures and  the  greater  prosperity  of  those 
who  labor  are  intimately  bound  up.  A 
recent  comparison  in  an  English  industrial 
report  illustrates  in  these  words:  "The 
only  way  to  increase  prosperity  is  to  in- 
crease the  net  output  per  head  of  the 
workers  employed.  It  is  possible  to  in- 
crease the  output  per  head  by  harder  work 
on  the  part  of  each  individual,  but  there 
is  far  greater  promise  in  increasing  his  out- 


Montague  City  Station  of  Turner's  Falls  Power  and  Electric  Company 


percentage  production  equal  to  that  of 
Europe.  If  such  a  production  were  avail- 
able the  grain  problem  which  proved  so 
serious  would  have  been  easily  solved.  Ap- 
proach to  such  efficiency  is  not  possible 
except  by  multiplying  our  fertilizer  re- 
sources to  a  degree  only  possible  by  the 
generation  of  greatly  increased  resources 
in  hydro-electric  energy. 

Another  great  use  that  can  be  made  of 
the  unused  water  powers  is  in  a  greatly 
increased  use  of  the  mountain  waters  for 
irrigation.  As  to  the  value  of  irrigation 
to  the  arid  areas  of  the  West  there  is  no 
necessity  to  argue.  Deserts  that  have  been 
made  to  bloom  and  produce  give  eloquent 
testimony  of  the  practical  value  of  adding 
moisture  to  arid  areas.  But  irrigation 
measures  which  depend  upon  gravity  flow 


put  by  giving  him  more  machinery  to  mul- 
tiply the  effectiveness  of  his  efforts.  In 
the  United  States  the  amount  of  power 
used  per  worker  is  56  per  cent  more  than 
in  the  United  Kingdom.  On  the  other 
hand,  not  only  are  the  standard  rates  of 
wages  higher  in  the  United  States,  but 
living  conditions  are  better.  The  best  cure 
for  low  wages  is  more  motive  power.  Or 
from  the  manufacturer's  point  of  view  the 
only  offset  against  the  increasing  cost  of 
labor  is  the  more  extensive  use  of  water 
power.  Thus  the  solution  of  the  work- 
man's problem,  also  that  of  his  employer, 
is  the  same,  namely,  the  greatest  possible 
use  of  power." 

Another  important  feature  in  the  greater 
development  of  hydraulic  power  is  the  sav- 
ing of  fuel  resulting  from  the  development 


580 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


of  hydro-electric  power.  A  recent  estimate 
by  Mr.  E.  W.  Rice,  Jr.,  was  that  the  elec- 
trification of  the  railroads  of  the  country 
would  save  a  million  tons  of  coal  annually 
or  about  two-thirds  of  the  coal  used  by  lo- 
comotives, would  permit  a  speeding  up  of 
train  schedules  of  25  per  cent,  would  elim- 
inate the  haulage  of  coal  to  the  extent  of 
increasing  trackage  capacity  10  per  cent, 
and  otherwise  be  beneficial  in  many  social 
and  industrial  ways.  It  is  not  within  the 
range  of  possibility  that  hydro-electric 
power  will  displace  steam  horsepower.  It 
has  been  shown  that  the  North  Atlantic 
States  have  no  very  great  reserve  of  unde- 
veloped hydro-electric  power,  and  must 
continue  to  depend  upon  the  generation  of 
steam  for  the  operation  and  expansion  of 
the  greater  part  of  its  industries,  but  if  the 
regions  of  the  West  where  water  power  is 
immeasurably  more  plentiful  should  de- 
velop it  so  as  to  supply  power  for  its  in- 
dustries and  thus  dispense  with  coal  except 
for  purely  electric  purposes  it  would  auto- 
matically release  an  important  share  of 
the  coal  supply  to  relieve  the  shortage  of 
coal  in  the  populous  States  of  the  Eastern 
region  of  the  country. 

As  coal  for  industries  is  so  expensive  and 
inaccessible  in  the  Inter-Mountain  region, 
and  the  water-power  situation  so  favorable, 
electrical  industries  in  that  region  illustrate 
most  forcibly  how  the  use  of  hydro-electric 
energy  saves  coal.  An  announcement 
made  by  the  Utah  Power  and  Light  Com- 
pany in  regard  to  this  feature  shows  that 
during  1917  the  Company  generated  500,- 
000,000  kilowatt  hours  of  hydro-electric 
power.  It  states  that  if  the  same  amount 
of  power  had  been  generated  by  the  use  of 
coal  in  a  steam-driven  plant  it  would  re- 
quire the  use  of  a  million  tons  of  coal  ad- 
ditional to  that  now  used  in  its  territory, 


or  25,000  carloads:  meaning  that  a  coal 
saving  of  83,333  tons  or  2>°83  carloads 
per  month,  or  2,740  tons  (69  carloads) 
per  day  has  been  effected  by  the  company's 
use  of  hydro-electric  energy  which  it  dis- 
tributes for  light  and  power  purposes. 

But  while  water  power  resources  in  this 
country  are  physically  abundant  there  has 
been  little  development  of  them  because 
cf  laws  which  have  discouraged  or  entirely 
prevented  their  utilization.  Fear  of  a 
monopolization  of  these  water  powers  by 
exploiting  combinations  led  to  measures 
which  under  a  policy  of  conservation  dis- 
couraged water-power  development.  Liti- 
gation to  test  the  validity  of  this  legislation 
has  been  pushed  for  years  until  recent  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Court  have  upheld 
the  Government's  contentions.  Since  then 
Congress  and  the  executive  departments 
at  Washington  have  been  working  to- 
gether to  secure  action  which  will  pro- 
vide for  a  leasing  system  with  a  certain 
tenure  (probably  fifty  years)  and  other 
provisions  which  while  retaining  title  and 
control  in  the  Government,  through  a 
water-power  commission,  at  the  same  time 
will  serve  to  encourage,  rather  than  re- 
tard, water-power  development.  As  such 
enterprises  must  be  financed  by  private 
capital  very  little  in  the  way  of  develop- 
ment of  the  40,000,000  or  more  horse- 
power in  the  thirteen  Western  water  power 
States  can  now  be  effected.  But  with  a 
wiser  and  more  liberal  policy  there  will 
doubtless  come  a  great  development  of  the 
water  powers.  There  is  no  industrial  pos- 
sibility which  can  do  more  to  benefit  the 
nation  and  its  approach  to  the  highest  ideals 
than  that  bound  up  in  the  future  develop- 
ment of  the  great  water  powers  by  elec- 
tricity. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


581 


THE  COLORADO  POWER  COMPANY 


This  is  the  story  of  electric  power  devel- 
opment in  Colorado,  a  state  noted  for  its 
natural  wealth,  thriving  industry,  general 
prosperity  and  the  inevitable  western  push. 
The  Colorado  Power  Company,  if  not  de- 
scribable  in  superlative  terms  as  to  size 
and  investment,  is  nevertheless  one  of  the 
very  important  enterprises  utilizing  the 
water  power  resources  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain region.  In  respect  to  the  future  it 
stands  upon  the  threshold  of  great  possi- 
bilities for  the  extension  of  hydro-electric 
power.  At  present  the  company  retails 
power  to  the  mines  of  Lake,  Summit, 
Eagle,  Boulder,  Clear  Creek  and  Gilpin 
counties,  to  the  smelters  at  Leadville  and 
Salida  and  to  the  Denver  and  Rio  Grande 
shops  and  yards  at  Salida  and  Alamosa.  It 
also  serves  a  major  portion  of  the  electrical 
load  of  the  Denver  Gas  and  Electric  Light 
Company  and  supplies  about  one-fourth  of 
the  power  required  by  the  Denver  Tram- 
way Company.  ,  That  is  not  all.  Of  the 
gradual  growth  and  expansion  of  the  com- 
pany's service  more  is  to  be  said.  The 
Colorado  Power  Company  was  organized 
in  1913,  acquiring  the  properties  of  the 
Central  Colorado  Power  Company  and  the 
Leadville  Light  and  Power  Company.  The 
antecedent  circumstances  leading  up  to  the 
present  organization  go  back  to  1906-07. 
From  then  until  1910  was  the  period  when 
the  physical  foundations  were  laid;  when 
brain  and  brawn  were  pitted  against  the 
elements  to  accomplish  some  of  the  most 
daring  engineering  feats  ever  undertaken. 
There  were  even  engineering  authorities 
who  declared  the  difficulties  insuperable; 
but  the  Shoshone  and  Boulder  power  plants 
were  the  result,  forming  a  nucleus  of  plants 
later  to  be  constructed,  all  being  built  for 
cooperative  operation.  The  construction 
was  carried  through  under  the  management 
of  the  Central  Colorado  Power  Company. 
Action  began  on  the  Shoshone  plant,  com- 
pleted July,  1909,  and  built  to  utilize  the 
fall  of  the  Grand  River  ten  miles  above 
Glenwood.  Here  was  a  deep  canyon  il- 
luminated with  sunlight  only  an  hour  or 
two  daily,  hardly  a  habitable  camp  site,  and 
laborers,  therefore,  hard  to  get,  added  to 


which  were  tasks  to  tax  the  strength  and  en- 
durance of  the  strongest.  Protracted  ex- 
cavation through  solid  rock  was  under- 
taken, as  witness  the  remarkable  concrete 
lined  tunnel  running  two  and  a  half  miles 
from  the  intake  dam  at  Shoshone  down  the 
canyon  and  into  the  forebay  at  the  power 
plant.  The  tunnel  was  designed  to  carry 
1250  cubic  feet  per  second.  The  power 
plant  above  Glenwood  operates  at  170 
feet  head,  uses  only  the  regular  flow  of  the 
Grand  River  and  generates  12,000  k.w., 
except  during  the  short  low-water  period 
of  the  year.  The  drainage  area  df  the 
river  above  the  plant  is  4500  square  miles. 
The  Boulder  generating  station,  unlike 
the  Glenwood  or  Shoshone  plant,  was  in- 
tended to  be  primarily  a  peak-load  and 
emergency  plant.  Almost  entire  dependence 
is  placed  upon  a  very  large  water  storage, 
as  the  minimum  flow  of  Middle  Boulder 
Creek  supplying  the  water  is  as  low  as  5  cu. 
ft.  per  second  in  dry  seasons.  The  principal 
reserve  is  the  Barker  reservoir  with  a  hold- 
ing capacity  of  520,000,000  cu.  ft.  and  held 
in  by  a  concrete  dam  177  feet  high.  From 
Barker  reservoir  along  Boulder  Creek — a 
canyon  1500  to  2000  feet  deep — and  across 
the  mountains  runs  a  3-foot  concrete  grav- 
ity pipe  line,  made  in  sections  at  the  camps 
and  carried  to  position.  The  line  is  12  miles 
long,  terminating  in  a  second  and  smaller 
reservoir,  the  Kossler  Reservoir,  at  the 
head  of  a  pressure  pipe  line  above  the 
power  house.  The  latter,  a  steel  pipe  line 
two  miles  long,  was  completed  only  after 
the  overcoming  of  unforeseen  difficulties. 
Of  unusually  heavy  material  in  the  first 
place,  some  difficulty  was  found  in  calking 
the  field  joints.  Oxyacetylene  welding  was 
resorted  to  in  order  to  make  these  joints 
absolutely  safe  and  tight;  half  the  line  was 
gone  over  and  probably  the  biggest  welding 
job  of  its  kind  ever  attempted  accom- 
plished with  the  use  of  five  to  ten  tons  of 
metal.  The  Boulder  plant,  rated  10,000 
kw.  and  operating  under  1830  feet  static 
head,  has  two  of  the  world's  largest  water 
wheels  of  the  impulse  type,  each  of  10,500 
h.p.,  instead  of  reaction  turbines  as  at  Shos- 
hone, and  two  5000  kw.,  three-phase  gener- 


582 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Boulder   Power   House 
Denver   Substation 


Power  Houses  and  Substations  of   the  Colorado   Power  Company 


Shoshone  Power  House 

Leadville   Substation   and   Auxiliary  Steam   Plant 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


583 


ators  giving  4000  v.,  60  cycles.  Boulder 
is  also  a  permanent  plant  and  constitutes 
a  valuable  reserve  against  any  failure  of 
the  Glenwood  plant.  Both  plants  are  of 
permanent  and  conservative  types  of  con- 
struction. 

The  most  acute  problems  of  any  encoun- 
tered in  all  the  constructive  work  of  the 
period  were  those  having  to  do  with  the 
high-tension  transmission  lines,  transmit- 
ting energy  at  100,000  v.  over  an 
aggregate  length  of  182  miles.  The 
line  from  Glenwood  to  Denver  runs 
153  miles  through  the  roughest  coun- 
try imaginable,  crossing  the  Continental 
Divide  three  times;  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  line  from  Boulder  on  the 
eastern  slope  of  the  mountains  traverses 
29  miles  of  less  difficult  terrain.  On  the 
first  line  herculean  labor  was  involved  in 
carrying  materials  and  erecting  the  steel 
towers  on  precipitous  mountain  sides  and 
at  elevations  as  great  as  13,600  feet  Furi- 
ous storms  and  violent  loo-mile  winds  fre- 
quently assailed  the  workers.  A  number  of 
long  spans,  one  of  2900  feet,  were  made, 
but  later  some  were  found  ineffective  owing 
to  severe  climatic  conditions  and  additional 
towers  had  to  be  erected.  On  the  Argentine 
Pass,  the  third  crossing  of  the  divide,  steel 
wire  was  used.  There,  too,  on  a  second 
or  reserve  line  three  miles  long,  strange 
manifestations  of  static  electricity  were 
sometimes  observed  with  the  line  discon- 
nected, the  discharge  occasionally  leaping 
two  feet  from  the  wires.  The  Denver- 
Glenwood  line  was  one  of  the  first  to  use 
suspension  insulators,  and  the  Hewlett  disc 
produced  by  the  General  Electric  Company 
was  adopted  with  good  results.  The  two 
100,000  v.  lines  from  Glenwood  and 
Boulder  converge  at  the  Denver  substation, 
which  has  a  wholesale  capacity  of  15,000 
kw.  and,  in  addition  to  serving  the  public 
utilities  of  Denver,  has  30  miles  of  13,- 
ooo  volt  power  lines  serving  retail  power 
customers  and  industrial  communities  in 
the  vicinity.  At  Utah  Junction,  close  to 
Denver,  the  company  supplies  power  for 
important  electro-metallurgical  operations 
producing  ferro-tungsten,  ferro-manga- 
nese  and  similar  alloys.  Between  Glen- 
wood and  Denver  the  line  makes  a 
loop  into  the  Leadville  substation,  the 


first   built   and   one   which   may   be   used 
as     a     switching    station    to     divide    the 
line    in    an   emergency.     The    capacity    is 
4500  kw.    The   station  has   58   miles  of 
6600  volt  power  circuits  and  19  miles  of 
local  distribution  in  Leadville.     The  com- 
pany's power  facilities  have  made  possible 
the  milling  and  preparation  of  low  grade 
ores  formerly  of  no  commercial  value.    In- 
teresting loads  are  carried  in  the  mining 
districts,  from  which  comes  an  enormous 
output   of  precious   metals.      The   Dillon 
substation    was    built    to    supply    energy 
to    the    mines    of    Summit    county,    hav- 
ing    63     miles     of    13,000     volt     power 
circuits.     Idaho  Springs  substation  serves 
a   subsidiary,   the   United  Hydro-Electric 
Company,  which  has  80  miles  of  11,000 
volt  power  circuits  and  24  miles  of  local 
distribution    circuits    in    Idaho     Springs, 
Georgetown  and  Silver  Plume.    The  Boul- 
der substation  has  94  miles  of  13,000  volt 
power   circuits.      The    tungsten   camp    at 
Boulder  has  a  world  record  for  produc- 
tion.     At   Salida    are    two    small   hydro- 
electric stations  of  1200  kw.  capacity,  and 
at  Alamosa  a  steam  plant  of  415  kw.  for 
distribution  locally  and  at  Monte  Vista. 
Summed   up,   the   main   system   carries   a 
maximum  load  of  23,000  kw. ;  Shoshone 
normally  generates  66,000,000  kwh.  and 
Boulder,   28,000,000  kwh.  a  year.     Peri- 
odic   additions    have    been    made    to    the 
Colorado    Power    Company's    properties 
since  1913.    The  Salida  Light,  Power  and 
Utility  Company  was  acquired  that  year 
and  merged  in  1915,  and  acquisition  of  the 
Mutual  Electric  Light  and  Power  Company 
of  Alamosa  followed.     In  1916  the  com- 
pany purchased  all  the  stock  of  the  United 
Hydro-Electric  Company,  which  had  for- 
merly bought  energy  at  wholesale,  and  now 
operates  the  service  in  the  mining  country 
around   Idaho   Springs,   Georgetown  and 
Central  City.   Another  purchase  was  made 
in   1916  of  the  electric  light  and  power 
plant  and  business  at  Sterling,  Colorado, 
a  thriving  agricultural  district  in  the  Platte 
River  valley. 

The  Colorado  Power  Company's  sources 
of  revenue  are  well  diversified.  All  im- 
portant contracts  run  from  five  to  twenty 
years  and  the  present  corporation  has  fin- 


584 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


anced  all  acquisitions  and  improvements  of 
property  from  its  own  resources  since  its 
inception.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  the  com- 
pany is  organized  on  a  firm  basis  and  is  in 
an  excellent  position  for  continued  growth. 


George  H.  Walbridge  is  chairman  of  the 
Board  and  L.  P.  Hammond,  president. 
The  general  offices  of  the  company  are  at 
Denver.  The  New  York  office  is  at  25 
Nassau  Street. 


HYDRAULIC    POWER    COMPANY    OF  NIAGARA  FALLS 


Two  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  the 
admiring  eyes  of  Father  Louis  Hennepin, 
French  priest,  missionary  and  explorer, 
were  turned  upon  Nature's  most  wonderful 
exhibit  of  beauty  and  power — the  Falls  of 
Niagara.  He  was  the  first  white  man  to 
see  them,  his  visit  being  in  1678,  but 
Champlain,  who  had  explored  the  St.  Law- 
rence seventy-five  years  before,  had  heard 
of  them  from  the  Indians,  and  made  non- 
committal mention  of  their  rumored  exist- 
ence in  1603.  But  Hennepin,  who  really 
saw  it,  declared  it  to  be  most  inspiring 
spectacle  he  had  ever  seen.  It  was  beauti- 
ful, it  was  powerful;  but  as  to  any  use 
which  Father  Hennepin  could  conceive  for 
it  there  was  none.  It  was  a  great  spec- 
tacle; but,  after  all,  in  the  estimation  of 
the  Seventeenth  Century,  it  was  just  a 
waste  of  water  falling  over  rocks.  If  it 
had  any  economic  aspect,  it  was  an  unfa- 
vorable one,  being  an  obstruction  to  navi- 
gation, making  necessary  annoying  detours 
and  portages  for  the  way-weary  traveler. 
It  was  nearly  fifty  years  before  anybody 
went  so  far  as  to  appropriate  a  small  part 
of  the  power  of  the  cataract  for  industrial 
purposes.  A  Frenchman  dug  a  small  semi- 
circular canal  a  little  above  the  Falls,  and 
from  that  canal  adventure  a  primitive  saw- 
mill resulted.  This  sawmill  constituted  the 
sole  industrial  use  made  of  Niagara's 
power  possibilities  from  1725  until  1805, 
when  another  sawmill  was  built.  A  grist 
mill  followed  in  1807  and  a  paper  mill  in 
1825.  Other  establishments  of  a  similar 
kind  followed,  but  each  was  small  and 
the  total  was  insignificant  until  recent 
years,  when  modern  engineering  science, 
mechanical  and  electrical,  opened  the  way 
to  a  most  substantial  realization  of  means 
to  use  effectively  the  power  of  Niagara 
Falls.  Of  the  existence  of  the  power  there 
never  was  any  doubt,  but  of  the  possibility 
of  its  utilization  there  was  considerable 


doubt  in  many  minds.  DeWitt  Clinton  re- 
corded in  his  journal  in  1810  that  Niagara 
Falls  was  "the  best  place  for  hydraulic 
works  in  the  world,"  but  DeWitt  Clinton 
was  a  man  whose  visions  were  ahead  of  his 
time.  He  was  the  father  of  the  Erie  Canal, 
which  was  long  derided  as  "Clinton's 
Folly,"  but  which  he  afterwards  carried  to 
triumphant  completion  as  Governor  of  the 
State.  Augustus  Porter,  who  owned  an 
estate  of  three  hundred  acres  at  Niagara 
Falls,  and  who  had,  early  in  the  century, 
built  the  sawmill  of  1805  and  the  grist-mill 
of  1807,  saw  Clinton's  statement  and  felt 
encouraged  by  it  to  make  several  offers  to 
capitalists.  In  1842  he  suggested  develop- 
ment of  power  from  the  river  upon  a  large 
scale,  and  later  gained  the  cooperation  of 
Peter  Emslie,  a  civil  engineer,  publishing  a 
plan  for  the  purposed  development. 
Horace  A.  Day  was  the  man  who  finally 
undertook  the  building  of  the  canal.  The 
heirs  of  Augustus  Porter  gave  a  right  of 
way  one  hundred  feet  wide  through  the  vil- 
lage of  Niagara  Falls  and  more  land  for  a 
basin  at  the  proposed  terminus  of  the  canal. 
Day  and  his  associates  organized  the  Ni- 
agara Falls  Hydraulic  Company  on 
March  22,  1853,  and  began  work  on  April 
20th  of  that  year.  The  canal,  completed 
in  1 86 1,  was  thirty-five  feet  wide,  eight 
feet  deep,  and  4,400  feet  long.  The  enter- 
prise was  not  commercially  successful  in 
the  hands  of  Day  and  his  associates.  The 
opportunities  for  manufacturing  by  means 
of  the  cheap  power  afforded  by  the  canal 
were  not  utilized,  except  by  a  flour  mill 
built  by  C.  B.  Gaskill  in  1872.  It  was  fif- 
teen years  after  the  completion  of  the  canal 
before  its  power  was  put  to  use.  This 
came  about  by  a  change  of  ownership,  the 
hydraulic  canal  property  being  purchased 
by  Jacob  F.  Schoellkopf,  of  Buffalo,  in 
1877.  Jacob  F.  Schoellkopf  was  one  of 
those  men  of  foresight,  energy  and  initia- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


585 


JACOB  F.  SCHOELLKOPF 
Founder   of   the  Hydraulic   Power   Company  of   Niagara  Falls 


tive  who  are  not  only  able  to  architect  and 
construct  their  own  fortune  but  also  to 
leave  permanent  impress  of  their  value 
upon  their  age  and  country.  He  was  born 
in  Krichheim,  Germany,  in  1819,  came  to 
America  when  he  was  twenty-two  years 
old,  and  located  in  Buffalo  in  1844.  He 
had  no  influence  or  capital  to  make  his  op- 
portunities. He  had  to  work  for  wages 
to  get  a  start  on  an  independent  basis,  and 
by  far-sighted  enterprise,  careful  invest- 
ment, and  rigid  integrity  he  became  a  busi- 
ness and  financial  leader  and  a  citizen  of 
highest  repute.  The  enterprises  in  which 


he  was  interested  were  varied.  He  built 
houses,  stores,  shops,  tanneries  and  mills, 
laid  out  and  constructed  highways  and  had 
extensive  banking  interests.  When  he 
bought  the  Hydraulic  Canal  property 
everybody  knew  that  it  would  soon  be  in 
active  operation.  Mr.  Schoellkopf  was 
not  a  man  to  let  an  investment  lie  fallow, 
and  when  he  acquired  the  canal  he  sent  his 
son,  Arthur  Schoellkopf,  then  only  twenty- 
one  years  old,  but  well  trained  as  a  business 
man,  to  manage  it.  For  better  convenience 
Mr.  Schoellkopf  organized  the  Niagara 
Falls  Hydraulic  Power  and  Manufactur- 


586 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


ing  Company,  the  title  of  which  was  after- 
wards changed  to  the  Hydraulic  Power 
Company  of  Niagara  Falls,  as  at  present. 
The  development  of  the  power  was  taken 
up  under  the  Schoellkopf  management. 
The  widening  and  deepening  of  the  canal 
was  taken  up  and  completed,  according  to 
the  original  intention  of  the  grant  made 
by  the  heirs  of  Augustus  Porter,  to  a  width 
of  one  hundred  feet  and  a  depth  of  four- 
teen feet.  When  the  State  of  New  York 
began  to  be  solicitous  of  its  own  water- 


equipped  with  900  horse-power,  secured  by 
means  of  large  wooden  wheels  at  first;  but 
iron  wheels  were  soon  substituted.  These 
wheels,  operating  under  a  head  of  fifty  feet 
at  that  time,  were  nine  feet  in  diameter, 
placed  at  the  bottom  of  iron  flumes,  which 
were  the  first  iron  penstocks  ever  put  into 
use  at  Niagara  Falls.  Later  a  larger  flour 
mill  was  erected  by  the  Central  Milling 
Company,  utilizing  the  power  developed 
from  a  head  of  eighty-six  feet  of  water. 
In  1 88 1  the  Niagara  Falls  Hydraulic 


F 


Water- Wheel  Room.    Power  Station  No.  3 


power  rights  at  Niagara  Falls  the  Legisla- 
ture passed  an  act  confirmatory  of  the 
riparian  rights  of  the  Hydraulic  Power 
Company,  but  limiting  them  to  the  diver- 
sion of  an  amount  of  water  that  could  be 
drawn  through  its  canal  at  a  width  of  one 
hundred  feet  and  depth  of  fourteen  feet. 
The  manufacturing  activities  located  to 
benefit  by  the  water-power  developed 
by  the  canal  were  at  first  purely  hydraulic, 
the  electrical  development  coming  later. 
The  earliest  of  these  enterprises  was  a 
flour  mill,  built  by  Mr.  Schoellkopf  and  his 
associates  and  known,  then  and  now,  as  the 
Schoellkopf  &  Matthews  mill.  It  was 


Power  and  Manufacturing  Company  in- 
stalled the  first  dynamos  to  derive  their 
power  from  the  waters  of  Niagara  Falls, 
introducing,  in  modest  fashion,  the  hydro- 
electric industries  which  have  grown  to  be 
the  most  important  feature  and  the  key- 
stone of  the  greatness  of  Niagara  Falls  as 
a  manufacturing  city.  The  wheels  first  put 
in  for  this  electric  installation  were  too 
weak  to  withstand  the  tremendous  impact 
of  the  water  and  were  smashed  soon  after 
being  put  in  place,  and  it  was  only  after 
exhaustive  experiment  that  the  company 
succeeded  in  securing  an  equipment  suffi- 
ciently strong  for  successful  operation. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


587 


This  plant  furnished  power  for  some 
manufacturing  enterprises  and  for  lighting 
the  village  of  Niagara  Falls.  By  1885 
there  was  a  total  of  10,000  horse-power 
available  from  the  hydraulic  canal.  The 
turbines  used  in  connection  with  the  first 
electrical  installation  were  placed  in  pits 
which  were  excavated  at  points  from 
twenty-two  to  ninety  feet  down  the  cliff. 
The  electrical  installation  of  1885  was  a 
small  one  compared  with  that  which  fol- 
lowed ten  years  later,  but  it  was  a  valuable 


structive.  It  had  been  used  in  the  organ- 
ization and  upbuilding  of  enterprises  of 
usefulness  and  importance  which  will  en- 
dure and  be  of  benefit  for  generations  to 
come.  Especially  did  his  courage  and 
genius  bear  good  fruit  in  the  part  he  took 
toward  the  conversion  of  the  power  of  the 
cataract  to  the  service  of  industry  and  hu- 
man comfort.  The  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Hydraulic  Power  Company 
had  been  so  organized  that  before  Mr. 
Schoellkopf's  death  they  had  been  under 


3  .   «*  •  •*-  3  '55  .«* 

*  «    •  •  3,a  » 

-    J 


Power-Station  No.  3.    From  the  Canadian  Side 


demonstration  of  a  branch  of  industry 
capable  of  almost  incalculable  extension. 
Power  Station  No.  2  was  built  at  the 
water's  edge  in  the  gorge,  in  1895,  and 
from  its  completion  dates  the  wonderful 
development  that  has  set  Niagara  Falls  at 
the  apex  of  distinction  as  a  center  of  hydro- 
electricity.  This  station  utilized  the  full 
two  hundred  feet  head,  and  its  service  was 
used  and  appreciated  by  a  large  number  of 
industries.  Jacob  F.  Schoellkopf  lived  to 
see  the  canal  property  he  had  bought  de- 
veloped to  this  high  degree  of  efficiency, 
and  in  1899  he  died,  full  of  years  and  hon- 
ors. His  life  had  been  useful  and  con- 


the  care  of  his  son,  Arthur  Schoellkopf, 
who  had  been  trained  to  the  activities  of 
business  from  boyhood,  and  who  gave  the 
affairs  of  the  company  a  progressive  ad- 
ministration under  which  the  greater  devel- 
opment of  the  electrical  equipment  was 
completed.  This  was  accomplished  by  the 
building  of  Power  Station  No.  3,  practi- 
cally superseding  the  former  installations 
and  ranking  as  one  of  the  finest  electrical 
equipments  in  the  world,  and  including 
thirteen  generators  of  tenant  companies, 
each  of  ten  thousand  horse-power  capacity, 
to  which  the  Hydraulic  Power  Company 
delivers  mechanical  power  with  results 


588 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


that  show  remarkable  efficiency.  The 
water  from  the  surface  canal  flows 
through  gateways  into  steel  penstocks, 
through  which  it  falls  212  feet  upon  the 
water  wheels.  The  generators  owned  by 
tenant  companies  make  three  hundred 
revolutions  per  minute.  The  power 
station  is  500  feet  long,  the  hydraulic 
efficiency  from  headwater  to  tail- 
water  is  90  per  cent,  while  the  electrical 
efficiency  obtained  by  the  principal  tenant 
company  is  95  per  cent.  The  water-wheels 


under  steel  booms  which  exclude  floating 
drift  or  ice,  into  a  housed  and  heated 
screen  chamber,  where  it  goes  through 
rack  which  intercept  any  trash  carried 
by  the  stream.  The  water  enters  the  pen- 
stocks, which  are  circular  steel  tubes  lead- 
ing down  over  the  cliff  to  the  turbines  on 
the  floor  of  the  power-house,  twenty-three 
feet  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the  river 
in  the  gorge.  After  passing  through  the 
horizontal  turbines  and  delivering  90  per 


• 


Generator-Room.    Power-Station  No.  3 


of  the  power  plant  of  the  Hydraulic 
Power  Company  were  built  by  the  I.  P. 
Morris  Company,  of  Philadelphia,  and  are 
of  the  horizontal  type.  The  water  from 
the  upper  river  is  carried  through  a  surface 
canal  to  the  edge  of  the  cliff  with  a  loss  of 
less  than  two  feet  in  the  head,  and  then  to 
the  water's  edge  in  the  gorge,  thus  making 
possible  the  use  of  the  horizontal  type  of 
wheel,  with  its  inherent  advantages. 
The  water  from  the  canal  is  led  from  the 
canal  to  the  penstocks  around  long  curves, 
and  the  velocity  is  changed  slowly,  with  lit- 
tle loss  of  efficiency.  At  the  gate-house 
overlooking  the  gorge  the  water  passes 


cent  of  its  energy  to  them,  the  water  is  led 
by  draft  tubes  to  the  river.  Between  the 
discharge  of  the  draft  tubes  and  the  river 
surface  a  concrete  weir  is  set,  the  purpose 
of  which  is  to  keep  the  tube  constantly  sub- 
merged and  fully  effective  in  the  low  stages 
of  the  river.  The  electric  generators  of 
the  Cliff  Electrical  Distributing  Company 
connected  with  the  turbine  shaft  were  built 
by  the  Allis-Chalmers-  Company;  those 
used  by  the  Aluminum  Company  of  Amer- 
ica were  built  by  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany. The  plant  is  defended  by  the  best 
protective  equipment,  to  secure  it  against 
excessive  pressure.  If  at  any  time  the  pres- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


589 


sure  becomes  too  severe,  bursting  plates 
open  automatically  on  the  water-wheels 
and  give  immediate  relief  to  the  pen- 
stocks. The  Hydraulic  Power  Company 
has  at  all  times  worked  upon  the  idea 
of  conserving  the  power  it  develops  for 
the  use  and  benefit  of  Niagara  Falls 
and  its  many  industries,  and  it  has  thus 
been  a  foremost  factor  in  changing 
the  character  of  Niagara  Falls  from  a 
mere  tourist-sought  village  to  a  great 
manufacturing  city.  It  has  consequently 
worked  to  increase  and  improve  this  indus- 
trial development.  Arthur  Schoellkopf 
was  a  most  public  spirited  citizen  of  Ni- 
agara Falls,  which  he  served  as  mayor. 
Since  his  death  in  1913  the  executive  man- 
agement of  the  Schoellkopf  interests,  in- 
cluding the  hydraulic  canal  and  associated 
companies,  have  been  in  charge  of  his  son, 
Paul  A.  Schoellkopf.  The  Hydraulic 
Power  Company  sells  its  development  of 
water  power  to  the  Aluminum  Company 
of  America  and  to  the  Cliff  Electrical  Dis- 
tributing Company,  the  latter  company  dis- 
tributing the  electric  power  throughout  the 
city  of  Niagara  Falls.  In  order  to  facili- 
tate such  local  use  of  power  the  company 


has  purchased  and  equipped  with  all  mu- 
nicipal facilities  tracts  of  land  in  the  city, 
which  are  made  available,  at  very  reason- 
able expense,  to  industries  desiring  to  lo- 
cate there.  Several  important  manufactur- 
ing establishments  have  located  in  Niagara 
Falls  as  a  result  of  the  efforts  of  the 
Schoellkopfs  in  three  generations  to  make 
the  power  of  the  Falls  locally  contributory 
to  the  building  up  of  the  city.  They  have 
been  the  leaders  in  this  local  development 
and  have  made  the  place  a  centre  of  at- 
traction for  those  who  count  the  volume 
and  cost  of  power  as  vital  factors  in  their 
industries.  Only  a  little  of  the  water 
power  of  the  company's  canal  is  used  for 
industrial  purposes  direct  without  conver- 
sion into  the  electrical  form  of  energy.  Of 
the  factors  which  have  transformed  the 
present  time  into  the  Electric  Age,  the 
means  and  instrumentalities  which  have 
harnessed  the  power  of  Niagara  to  the 
wheels  of  industry  and  public  utility  are  the 
most  potent  demonstration,  and  this  great 
progress  has  been  pioneered  and  brought 
to  its  full  fruition  largely  as  the  result  of 
the  genius  and  enterprise  of  Jacob  A. 
Schoellkopf  and  his  descendants. 


CHAPTER    XVI 
BUFFALO  GENERAL  ELECTRIC   COMPANY 

AND 

CHARLES  R.  HUNTLEY 


CHARLES  R.  HUNTLEY,  presi- 
dent of  the  Buffalo  General  Electric 
Company,  has  earned  the  gratitude 
of  the  city  of  Buffalo.  Strong  praise  is  due 
for  the  wide-spreading,  sky-piercing  edifice 
of  brick,  steel  and  concrete  on  the,  bank  of 
the  Niagara  River  a  half  mile  north  of 
Buffalo's  boundary  line  and  known  as  the 
River  Station.  This  gigantic  establishment 
is  the  steam  generating  electric  plant  now 
furnishing  the  power  which  permits  nearly 
50,000  highly  waged  operatives  to  man 
over  2,000  Buffalo  plants. 

It  required  superb  faith  in  the  future  to 
expend  nearly  six  million  dollars  for  a 
steam  generating  power  plant  on  the  part 
of  the  executive  head  of  the  principal  dis- 
tributor of  the  hydro-generated  electrical 
energy  furnished  by  the  harnessed  Cataract 
of  Niagara.  Few  men  are  fortunate  enough 
to  live  to  see  their  own  plans  justified 
through  the  sudden  arising  of  startling  con- 
ditions, but  Mr.  Huntley  is  now  reaping 
the  reward.  To-day  thousands  of  the 
busiest  men  in  the  world  are  among  Buf- 
falo's manufacturers.  Small  factories  and 
foundries  have  doubled,  trebled  and  quad- 
rupled their  capacities  and  personnel,  and 
scores  of  new  factories  have  sprung  up. 
The  untiring  pulse  which  gives  life  to  these 
centers  of  energy  is  the  generating  plant 
north  of  the  city  line.  Over  the  miles  of 
cable  stretching  from  the  giant  machinery 
80,000  horsepower  of  current  goes  forth 
to  turn  the  lathes,  whirl  the  wheels,  drop 


590 


the  hammers  and  do  the  other  things  that 
electricity  does  so  speedily,  effectively  and 
economically.  Buffalo  knows  that  her 
people  are  busy,  knows  that  orders  total- 
ing hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  are  on 
the  books  of  her  manufacturers,  and  also 
knows  that  wealth  flows  to  her  each  day; 
yet  few  of  her  leaders  ever  stop  to  reflect 
on  the  unalterable  fact  that  on  the  day 
Charles  R.  Huntley  decided  to  risk  $6,000,- 
ooo  of  the  money  of  his  stockholders  on  a 
plant  that  many  said  was  needless,  he  be- 
came a  guardian  of  Buffalo's  industrial 
greatness. 

Of  this  giant  plant  too  little  is  known, 
even  by  those  whose  commercial  life  rests 
upon  it.  It  is,  in  the  vernacular,  the  "very 
last  word"  in  steam  generating  electric 
plants — a  monument  to  the  genius  of  the 
late  Henry  Gordon  Stott,  who  planned  its 
every  detail,  superintended  its  construction 
and  died  shortly  after  the  completion  of 
his  great  work.  So  also  is  it  a  monument 
to  that  firm  of  famous  construction  engi- 
neers, Stone  &  Webster,  who  astonished 
the  electrical  world  by  breaking  ground 
for  this  stupendous  work  in  January,  meet- 
ing difficulties  of  construction  which  would 
have  ruined  less  skillful  and  resourceful 
men,  and  producing  power  in  November 
of  the  same  year — a  feat  unprecedented, 
and  scarcely  to  be  hoped  for.  So  also  it 
is  a  lasting  monument  to  the  man  who 
dared  to  go  forward.  When  the  great 
plant  began  turning  its  giant  generators 


CHARLES     R.  HUNTLEV 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


591 


the  work  of  the  war  was  growing  heavy 
and  Canada  had  ruled  that  Buffalo  should 
suffer  a  loss  of  electrical  energy  in  order 
that  Canadian  factories  might  multiply  the 
making  of  shells,  grenades  and  other  war 
necessities.  The  Canadian-generated  hy- 
dro power,  hitherto  exported  across  the 
border,  was  to  be  cut  off  from  the  Queen 
City,  but  a  serious  crisis  was  averted  when 
the  River  Station  was  found  ready  to  make 
up  the  lack.  Later  more  power  was  re- 
tained in  Canada  and  as  activities  grew  at 
the  city  of  Niagara  Falls  more  power  was 
demanded  there.  Buffalo  would  have  suf- 
fered almost  complete  industrial  paralysis 
then  had  not  the  president  of  the  Buffalo 
General  Electric  Company  spurred  con- 
tractors, appealed  to  Washington  for  pri- 
ority orders,  urged  the  great  electrical  ap- 
pliance makers  to  speed  up  production,  and 
thus  made  it  possible  to  send  forth  enough 
electrical  energy  to  keep  Buffalo  in  the 
forefront  of  the  great  needs  of  the  hour. 
And  not  yet  content,  he  is  urging  on  a  body 
of  experts  who  are  placing  still  another 
unit,  the  largest  single  steam  dynamo  in 
the  world,  it  is  said,  to  cost  over  one-half 
million  dollars.  Twenty-seven  freight  cars 
were  needed  to  transport  it  and  its  con- 
denser, and  when  it  goes  into  commission 
50,000  additional  horse-power  will  be 
available  to  move  Buffalo  still  further 
along  to  her  destined  place  among  the  four 
or  five  leading  manufacturing  cities  of  the 
world-  Mr.  Huntley  may  be  frankly  proud 
of  his  company,  of  its  progress,  of  its  pop- 
ularity, and  of  his  great  River  Station. 
This  is  not  only  justified,  it  is  also  pro- 
phetic, for  it  has  now  been  demonstrated 
that  before  many  years  there  will  be  an 
unbroken  chain  of  vast  industrial  plants 
along  the  Niagara  River  from  Buffalo  to 
the  Cataract  City  itself.  They  are  work- 
ing nearer  to  each  other,  year  by  year,  and 
some  huge  plants  are  now  being  con- 
structed on  land  immediately  adjoining  the 
River  Station. 

The  River  Station  was  planned  for  200,- 
ooo  kw.  capacity,  three  units  of  20,000  kw. 
each,  at  90  per  cent,  power  factor  (each 
a  horizontal  single  cylinder,  i3-stage  tur- 
bine) being  installed:  future  units  are  to 
be  30,000  or  35,000  kw.  The  fourth 
machine  will  be  of  35,000  kw.  capacity. 


In  all  probability  a  world's  record  was 
made  in  the  time  of  construction,  for  the 
ground  was  broken  in  January,  1916,  and 
the  station  was  put  in  commercial  opera- 
tion in  November  of  the  same  year.  The 
late  Henry  Gordon  Stott  (deceased  Janu- 
ary 15,  1917),  superintendent  of  motive 
power,  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany, New  York  City,  and  associated  with 
Mr.  Huntley  at  Buffalo  from  1891  to 
1901,  was  consulting  engineer;  the  Stone 
&  Webster  Construction  Company,  Bos- 
ton, were  the  designers  and  constructors 
under  the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Stott; 
Paulding  F.  Sellers  of  the  Buffalo  General 
Electric  Company  was  the  general  super- 
intendent on  the  job,  and  A.  H.  Mason, 
formerly  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, is  chief  engineer  at  the  station. 

Several  unusual  features  of  construc- 
tion are  to  be  noted.  Mr.  Stott  did 
not  cover  the  turbine  steel  foundations 
with  concrete  as  he  did  those  at  the  Sev- 
enty-fourth Street  station,  New  York 
City.  The  plant  is  insured  against  loss  of 
excitation  by  Terry  duplex  exciter  sets, 
each  of  300  kw.  The  governing  mechan- 
ism of  the  turbine  is  so  arranged  that  if 
power  for  the  induction  motor  fails,  the 
turbine  will  automatically  pick  up  the  load. 
The  governor  on  this  unit  can  be  adjusted 
so  as  to  lead  any  desired  amount  of  steam 
into  the  exhaust  system  up  to  the  full  capac- 
ity of  the  turbine  drive  and  yet  maintain  the 
emergency  feature,  that  is,  adjustment  is 
done  on  the  governor  and  not  on  the  throt- 
tle valve.  The  exciter  turbines  use  the 
boiler  pressure  of  275  pounds  with  275 
degrees  F.  superheat.  Each  condenser 
has  two  25,000  gallon  per  minute,  at  650 
r.p.m.  centrifugal  pumps.  Heavy  piping 
at  the  condensers  is  supported  by  springs. 
The  high-pressure  steam  piping  is  most 
impressive.  Standing  with  face  to  the 
boiler  room  wall,  one  sees  the  1 2-inch 
steam  mains  rise  25  feet  above  the  floor 
— as  high  as  the  boiler.  Each  bend  con- 
sists of  three  parts,  two  45-degree  bends 
from  the  horizontal  joined  by  a  U-bend 
of  6  feet  3  inches  radius  producing  a 
double  offset  bend  with  four  joints. 
There  are  two  1 2-inch  headers  or  mains, 
the  10-inch  leads  from  the  boilers  on  one 


592 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


side  of  the  house  going  to  one  of  these,  and 
the  leads  from  the  boilers  on  the  other  side 
to  the  other  header.  One  connection  from 
each  header  joins  a  receiver  at  each  turbine, 
with  which  1 5-inch  diameter  bends  connect 
the  turbine. 

Because  of  the  setting,  large  size  and 
great  capacity,  the  stokers  are  of  unusual 
interest.  They  are  of  the  inclined  under- 
fed type,  two  i5-retort  stokers  being  in- 
stalled back  to  back  under  each  11.400 
square  feet  of  cross-drum  water-tube  boiler. 


cables  needed  merely  to  transmit  the  power 
from  this  station  to  its  distribution  stations 
cost  more  money  than  did  Buffalo's  great- 
est hotel.  And  this  is  the  growth  of  but 
a  few  years,  for  the  commercial  use  of 
electricity  in  Buffalo  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
antedate  1887,  when  the  Thomson-Hous- 
ton Company  came  into  the  field.  Work 
on  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Plant  was 
started  on  October  4,  1892.  The  same  year 
the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Company, 
which  was  the  result  of  merging  the 


River   Station   of   the    Buffalo   General   Electric   Company- 


It  \s  the  largest  duplex  stoker  setting  ever 
built.  The  furnace  width  in  the  grate  level 
is  23  feet  107/8  inches.  The  depth  of 
furnace  is  17  feet  5  3/4  inches,  in  which 
is  that  of  an  ordinary  setting-  The  total 
grate  area  is  41.8  square  feet  and  the  ratio 
of  grate  area  of  boiler-heating  surface  is 
1.27.3.  This  is  probably  the  most  liberal 
grate  surface  per  unit  area  of  heating  sur- 
face used  in  power-plant  practice. 

The  condensing  capacity  of  the  boilers 
is  100,000,000  more  gallons  of  water  a 
day  than  the  city  of  Buffalo  pumps  for  her 
550,000  people  and  the  bulky  electric 


Thomson-Houston  and  the  older  Brush 
Electric  Light  Companies,  had  become 
the  sole  electric  company  in  the  city 
and  Charles  R.  Huntley,  who  had  arrived 
from  Bradford  in  1888,  to  become  man- 
ager of  the  Brush  Company,  had  been 
made  general  manager  of  the  new  com- 
pany. It  was  a  struggling  company  striv- 
ing, not  only  to  make  financial  ends  meet, 
but  to  educate  the  people  of  the  city  to  the 
genuine  benefits  that  would  accrue  to  all 
were  they  to  adopt  this  new  force  for  light- 
ing, for  the  comnany's  product  was  almost 
entirely  devoted  to  illumination.  The 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


593 


utilization  of  this  force  as  a  substitute  for 
steam  was  regarded  as  unpractical  at  that 
time. 

The  history  of  this  remarkable  public 
utility,  thus  indicated  in  the  most  general 
way,  sums  up  to  a  characteristic  and 
unique  degree,  the  whole  development  of 
the  modern  central  station  for  electric 
light  and  power,  and  for  the  more  recent 
supply  of  electrical  energy  to  innumerable 
activities  of  the  most  general  character. 
Its  close  association  with  the  utilization  of 
Niagara,  whose  currents  for  at  least  two- 
score  years  have  throbbed  through  its  ur- 
ban circuits,  would  alone  stamp  the  pioneer 
work  of  this  company  with  special  merit 
and  luster.  Much  of  the  converted  energy 
of  the  great  cataract  had  primarily,  as  it 
still  is,  to  be  employed  locally,  in  plants 
and  factories  located  along  the  very  brink 
of  the  rushing  Niagara  River;  but  the  real 
fulfilment  of  every  prophecy  as  to  the  rec- 
lamation for  human  use  of  this  illimitable 
source  of  power  was  bound  up  with  its 
transmission  to  remote  points.  And  heaven 
knows  that  in  those  early  days,  Buffalo, 
twenty  miles  away  was  remote  enough  to 
test  sorely  every  device  or  principle  that 
the  electrical  engineer  had  in  his  repertory. 
To-day,  Niagara  supplies  energy  to  lights 
and  motors  and  trolleys  hundreds  of  miles 
to  the  eastward,  "down  the  State,"  as  well 
as  to  far-distant  cities  in  Canada,  but  the 
lesson  of  how  to  do  it  was  largely  learned 
under  the  Huntley  regime  in  old  Buffalo, 
in  a  stern  school  of  experience  dating  back 
to  the  very  first  efforts  to  introduce  the  arc 
lamp  and  then  to  establish  the  widespread 
general  distribution  system  needed  for  the 
incandescent  lamp  with  its  ally,  the  elec- 
tric motor.  The  extent  to  which  the  suc- 
cessful development  of  the  great  ^enter- 
prise  at  Niagara  depended  upon  this  cor- 
dial reception  and  appreciation  thus  ac- 
corded by  Mr.  C.  R.  Huntley  and  his  col- 
leagues, will  probably  never  be  fully  real- 
ized. 

Nor  was  this  quite  all,  great  as  was  the 
service  not  alone  to  the  community  directly 
affected,  but  to  the  State,  the  nation,  and 
all  the  electrical  applications  of  the  Nine- 
teenth century.  In  a  spectacular  way,  Buf- 
falo had  itself  prepared  the  opportunity 
for  the  coming  manifestation  at  Niagara 
with  the  Tesla  two-phase  system.  Not 


alone  did  the  company  and  its  manager 
assist  at  the  first  great  exploitation  of  hy- 
dro-electric energy,  but  with  characteristic 
energy  and  daring,  they  had  many  years 
earlier  than  that  made  their  plant  and 
powerhouse  the  scene  of  the  first  great  con- 
vincing demonstration  of  the  advantages 
and  possibilities  of  the  alternating  current 
itself  from  central  stations.  We  can  all 
remember  the  interest  so  intense,  and  the 
criticism  so  far  from  laudatory,  that  at- 
tended the  introduction  of  the  Westing- 
house  alternators  at  Buffalo  for  serious 
work  into  the  conglomerated  menagerie  of 
other  growling  dynamos  for  arc  and  incan- 
descent service,  which  were  soon  to  be  dis- 
placed and  thrown  forever  "into  the  dis- 
card." It  took  nerve  and  courage  of  a 
high  order  to  try  out  such  an  innovation 
against  predicted  ruin  and  disaster,  with 
imminent  financial  risks;  but  it  was  put 
through — and  then  success  came;  and  a 
tremendous  new  era  dawned  with  which 
the  name  of  Huntley  will  be  forever  asso- 
ciated. The  recognition  and  acclamation 
were  immediate,  and  Buffalo  was  a  goal 
for  all  the  leaders  in  the  industry,  who, 
being  themselves  typically  alert  and  pro- 
gressive, became  convinced  and  then  did 
likewise ! 

Charles  R.  Huntley,  who  wrought  this 
change  in  Buffalo's  industrial  condition, 
was  born  in  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.,  Oc- 
tober 12,  1854,  his  father  being  a  pros- 
perous merchant  and  his  mother,  Clorinda 
(Talbot)  Huntley,  a  descendant  of  one  of 
the  oldest  families  in  America.  The  pa- 
ternal side  of  the  family  is  of  Scotch  origin, 
the  American  branch  being  founded  at 
New  Bedford,  Mass.,  about  the  year 
of  1657.  It  is  understood  that  this  an- 
cestor died  while  serving  in  the  Colonial 
Army  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
as  he  never  returned  to  his  New  Bed- 
ford home.  Mr.  Huntley  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  and  at  the  High 
School,  Utica,  N.  Y.,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1870.  His  first  employment 
was  in  his  father's  store,  where  he  re- 
mained for  a  short  time  and  then  secured 
a  position  with  the  Remington  Arms  Com- 
pany, at  Ilion,  N.  Y.,  later  becoming  rep- 
resentative of  the  Standard  Oil  Company, 
at  Bradford,  Pa.  While  in  this  position 
he  formed  a  desire  to  enter  the  electrical 


594 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


field,  and  although  the  industry  was  then 
in  an  embryonic  state,  it  promised  to  add 
to  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  the 
world.  Holding  these  views,  Mr.  Huntley 
became  associated  with  the  Brush 


City  Office  Building  of  the  Buffalo  General 
Electric  Co. 


in   I 

Electric  Light  Company,  of  Buffalo,  be- 
coming general  manager  of  the  company 
in  a  short  time  and  later  assisting  in  de- 
veloping the  electric  industries  of  the 
Niagara  frontier,  through  affiliation  with 
the  power  generating  and  distributing  com- 
panies of  Buffalo  and  Niagara  Falls.  In 
1893  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Com- 
pany was  organized  and  took  over  the 
business  of  the  Brush  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany. Mr.  Huntley  continued  as  general 
manager  of  the  new  company  and  was 
afterwards  elevated  to  the  presidency,  at 
the  same  time  retaining  the  position  of  gen- 
eral manager.  From  its  formation  until 
its  absorption  by  the  Buffalo  General  Elec- 
tric Company,  he  was  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Cataract  Power  & 
Conduit  Company,  and  he  is  still  treasurer 
of  the  Niagara  Electric  Service  Corpora- 
tion. He  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Peo- 
ple's Bank  of  Buffalo,  director  of  the  Inter- 
national Traction  Company,  the  George 
Urban  Milling  Company,  the  Western 
New  York  Water  Company,  the  Erie 
Finance  Corporation,  the  Marine  Trust 
Company  and  the  General  Railway  Signal 
Company  of  Rochester.  Outside  of  the 
erection  of  the  mammoth  new  generat- 
ing plant,  which  owes  its  conception  to  Mr. 
Huntley,  he  takes  especial  pride  in  the  com- 
pany's new  office  building  where  its  ex- 
ecutive quarters  are  located.  This  struc- 
ture is  fifteen  stories  high,  of  semi-classic 
architecture  and  is  at  Washington,  Genesee 
and  Huron  Streets.  Its  illumination  as  a 
whole  is  unique  and  beautiful,  while  its 
powerful  arc  lights  at  the  summit  shine  out 
brilliantly  over  many  miles  of  land  and 
lake. 

Mr.  Huntley  is  recognized  as  an  au- 
thority on  electric  matters,  his  many  years 
in  the  business  having  been  partly  devoted 
to  investigation.  His  keen  observation  and 
power  of  quick  analysis  have  been  of  great 
value  to  him.  In  addition  to  Mr.  Hunt- 
ley's  electrical  connections,  he  is  deeply  in- 
terested in  anything  connected  with  Buf- 
falo's progress.  Despite  the  many  calls 
upon  his  time,  he  derives  much  pleasure 
from  the  development  of  orchids,  heavy- 


WILLIAM     R.HUNTLEY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


595 


producing  wheat  and  three  or  four  other 
agricultural  products.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Buffalo,  Country  and  the  Automobile 
Clubs  of  Buffalo,  the  National  Electric 
Light  Association,  of  which  he  is  past 
president,  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  the  Buffalo  Chamber 
of  Commerce.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Board  of  Di- 


rectors of  the  Pan-American  Exposition 
held  at  Buffalo,  and  Commissioner  of  the 
Lewis  &  Clarke  Exposition,  at  Portland, 
Ore.  Although  taking  no  active  part  in 
politics,  he  served  one  term  as  Select  Coun- 
cilman, while  a  resident  of  Bradford,  and 
Mayor  Jewett,  of  Buffalo,  appointed  him 
a  Park  Commissioner,  a  position  he  held 
for  three  years- 


WILLIAM  R.  HUNTLEY 


One  of  the  men  who  has  taken  a  prom- 
inent share  in  creating  the  conditions  under 
which  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Com- 
pany has  grown  to  be  the  institution  de- 
scribed, and  who  has  rendered  invaluable 
co-operation  to  President  Charles  R.  Hunt- 
ley,  is  the  latter's  son,  William  R.  Huntley. 
It  needs  no  explanation  to  account  for  the 
younger  Huntley's  adoption  of  the  electri- 
cal business  as  a  career.  He  could  hardly 
have  had  greater  inducement  than  the  ex- 
cellent opportunities  awaiting  him  in  the 
ranks  of  Buffalo's  unprecedented  electric 
power  project.  He  began  at  the  bottom, 
has  risen  high  through  positions  of  uncom- 
mon trust  and  responsibility,  becoming, 
while  still  youthful  in  years  and  vigor,  the 
vice-president  of  the  company.  His  entire 
life,  so  far,  has  been  spent  in  service  to  the 
public  utilities  of  Buffalo  and  western  New 
York  State.  May  6th,  1879,  he  was  born 
at  Bradford,  Pennsylvania,  but  the  for- 
tunes of  the  family  brought  him  away  in 
time  to  be  raised  as  a  Buffalo  boy  and  edu- 
cated in  Buffalo  public  and  private  schools. 
Two  years'  service  in  the  operating  depart- 
ment of  the  Buffalo  General  Electric  Com- 
pany initiated  him  into  the  rudiments  of  the 
central  station  industry;  and  later,  as  cash- 
ier of  the  company  he  expanded  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  art.  He  entered  upon  this  ex- 
perience in  January,  1899.  Steadily  famil- 


iarizing himself  with  conditions,  by  1906 
he  had  been  appointed  assistant  general 
manager  after  having  served  a  period  as 
contract  agent.  In  1916  he  was  elected 
vice-president,  and  has  since  been  in  charge 
of  the  operating  and  commercial  depart- 
ments. 

Mr.  Huntley's  energies,  while  concen- 
trated in  the  main  upon  "General  Electric" 
affairs,  reach  out  into  other  avenues  of  re- 
lated industry,  and  concern  much  that  has 
to  do  with  the  progress  of  the  great  com- 
munity in  which  he  lives.  He  is  a  director 
of  the  Buffalo  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
of  the  Buffalo  Trust  Company;  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Robertson-Cataract  Electric 
Company  of  Buffalo;  director  of  the  Niag- 
ara Electric  Service  Corporation  of  Niag- 
ara Falls;  and  director  of  the  Syracuse 
Suburban  Water  Company.  His  contact 
with  the  electrical  fraternity  at  large  is  sus- 
tained through  membership  in  the  Engi- 
neers Club  of  New  York;  the  National 
Electric  Light  Association  and  the  Illumin- 
ating Engineering  Society.  Locally,  Mr. 
Huntley  is  known  in  the  resorts  of  several 
recreational  and  social  clubs — the  Buffalo, 
Saturn,  Country  and  Automobile  Clubs, 
and  the  Niagara  Club  of  Niagara  Falls. 
Mr.  Huntley's  offices  are  in  the  Electric 
Building,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


596 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THOMAS  EDWARD  MURRAY 


Thomas  Edward  Murray,  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  New  York  Edison  Company, 
was  born  in  Albany,  New  York,  on  Oc- 
tober 21,  1860.  He  started  work  as  an 
apprentice  in  a  machine  shop  in  that  city, 
and,  by  hard  and  steady  work,  he  advanced 
from  one  job  to  another,  so  that  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he  held  the  position  of 
Superintendent  of  Water  Works  at  Albany 
—which  seems  as  if  it  might  be  a  youthful 
record.  A  few  years  later  he  became 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Albany  Electric 
Illuminating  Company,  also  acting  as  Con- 
sulting Engineer  for  Mr.  Anthony  N. 
Brady,  principally  in  connection  with  elec- 
tric light  and  power  companies  at  Albany, 
Utica,  Rochester  and  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Mr.  Brady's  recognition  of  any  man,  meant 
that  that  man  possessed  unusual  talent,  for 
his  pre-eminent  position  was  attained 
through  the  selection  of  worthy  lieutenants. 
In  1898  Mr.  Brady  brought  him  to  New 
York  to  take  the  position  of  General  Man- 
ager of  the  Consolidated  Telegraph  and 
Electrical  Subways  Company.  In  1899, 
after  Mr.  Brady  had  consolidated  the  sev- 
eral electric  light  companies  in  New  York 
City,  Mr.  Murray  was  elected  Vice-Presi- 
dent  and  General  Manager  of  the  new 
company,  called  the  Edison  Electric  Illum- 
inating Company  for  which  he  designed 
and  constructed  the  well  known  Waterside 
Stations.  The  phenomenal  growth  and 
success  of  this  company  (now  the  New 
York  Edison  Company)  is  due  largely  to 
Mr.  Murray's  engineering  skill,  executive 
ability  and  business  judgment. 

As  Consulting  Engineer,  Mr.  Murray 
has  a  record  for  big  things  and  is  known 
to  have  designed  and  installed  more  horse 
power  than  any  other  man  in  the  electrical 
industry.  The  total  amounts  to  something 
over  1,500,000  horse  power.  In  this  con- 
nection he  has  designed  power  stations  for 
the  United  Electric  Light  &  Power  Com- 
pany, the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Com- 
pany and  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn;  also  power  stations 
at  Albany,  Rochester,  Utica,  Cohoes, 
Howe  s  Cave,  Troy,  N.  Y.,  Louisville,  Ky 


Dayton,  Ohio,  and  the  Prudential  Oil 
Company,  Baltimore.  He  also  installed 
for  Mr.  Brady  the  power  development  on 
the  Tennessee  River  at  Hales  Bar  near 
Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  and  has  also  been 
engaged  in  the  construction  of  power  plants 
for  the  different  powder  plants  of  the  U.  S. 
government  throughout  the  country. 

Many  of  the  novel  features  of  these 
power  stations,  together  with  their  sub- 
stations and  distributing  systems,  are  the 
product  of  his  brain  and  imagination,  and 
he  has  been  granted  several  hundred  pat- 
ents on  various  devices,  such  as  protective 
appliances,  seals,  cutouts,  reactance  coils, 
electric  dishwashers,  refrigerating  ma- 
chines, cinder  and  dust  catchers,  gas  wash- 
ers, elevators,  stokers,  electrically  welded 
automobile  wheels,  methods  for  distilling 
oil,  and  methods  of  electric  welding.  The 
multitude  of  new  and  improved  methods 
and  appliances  which  Mr.  Murray  has 
brought  forth  is  really  marvelous,  and  in- 
duces wonder  that  one  brain  could  evolve  it 
all,  however  active  it  may  be.  More  than 
two  hundred  of  these  patents  represent 
electric  protective  devices,  for  the  manu- 
facture of  which  the  Metropolitan  En- 
gineering Company  was  established  about 
ten  years  ago.  The  successful  develop- 
ment and  reduction  to  practice  of  many  of 
these  inventions  has  required  a  great 
amount  of  perseverance  and  experimental 
work.  In  recognition  of  his  work  in  elec- 
tric protective  devices  he  was  awarded  by 
the  Franklin  Institute  the  Edward  Long- 
streth  Medal  of  Merit,  in  1910,  also  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  George- 
town University  in  1918. 

Mr.  Murray  has  served  as  President  of 
the  Association  of  Edison  Electric  Illum- 
inating Companies,  is  a  Fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  a  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers. 

Mr.  Murray's  interests  are  many  and 
varied  and  include  leading  financial,  rail- 
way and  commercial  organizations  scat- 
tered all  over  the  United  States.  He  is 
vice-president  and  a  director  of  the  New 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


597 


Plant   of   the   Metropolitan   Engineering   Company,   showing  the   addition  to  the  original    building  which 

has   now   been  completed 


York  Edison  Company,  Consolidated 
Telegraph  and  Electrical  Subway  Com- 
pany and  the  United  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Amsterdam  Electric  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany, and  the  Edison  Electric  Illuminating 
Company  of  Brooklyn,  the  Electric  Testing 
Laboratories,  the  Fort  Wayne  and  Indiana 
Traction  Company,  the  Heidelberg  Ce- 
ment Company,  the  Indiana  Natural  Gas 
and  Oil  Company,  the  King's  County  Elec- 
tric Light  and  Power  Company,  the  King's 
County  Refrigerating  Company,  the  Man- 
hattan Refrigerating  Company,  the  New 
York  and  Queens  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Company,  the  Northern  Westches- 
ter  Lighting  Company,  the  Peekskill  Light- 
ing and  Railway  Company,  the  Peoples 
Trust  Company,  the  Union  Terminal  Cold 
Storage  Company,  the  Westchester  Light- 
ing Company,  President  and  director  of 
the  Edison  Light  and  Power  Installation 


Company,  President  and  trustee  of  the 
Yonkers  Electric  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany, and  trustee  of  the  Emigrant  Indus- 
trial Savings  Bank.  His  offices  are  at  54 
Wall  Street,  New  York  City. 

The  plant  of  the  Metropolitan  En- 
gineering Company,  an  illustration  of 
which  appears  herewith,  and  which  Mr. 
Murray  established  to  manufacture  his 
patented  electric  protective  devices,  is  lo- 
cated at  1250  Atlantic  Avenue,  Brooklyn. 
It  is  thoroughly  equipped  with  modern 
machinery  especially  adapted  to  the  work, 
employs  a  large  mechanical  force  and 
covers  a  considerable  tract  of  land.  The 
business,  however,  has  outgrown  the 
dimensions  of  the  original  buildings,  and 
additions  were  recently  erected  on  the 
ground  adjoining  on  the  right.  Completed 
the  establishment  is  one  af  the  largest  de- 
voted to  this  character  of  work  in  Greater 
New  York. 


598 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE  OKONITE  COMPANY 


After  a  manufacturer  has  been  produc- 
ing for  a  certain  number  of  years  with 
unvarying  evidence  of  quality  and  depend- 
ability in  his  product,  there  is  accorded 
him,  on  the  part  of  the  public,  or  the  pro- 
fession he  serves,  a  recognition,  which,  al- 
though illusive  and  indefinable,  is  more  real 
and  enduring  than  any  official  written  or 
spoken  endorsement.  It  is  the  silent  under- 
standing through  which  the  traditions  of 
famous  mercantile  houses  and  manufactur- 
ing establishments  are  perpetuated. 

The  Okonite  Company,  manufacturing 
insulated  wire  and  kindred  products  over 
a  long  period  of  time,  has  come  to  be  an 
industry  of  accepted  reputation  wherever 
these  articles  are  marketed.  Electrical  men 
have  been  familiar  with  the  product  of  this 
company  and  with  the  personnel  of  its 
management  since  the  so-called  pioneer 
days  of  wire  making. 

In  its  recent  history  H.  Durant  Cheever 
figures  prominently,  adding  further  to  the 
contribution  made  by  the  Cheever  family 
to  the  progress  of  the  electrical  arts  in 
America. 

As  long  ago  as  the  Paris  Exposition  of 
1889,  The  Okonite  Company  was  awarded 
a  medal  for  rubber  insulation,  and  a  simi- 
lar award  was  bestowed  at  the  Chicago 
World's  Fair  of  1893.  Okonite  had  then 
become  synonomous  with  the  standard  of 
rubber  insulation.  The  Okonite  Company 
was  incorporated  in  1884.  It  is  considered 


one  of  the  country's  leading  producers  of 
insulated  wire  and  cable.  The  plant,  situ- 
ated at  Passaic,  New  Jersey,  is  equipped 
for  making  all  the  dimensions  and  types  of 
insulated  wire  in  use  by  the  telephone,  elec- 
tric light,  power,  railway  signal  and  other 
electrical  systems.  Accessory  specialties 
of  recognized  merit  are  also  manufactured 
there.  To  mention  one,  the  Manson 
Tape,  named  after  its  inventor,  George  T. 
Manson,  is  a  friction,  rubber-filled  cloth 
tape  used  for  protecting  the  joints  of  insu- 
lated wires  against  mechanical  injury.  Be- 
ing adhesive,  non-corrosive  of  copper  wire, 
and  proof  against  unwrapping,  it  has  been 
widely  adopted. 

The  officers  of  the  Okonite  Company, 
beside  H.  Durant  Cheever,  the  president, 
are:  Willard  L.  Candee,  vice-president; 
William  S.  Brumley,  treasurer;  and  Wil- 
liam H.  Hodgins,  secretary.  The  Board 
of  Directors  includes,  in  addition  to  the 
foregoing  names,  F.  C.  Jones,  A.  F.  Town- 
send  and  George  M.  Brooks. 

City  sales  offices  are  maintained  at  501 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  and  the  business 
of  the  company  throughout  the  country  is 
handled  by  special  representatives.  The 
Central  Electric  Company,  of  Chicago,  are 
the  general  western  agents;  the  F.  D.  Law- 
rence Electric  Company,  are  the  Cincin- 
nati agents ;  the  Pettingell-Andrews  Com- 
pany and  the  Novelty  Electric  Company 
are  respectively  the  agents  in  Boston  and 
Philadelphia. 


DR.  GIUSEPPE    MUSSO 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


599 


DR.  GIUSEPPE  MUSSO 


The  telegraph  and  telephone  are  no  ex- 
ceptions to  the  electrical  rule  that  perfec- 
tion in  discovery  and  invention  is  still  fur- 
ther on.  Among  the  workers  who  in  these 
fields  have  attained  emphatic  progress  by 
fruitful  research  and  successful  experiment 
is  Dr.  Giuseppe  Musso,  whose  range  of 
work  has  covered  valuable  achievement  in 
improving  and  simplying  long-distance 
telephone  and  telegraph  service.  His  in- 
ventions cover  a  wide  field,  and  have  been 
coordinated  into  what  is  known  as  the 
Musso  System  of  Long-Distance  Tele- 
phony and  Telegraphy. 

Dr.  Musso  was  born  at  Vado,  in  the 
Province  of  Genoa,  Italy,  January  26, 
1867.  He  had  the  advantages  of  inten- 
sive study  under  able  teachers  and  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education.  From  early 
boyhood  his  chief  interest  as  a  student  cen- 
tered in  scientific  studies,  especially  in  the 
realm  of  physics.  In  electrical  science  and 
the  progress  of  electrical  discovery  he 
mastered  all  the  basic  principles  and  scien- 
tific data. 

In  Italy  he  had  for  several  years  pur- 
sued researches  which  finally  became  spe- 
cialized in  connection  with  the  problems  of 
telephony  and  telegraphy.  Not  only  how 
to  do  new  things,  but  also  how  to  do  old 
things  better  occupied  his  attention.  The 
results  of  his  research  were  especially  ef- 
fective in  the  discovery  of  vitally  improved 
and  vastly  more  economical  methods  of 
using  existing  apparatus  and  equipment  of 
telephone  and  telegraph  lines  for  greatly 
enlarged  and  much  more  efficient  service. 
Many  of  the  things  discovered  by  him  are 
basic  and  revolutionary. 

He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1904 
and  has  here  carried  his  experimental  re- 
searches to  much  more  complete  results, 
culminating  in  the  completion  of  the 
Musso  System  of  Long-Distance  Tele- 
phony and  Telegraphy. 

Under  this  system  it  is  possible  to  tele- 
phone from  any  point  to  practically  any 
other  point  in  the  world  by  cable  and  open- 
wire  lines,  using  existing  apparatus.  By 
the  Musso  system  the  physical  as  well  as 
the  phantom  circuit  may  be  used  for  long- 
distance telephoning,  making  available 
three  circuits,  compared  with  a  single  one 


by  the  present  systems.  The  Musso  sys- 
tem also  does  away  with  the  need  for 
"loading"  coils  or  extra  heavy  wires  for 
long-distance  telephone  or  telegraph  cir- 
cuits, and,  to  put  it  even  more  strongly, 
obviates  the  need  for  any  specially 
constructed  long-distance  wires. 

The  Musso  system  increases  by  three 
times  the  speed  of  long-distance  overland 
and  submarine  telegraph;  that  is,  one  cable 
or  open-wire  line  will  do  the  work  of 
three.  The  longer  the  line,  the  greater 
the  advantage  of  the  Musso  over  standard 
systems.  It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  mes- 
sages sent  by  the  Musso  system. 

It  is  said  to  be  possible  with  the  Musso 
system  to  telegraph  and  telephone  simul- 
taneously on  the  same  long-distance  cir- 
cuit; and  by  it  both  telephoning  and  tele- 
graphing can  be  done  as  easily  by  cable  as 
by  open-wire  lines.  It  is  thus  possible  by 
the  adoption  of  the  Musso  system  to  do 
away  with  all  aerial  lines,  substituting 
cables  for  them,  with  the  result  that  dam- 
age and  interruptions  of  service  as  the  re- 
sult of  storms  could  be  avoided.  A  further 
great  advantage  is  the  reduction  of  original 
cost  of  line  construction  by  this  system, 
which  requires  no  heavier  equipment  for 
long-distance  than  for  short  lines.  It  is 
quite  feasible,  by  the  Musso  system,  to  tele- 
phone to  Europe  over  existing  cable  lines. 

The  Intercontinental  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company,  Inc.,  of  which  Dr. 
Musso  is  president,  controls  the  Musso 
System  of  Long-Distance  Telephony  and 
Telegraphy.  The  company  has  arranged 
to  lay  soon  a  submarine  cable  between  Key 
West,  Florida,  and  Havana,  Cuba.  The 
cable  will  afford  six  telephone  circuits,  out 
of  which  two  telegraph  circuits  will  be  de- 
rived and  operate  simultaneously  with  the 
telephone  circuits. 

The  cable  will  be  a  plain  cable,  with  no 
inductance  loading:  Conductor  resistance, 
9.2  ohms  per  nautical  mile;  capacity,  0.33 
microfarads  per  nautical  mile;  length,  118 
nautical  miles.  This  cable  will  form  the 
first  link  of  a  chain  of  submarine  telephone 
cables  leading  to  South  America.  The  in- 
auguration of  telephonic  communication 
between  America  and  Europe  is  also  in 
contemplation. 


600 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE  ROBBINS  &  MYERS  COMPANY 


The  Robbins  &  Myers  Company  owes 
its  existence  to  the  financial  difficulties  of 
a  machinist  who  had  a  small  job  shop  in 
Springfield,  Ohio,  back  in  the  seventies. 
Chandler  Robbins  had  advanced  this  ma- 
chinist a  small  sum  of  money,  and  in  1877 
he  bought  the  shop  to  save  his  investment. 
A  year  later  J.  A.  Myers  bought  an  inter- 
est in  the  shop,  and  the  Robbins  &  Myers 
Company  came  into  existence  under  its 
present  name. 

In  the  early  nineties  the  management 
of  the  company  began  to  give  thought 
to  the  proposition  of  manufacturing  and 
marketing  some  product  under  their  own 
name  along  with  their  job  business.  Vari- 
ous articles  were  investigated  and  in  1897 
a  start  was  made  in  the  electrical  line. 

At  this  time  the  electric  fan  had  be- 
come recognized  as  a  promising  commer- 
cial product,  and  the  company  decided  to 
take  up  the  manufacture  of  fans.  The 
first  fan  manufactured  was  a  direct  cur- 
rent ceiling  fan.  That  this  fan  was  a  suc- 
cess is  evidenced  not  only  by  the  rapid 
growth  of  this  business  but  also  by  the 
fact  that  these  first  fans  are  still  found 
in  operation,  giving  good  service  in  all  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  Oscillating  and  non- 
oscillating  desk  fans  and  small  ventilating 
fans  were  added  to  the  line;  and  a  little 
later  a  complete  line  of  alternating  current 
fans  was  added  to  the  direct  current  line. 

In  1899  the  manufacture  of  electric 
motors  for  general  power  service  and 
small  electric  generators  was  begun.  The 
demand  for  these  products  increased  so 
rapidly  that  the  original  job  foundry  and 
machine  shop  business  was  entirely  sup- 
planted by  the  motor  and  fan  business. 
Additional  land  was  purchased  from  time 
to  time  and  new  buildings  were  added. 
Within  the  past  decade  all  of  the  original 
buildings  have  been  displaced  and  the 
entire  plant  is  now  housed  in  modern 
buildings  of  concrete  and  steel  con- 
struction. 

In  addition  to  the  standard  lines  of 
alternating  and  direct  current  motors  for 
general  power  service,  the  Robbins  & 
Myers  Company  specializes  in  the  produc- 


tion of  special  motors  for  manufacturers 
of  electric-driven  machines  such  as  vacuum 
cleaners,  washing  machines,  adding  ma- 
chines, addressing  machines,  meat  chop- 
pers, automobile  starters  and  scores  of 
other  electric-driven  machines  for  the 
home,  office,  store  and  factory  which  re- 
quire special  motors  adapted  to  the  services 
which  these  machines  perform. 

As  a  company  which  has  used  advertis- 
ing as  a  dominant  factor  in  their  merchan- 
dising plans,  it  is  interesting  to  record  that 
the  Robbins  &  Myers  Company  were  also 
the  first  of  the  electrical  manufacturers  to 
advertise  their  products  to  the  general 
public  through  national  magazines  of  gen- 
eral circulation. 

Until  about  ten  years  ago  electrical 
manufacturers  had  confined  their  advertis- 
ing to  technical  and  trade  papers  and  di- 
rect advertising  to  the  trade  and  users  of 
the  product.  It  was  generally  believed  by 
these  manufacturers  that  it  would  not  be 
practical  to  advertise  such  highly  technical 
products  as  their  manufactures  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  The  officers  of  the  Robbins 
&  Myers  Company  did  not  share  in  this 
opinion  however,  and  in  the  face  of  much 
adverse  advice,  blazed  tne  way  for  the 
tremendous  volume  of  general  advertising 
which  is  now  done  by  the  electrical 
industry.  The  wisdom  of  this  step  is 
shown  by  the  progress  of  the  Robbins  & 
Myers  Company,  as  it  has  grown  from  a 
company  with  a  capital  of  $50,000.00  to 
one  with  a  capitalization  of  $5,000,000.00 
during  the  ten  years  it  has  advertised  na- 
tionally in  mediums  of  general  circulation. 

In  1901  the  Robbins  interests  were  pur- 
chased by  Mr.  J.  A.  Myers  and  Mr.  C.  F. 
McGilvray  who  was  employed  by  the  com- 
pany as  Foundry  Superintendent.  Upon 
the  death  of  Mr.  J.  A.  Myers  in  1904, 
Mr.  McGilvray  and  the  two  sons  of  Mr. 
J.  A.  Myers — W.  J.  Myers  and  W.  A. 
Myers — succeeded  to  management  of  the 
company.  The  present  officers  are:  C.  F. 
McGilvray,  Pres. ;  W.  J.  Myers,  Vice- 
Pres.;  W.  A.  Myers,  Secy.,  and  H.  E. 
Freeman,  Treas. 


HARRY     B.     LOGAN 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


HARRY  BACHELOR  LOGAN 


Both  Harry  Bachelor  Logan  and  Dos- 
sert  &  Company  are  subjects  of  interest  for 
the  unquestionably  useful  place  that  each 
has  held  in  one  of  the  very  practical 
branches  of  electrical  equipment  manufac- 
turing. What  each  has  contributed  to  the 
reputation  of  the  other,  and  what  they 
are  both  doing  today,  makes  up  the  sum  of 
the  story.  With  the  advance  remark  that 
Mr.  Logan  is  and  has  been  for  many  years 
the  president  of  Dossert  &  Company,  we 
revert  to  the  unusual  sequence  of  circum- 
stances leading  up  to  his  present  position. 
Born  at  Zanesville,  Ohio,  January  5th, 
1868,  and  educated  in  the  town's  public 
schools,  he  enlisted  with  the  Western 
Union  like  other  boys  anxious  to  start 
earning  their  salt  early  in  life.  From  car- 
rying messages  he  was  promoted  to  send- 
ing and  receiving  them,  became,  in  fact,  an 
expert  telegrapher  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 
After  a  period  during  which  he  served  the 
Associated  Press  and  the  United  Press 
Association,  his  proficiency  with  the  key 
had  become  so  extraordinary  as  to  bring 
him  the  "championship  of  the  world,"  sig- 
nalized by  the  bestowing  of  a  gold  medal 
offered  by  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company, 
together  with  the  first  cash  prize,  at  the 
National  Fast  Telegraphic  Tournament  of 
March  25th,  1893.  The  setting  of  the 
event  was  in  Hardman  Hall,  New  York, 
and  it  was  an  exciting  affair  in  those  days 
when  the  telegraph  had  not  ceased  to  be 
one  of  the  "seven  wonders."  Between 
1897  and  1906  Mr.  Logan  was  the  chief 
operator  of  a  large  Stock  Exchange  wire 
system  in  Wall  Street. 

Dossert  &  Company,  manufacturers  of 
Dossert  "tapered  sleeve"  solderless  con- 
nectors and  terminals  for  electric  power 
conductors,  began  business  in  1905.  Mr. 
Logan  was  elected  to  the  presidency  in 
January,  1906,  and  under  his  direction  the 
company  has  since  specialized  exclusively 
in  the  design  and  manufacture  of  mechani- 
cal devices  for  connecting  and  terminating 
electrical  power  conductors  by  compression 
and  without  the  use  of  solder.  The  Dos- 
sert connectors,  made  in  every  necessary 


size  and  for  all  conceivable  types  of  con- 
ductors, have  been  found  highly  service- 
able ii  power  houses,  sub-stations,  indus- 
trial plants,  mines — at  every  juncture  on 
lighting  and  power  circuits  where  electri- 
cally and  mechanically  dependable  connec- 
tions are  a  vital  necessity.  Ease  of  appli- 
cation, low  resistance  and  absolute  perma- 
nency of  joint  recommend  them  to  the 
engineer.  The  variety  of  forms  in  which 
these  connectors  are  manufactured,  and  the 
range  of  connecting  needs  that  are  pro- 
vided for,  have  made  possible  the  solution 
of  many  complex  problems  of  wiring  and 
cable  installation.  The  President  of  one 
of  the  great  Edison  Companies  of  Greater 
New  York  while  speaking  to  a  Company 
Section  meeting,  referred  to  Dossert  con- 
nectors as  good  examples  of  the  genius  of 
doing  an  ordinary  thing  in  an  extraordi- 
nary way. 

The  Dossert  "tapered  sleeve"  solderless 
connectors  have  been  so  widely  adopted 
for  connecting  feeders  to  switchboard  cop- 
pers, short  circuiting  and  ground  cables, 
connections  to  rotaries,  transformers,  2 
phase  and  3  phase  buses,  motors,  etc.,  that 
the  list  of  these  products  and  their  de- 
scription might  be  extended  to  indefinite 
length,  but  the  fact  that  is  inclusive  of  all 
is  that  they  are  everywhere  regarded  as 
the  standard  equipment  of  their  kind.  The 
approval  of.  the  National  Board  of  Fire 
Underwriters  and  the  National  Electrical 
Code  is  significant  of  the  reliance  univers- 
ally placed  in  them. 

The  man  who  has  had  most  to  do  in 
making  this  business  an  integral  and  pro- 
gressive part  of  the  electrical  industry, 
Harry  B.  Logan,  is  a  familiar  personality 
among  electrical  men.  He  is  an  Associate 
Member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers  and  a  member  of  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  New  York 
Electrical  League,  and  the  Engineers'  Club. 
The  affairs  of  the  Ohio  Society  and  the 
Rotary  Club  also  engage  his  attention.  Mr. 
Logan's  offices  are  at  the  sales  headquar- 
ters of  Dossert  &  Company,  242  West 
4ist  Street,  New  York. 


602 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


THE  PEERLESS  ELECTRIC  COMPANY 


The  advance  in  usefulness,  symmetry 
and  efficiency  of  the  generators  and  motors 
of  today  as  compared  with  the  crude  and 
unmatured  machines  of  a  few  decades  ago 
reflect  the  concentration  of  many  minds 
upon  the  productive  endeavors  of  electrical 
conquest.  As  in  most  other  branches  of  me- 
chanical creation,  the  first  results,  great  as 
they  were,  had  many  crudities  and  imper- 
fections, which  mechanical  genius  has,  step 
by  step,  overcome  and  eliminated  until  now 
the  products  of  the  modern  electrical  manu- 
facturers represent  a  great  scientific  and  op- 
erative progress.  This  may  be  aptly  illus- 
trated by  the  accomplishments  of  The  Peer- 
less Electric  Company,  of  Warren,  Ohio, 
whose  dynamos  and  motors  constitute  a 
complete  and  significant  expression  of  the 
best  modern  practice  in  the  production  of 
electrical  machinery.  Warren,  Ohio,  the 
county  seat  of  Trumbull  County,  is  one  of 
the  thriving  cities  of  what  is  known  as  the 
"Western  Reserve"  region  of  Ohio,  which 
are  all  noted  for  their  manufacturing  ac- 
tivities. The  city  has  diversified  industries, 
but  has  made  a  leading  feature  of  elec- 
trical machinery,  supplies  and  accessories. 
Among  the  foremost  men  of  Warren  was 
a  group  which  early  came  to  an  apprecia- 
tion of  the  opportunities  for  industrial  ex- 
pansion presented  by  the  electrical  sup- 
plies industry,  and  established  several  en- 
terprises of  that  kind,  of  which  the  Peerless 
Electric  Company,  manufacturers  of  mo- 
tors and  generators,  and  of  desk  and  ceil- 
ing fan  motors,  is  the  largest  and  most 
successful.  The  city  of  Warren  has  an 
especially  favorable  location  for  industries 
of  this  nature  in  respect  of  the  supply  of 
raw  materials  of  manufacture,  and  trans- 
portation facilities  supplied  by  three  trunk 
railroads  as  well  as  local  lines.  It  is  the 
home  of  an  industrious  American  com- 
munity, including  many  descendants  of  the 
New  England  settlers,  who  founded  War- 
ren in  1799.  The  Peerless  Electric  Com- 
pany was  organized  and  incorporated  on 
June  20,  1902,  the  founders  being  T.  H. 
Gillmer,  former  prosecuting  attorney  of 
Trumbull  County  and  at  that  time  presi- 
dent of  the  Union  National  Bank;  E.  W. 
Gillmer,  of  the  same  prominent  Trumbull 


County  family;  E.  E.  Nash,  a  director  of 
the  Second  National  Bank;  W.  C.  Ward,  a. 
practical  and  experienced  manufacturer; 
Jacob  Perkins,  of  a  prominent  Warren 
family  with  large  local  interests ;  James  W. 
Holloway,  retired  railroad  official  and  long 
president  of  the  City  Council,  and  William 
Wallace,  then  cashier  of  the  Union  Nation- 
al Bank,  and  now  president  of  the  Union 
Savings  and  Trust  Company.  The  pres- 
ent officers  are  George  H.  Jones,  who  is 
also  a  director  of  the  Western  Reserve 
National  Bank  of  Warren;  W.  C.  Ward, 
vice-president  and  treasurer,  who  has  had 
practical  charge  of  the  manufacturing  oper- 
ations from  the  first,  and  J.  B.  Estabrook, 
secretary. 

The  company  are  manufacturers  of  dy- 
namos and  motors  that  represent  the  most 
complete  progress  in  modern  science  and 
invention  as  related  to  the  generation  and 
utilization  of  the  electric  current.  It  was 
one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  adaptation 
of  its  manufactures  to  the  constant  volt- 
age system,  which  by  the  means  of  syn- 
chronous motors,  counteracts  the  variation 
in  voltage  which  is  the  chief  source  of 
trouble  on  lines  for  the  transmission  of 
electric  power.  The  Peerless  Electric 
Company  makes  a  specialty  of  synchronous 
electric  motors,  which  represent  the  most 
improved  form  of  the  constant  voltage 
system.  Other  specialties  are  rotary  con- 
verters and  exhaust  fans  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced types.  The  products  include  elec- 
tric generators  and  motors  for  all  branches 
of  electric  service.  In  desk  and  ceiling 
fan  motors  for  use  on  incandescent  cir- 
cuits the  company  is  an  acknowledged 
leader.  "Peerless"  fan  motors  have  ob- 
tained wide  fame  and  a  demand  that  ex- 
tends all  over  the  United  States  and  to 
foreign  countries,  the  "Peerless"  trade- 
mark being  everywhere  recognized  as  a 
synonym  for  superiority  of  quality  in  things 
electrical.  The  recognition  of  this  is  found 
in  a  notable  increase  in  the  volume  of  the 
company's  trade,  which  has  more  than 
doubled  in  recent  years.  It  has  a  very  com- 
plete plant  and  an  able  management  that 
has  placed  it  in  the  forefront  of  the 
industry. 


FRED  P.  MCBERTY 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


603 


FRED  P.  McBERTY 


To  the  management  of  the  Federal  Ma- 
chine &  Welder  Company  of  Warren, 
Ohio,  Fred  P.  McBerty  has  brought  a 
practical  insight  into  a  sequence  of  manu- 
facturing processes  in  the  development  of 
which  he  personally  participated.  These 
have  to  do  particularly  with  the  building  of 
electric  welders,  motors,  and  transformers. 
In  his  youth  Mr.  McBerty  was  trained  to 
versatility  by  mastering  as  a  matter  of 
course  the  several  trades  then  considered 
essential  to  an  all-round  mechanician,  and 
which  were  also  valuable  assets  to  the  old- 
time  electricians.  He  remained  in  one 
community  and  found  there  the  oppor- 
tunities which  he  made  the  stepping  stones 
to  a  consistently  increasing  and  successful 
application  of  his  knowledge. 

Warren,  Ohio,  a  thriving  and  beautiful 
town  with  an  atmosphere  peculiar  to  the 
Western  Reserve,  has  been  the  scene  of 
virtually  all  his  activities.  Mr.  McBerty 
was  born  there  September  25,  1869,  went 
to  its  schools,  and  when  eighteen  years  of 
age  signed  on  as  an  apprentice  to  learn  the 
machinist  trade.  At  the  Warren  Machine 
Works  his  initiation  into  the  business  was 
most  thorough,  for  then  blacksmithing, 
steamfitting  and  foundry  work  were  an  ac- 
cepted part  of  a  novitiate's  training.  His 
second  engagement — now  as  a  full-fledged 
machinist — was  with  the  William  Tod 
Company  of  Youngstown,  Ohio. 

Mr.  McBerty's  entry  into  the  electrical 
vocation  came  in  1892  when  he  secured 
employment  with  the  Packard  Electric 
Company  of  Warren,  a  concern  newly  or- 
ganized for  the  manufacture  of  incandes- 
cent lamps.  A  year  afterward  he  took  a 
position  with  another  firm  organized  for 
the  same  purpose,  the  Warren  Electric  & 
Specialty  Company.  Here  he  had  entire 
charge  of  all  the  mechanical  equipment 
used  in  the  production  of  lamps.  These 
duties  depleted  his  health,  to  repair  which 
he  served  aboard  the  Revenue  Cutter 
"Gresham"  in  1897. 

Upon  his  return  to  Warren  in  1898  Mr. 
McBerty  accepted  a  position  with  the  War- 
ren Electric  &  Specialty  Company,  and  de- 
veloped a  line  of  direct  current  desk  fans 
known  as  the  Peerless  fans  which  proved 
exceptionally  popular  and  resulted  in  the 


sale  of  many  thousands  of  the  particular 
type.  Like  success  was  attained  with  the 
Peerless  Ceiling  Fan,  designed  in  1899. 
The  next  year,  while  working  on  the  design 
of  an  economical  desk  fan  and  seeking 
means  to  facilitate  its  production,  he  built 
an  electric  welder  to  spot  weld  the  fan 
blades  on  to  the  center  or  spider.  At  a 
subsequent  demonstration,  the  first  of  its 
kind,  the  process  was  proved  feasible — in 
fact,  the  welder  then  used  is  still  in  good 
working  condition;  but,  owing  to  manufac- 
turing conditions,  in  particular  the  impos- 
sibility of  spot  welding  brass  blades  to 
brass  centers,  the  new  device  was  not 
adopted.  The  inventor  changed  the  welder 
slightly  by  making  new  electrodes,  which 
causes  it  to  be  used  for  many  years  after 
as  a  butt  welder. 

The  experience  just  described  excited 
Mr.  McBerty's  interest  and  induced  fur- 
ther experiment.  To  W.  C.  Winfield,  of 
The  Winfield  Manufacturing  Company  of 
Warren,  and  an  inventor  with  much  to  his 
credit,  he  demonstrated  the  possibilities  of 
the  electric  welder.  Mr.  Winfield  fol- 
lowed the  idea  closely,  and  the  machine  was 
so  improved  that  by  1907  it  was  introduced 
as  a  standard  product. 

In  1906,  Mr.  McBerty  bought  the  trans- 
former business  of  The  Peerless  Electric 
Company.  He  and  his  partner,  Charles 
R.  McCurdy,  founded  the  Peerless  Trans- 
former Company,  later  incorporated  as  the 
Enterprise  Electric  Company.  They  pro- 
duced many  welding  transformers,  espe- 
cially for  The  Winfield  Electric  Welding 
Machine  Company. 

The  enterprise  and  its  inceptors  pros- 
pered. Mr.  McBerty  secured  sufficient 
funds  and  backing  in  1910  to  enable  him 
to  organize  a  new  company  for  the  ex- 
clusive production  of  electric  welding  ma- 
chines, the  invention  which  had  long  been 
the  object  of  his  keenest  attention.  This 
was  The  National  Electric  Welder  Com- 
pany. He  continued  the  business  as  such 
until  1917,  when  it  was  bought  by  the  Fed- 
eral Machine  &  Welder  Company  of  War- 
ren, for  whom  he  is  now  manager. 

Mr.  McBerty  is  an  Associate  Member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, and  he  belongs  to  the  MasonicOrder. 


604 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


JOHN    WILLIAM    LIEB 


The  place  of  distinction  in  the  mechan- 
ical and  electrical  engineering  branches  of 
science  held  by  John  William  Lieb, 
vice-president  of  the  New  York  Edison 
Company,  was  reached  through  rendering 
of  notable  service  in  pioneering  construc- 
tion. By  the  nature  of  his  talents  he  as- 
sumes a  prominent  role  in  the  direction  of 
the  public  utilities  which  he  helped  to  cre- 
ate. Added  to  his  present  post  in  the  New 
York  Edison  Company  are  other  responsi- 


bilities entailed  by  his  connection  with  the 
Edison  Light  &  Power  Installation  Com- 
pany as  vice-president  and  director,  the 
presidency  of  the  Electrical  Testing  Labor- 
atories, as  director  in  the  Empire  City  Sub- 
way Company,  and  as  Secretary  and  direc- 
tor in  the  Yonkers  Electric  Light  &  Power 
Company. 

Four  of  the  leading  societies  of  engineer- 
ing and  electrical  men  have  honored  him 
by  designation  to  the  leadership  of  their 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


605 


organizations.  He  is  a  past  president  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, the  National  Electric  Light  Associa- 
tion, the  New  York  Electrical  Society,  and 
the  Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 
Companies.  He  is  vice-president  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, a  member  of  the  American  Society 
of  Civil  Engineers,  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  the 
American  Association  for  the  Promotion 
of  Industrial  Education-,  the  Franklin  In- 
stitute of  Philadelphia,  and  the  Engineers' 
Club  of  New  York.  He  was  recently 
elected  president  of  that  unique  organiza- 
tion, the  Edison  Pioneers. 

Mr.  Lieb  was  graduated  from  the 
Stevens  Institute  of  Technology  in  1880 
with  the  degree  of  Mechanical  Engineer. 
He  was  then  twenty,  having  been  born  at 
Newark,  N.  J.,  February  12,  1860. 
From  a  draughtsman's  board  with  the 
Brush  Electric  Company  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  he  went  to  the  old  Edison  Electric 
Light  Company  of  New  York. 

When  the  famous  old  Pearl  Street  Edi- 
son Station,  the  country's  first  power  cen- 
ter supplying  current  to  consumers  by  the 
underground  system,  was  being  equipped, 
Mr.  Lieb  was  appointed  assistant  to  the 
chief  engineer.  He  took  charge  of  in- 
stallation and  participated  in  the  tests  of 


the  "Jumbo"  dynamo,  the  pioneer  direct- 
connected  machine  for  electric  lighting. 
The  station  was  opened  for  service  Sep- 
tember 4,  1882,  with  Mr.  Lieb  acting  as 
first  electrician. 

In  the  ensuing  years  Mr.  Lieb  per- 
formed service  of  note  abroad.  He  was 
appointed  to  direct  the  installation  of  a 
central  station  with  underground  system  in 
Milan,  Italy,  one  of  the  first  and  best 
equipped  to  be  operated  in  Europe.  While 
engaged  with  the  Italian  Edison  Company 
he  was  the  technical  director  who  super- 
vised the  introduction  of  the  alternating- 
current  system  of  distribution  and  the 
Thomson-Houston  arc-lighting  system  in 
the  principal  cities  of  Italy.  Among  his 
rewards  were  the  conferring  upon  him  of 
the  decoration  of  the  Order  of  Knight 
Commander  of  the  Order  of  the  Crown  of 
Italy,  after  his  return  home. 

Mr.  Lieb  returned  to  New  York  in 
1894,  immediately  becoming  assistant  to 
the  first  vice-president  of  the  Edison  Elec- 
tric Illuminating  Company.  Several  pro- 
motions brought  him  to  be  third  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager  of  the  company. 
Since  the  consolidation  of  the  New  York 
Lighting  Companies  under  the  name  of  the 
New  York  Edison  Company,  Mr.  Lieb 
has  continued  to  take  a  prominent  share  in 
the  important  problems  of  administration. 


FREDERICK  J.    PLATT 


Many  and  varied  are  the  fields  in 
which  the  electrical  engineer  has  brought 
progress  and  wrought  revolution  in  indus- 
trial methods.  "Electrically  equipped" 
means  that  the  most  advanced  methods 
have  been  and  are  in  use  in  the  industries 
to  which  that  statement  can  be  applied, 
and  this  is  especially  true  in  reference  to 
the  electrical  equipment  of  coal  mines, 
slate  quarries  and  other  soft  rock  excava- 
tion work,  in  which  great  advance  has 
been  made. 

Of  those  who  by  expert  work  applied 
in  that  direction  have  added  much  to  the 
improvement  of  mining  operations  and 
equipment  is  Frederick  J.  Platt,  electrical 
and  mechanical  engineer,  of  Scranton, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  born  at  Franklin 


Furnace,  New  Jersey,  July  21,  1871,  and 
after  completing  his  elementary  and  pre- 
paratory education  he  entered  Cornell 
University,  from  wnich  he  was  graduated, 
after  completing  the  courses  in  mechanical 
and  electrical  engineering,  in  the  Class  of 
1892.  He  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Kappa  Alpha  fraternity  while  in  the  uni- 
versity. 

Mr.  Platt  was  connected  with  Scranton 
by  family  ties,  his  grandfather,  J.  Curtis 
Platt,  having  been  one  of  the  founders  of 
that  Pennsylvania  city  about  1846,  and  it 
is  in  Scranton  that  his  entire  business 
life  has  been  passed.  He  went  to  the  city 
in  September,  1892,  and  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Wightman  Electric  Manufac- 
turing Company  as  electrician  of  the  shop. 


606 


THE    STORY   OF   ELECTRICITY 


FREDERICK   J.    PLATT 


After  one  year  there,  he  entered  and 
worked  about  the  mines,  in  order  to  be- 
come intimately  acquainted  with  mining 
conditions  and  to  discover  ways  and  ap- 
plications whereby  increased  efficiency  and 
enlarged  production  could  be  obtained  by 
the  introduction  of  electrical  equipment. 
This  practical  contact  with  the  actualities 
of  anthracite  coal  mining  operations  im- 
pressed him  with  the  realization  of  great 
opportunities  for  the  application  of  elec- 
tricity to  the  mining  of  anthracite  coal.  At 
that  time  there  were  only  four  electric 
mine  locomotives  in  operation.  Mr. 


Platt,  who  has  ever  since  been  actively 
identified  with  electrification  of  coal  mines, 
has  seen  the  number  of  electric  mine  loco- 
motives increase  to  approximately  fifteen 
hundred  in  use  at  the  present  time. 

In  1894  he  founded  the  Scranton  Elec- 
tric Construction  Company,  of  which  he  is 
now  the  president  and  manager.  That 
company  manufactures  a  rotary  electric 
drill  for  drilling  coal,  slate,  soft  rock,  gyp- 
sum and  rock  salt;  and  also  makes  switch- 
boards and  other  devices  used  about  the 
mines.  The  company  acts  as  a  consulting 
engineer  and  does  a  general  electric  con- 


EDWIN    W.    RICE,  JR. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


607 


structing  business,  making  a  leading  spe- 
cialty of  electric  mining  apparatus.  It 
acts  as  agent  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany in  the  anthracite  territory  of  Penn- 
sylvania, installs  complete  electric  light 
and  power  plants,  and  sells  a  general  line 
of  electrical  supplies.  Mr.  Platt  is  a  close 
student  of  the  progress  being  constantly 
made  in  the  methods  and  devices  for  the 
improvement  of  electrical  practice  and  of 
new  factors  and  arenas  of  electric  service, 
and  has  done  much  to  extend  the  use  of 
electrical  methods  in  anthracite  coal 
mining. 


Besides -his  position  at  the  head  of  the 
Scranton  Electric  Construction  Company, 
he  is  president  and  director  of  the  Key- 
stone Utilities  Company;  director  of  the 
County  Savings  Bank,  the  Scranton  Trust 
Company,  the  Fentress  Coal  Company 
and  the  Scranton  Industrial  Development 
Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Indus- 
trial Board  of  the  Scranton  Board  of 
Trade,  member  of  the  Scranton  Club, 
Scranton  Country  Club,  Kiwanis  Club, 
Madison  Country  Club  of  Madison,  Conn., 
and  of  the  Engineers'  Society  of  North- 
eastern Pennsylvania. 


EDWIN    WILBUR    RICE,  JR. 


The  presidency  of  the  General  Electric 
Company  is  a  position  for  a  great  leader 
— one  with  breadth  of  vision  and  grasp  of 
affairs.  The  present  incumbent,  Edwin 
Wilbur  Rice,  Jr.,  is  one  of  the  thoroughly 
versed  men  in  the  methods  and  systems  of 
commercially  exploiting  the  benefits  of 
electricity.  His  technical  knowledge  as  well 
as  executive  ability  paved  the  way  for  his 
advance  to  the  head  of  the  General  Elec- 
tric Company.  By  force  of  inherent  merit 
his  work  for  this  company,  with  which  he 
has  grown  up  professionally,  advanced  him 
from  one  post  to  another  until  the  presi- 
dency was  reached. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Rice  began  the  practice 
of  electrical  engineering,  in  1880,  he  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  the  Thomson- 
Houston  Electric  Company  at  Lynn, 
Mass.,  of  which  he  became  technical  di- 
rector in  1884,  continuing  as  such  until 
1894  or  the  date  of  his  election  to  the  vice- 
presidency  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, which  had  in  the  meantime  absorbed 
the  Thomson-Houston  Company.  In  1913 
he  was  elected  president  to  succeed  Charles 
A.  Coffin,  whose  official  title  then  became 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Directors.  Ex- 
pressions of  honor  have  been  bestowed 
upon  Mr.  Rice  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlan- 
tic. He  was  made  a  Chevalier  of  the 
Legion  d'Honneur,  as  fine  a  tribute  as 
France  could  give.  He  is  one  of  the  Pil- 
grims in  London,  and  a  member  of  the 


English  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers. 
He  was  president  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  1917-18. 

Edwin  Wilbur  Rice,  Sr. — a  widely 
known  editor  of  religious  publications,  a 
Bible  scholar  and  organizer  of  the  Sunday 
school  movement — and  Margaret  Eliza 
(Williams)  Rice,  were  the  parents  of 
Edwin  Wilbur,  Jr.,  who  was  born  at  La 
Crosse,  Wisconsin,  May  6,  1862.  His  ed- 
ucation was  obtained  in  the  Central  High 
School,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  from  which 
he  received  the  A.B.  degree  in  1880,  and 
the  A.M.  degree  in  1885.  Harvard  Uni- 
versity conferred  an  honorary  A.M.  de- 
gree upon  him  in  1903,  and  Union  College, 
the  Sc.D.  degree  in  1906. 

Mr.  Rice  married  Miss  Helen  K.  Doen, 
of  New  Britain,  Conn.,  his  first  wife,  May 
28,  1884.  His  second  wife  was  Miss  Alice 
M.  Doen,  of  New  York  City,  whom  he 
married  August  28,  1897.  They  have  a 
home  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  though  much 
time  is  spent  in  New  York  City  owing  to 
the  necessity  of  Mr.  Rice's  presence  in 
the  office  of  the  General  Electric  Company 
at  120  Broadway.  Mr.  Rice  is  a  director 
of  the  Electric  Bond  and  Share  Company, 
and  a  director  of  the  Schenectady  Trust 
Company.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers', Bankers'  and  University  clubs  of 
New  York,  and  the  University  Club  of 
Boston. 


608 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


WILLIAM    D'ARCY    RYAN 

Director  Illuminating  Engineering  Laboratory,  Schenectady 
Ex-President  Illuminating  Engineering  Society 


RICHARD    H.  RICE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


609 


RICHARD  H.  RICE 


The  Lynn,  Mass.,  works  of  the  General 
Electric  Company  have  been  prolific  of 
men  and  deeds  that  might  cover  many 
pages  of  electrical  history.  The  post  at 
the  head  of  these  works  is  one  of  the  most 
consequential  within  the  province  of  the 
company.  It  is  now  filled  by  Richard  H. 
Rice,  acting  manager,  who  succeeded  to 
the  leadership  from  the  position  of  engi- 
neer in  the  Turbine  Department,  held  from 
1903  to  1918. 

As  may  be  inferred,  Mr.  Rice's  indi- 
vidual record  is  distinguished  by  persis- 
tent and  successful  accomplishment  in  the 
interest  of  his  adopted  science.  Breadth 
of  experience  he  has  also,  being  a  me- 
chanical engineer  who  has  occupied  a  suc- 
cession of  responsible  positions,  and  an  in- 
ventor whose  fifty-some  patents  represent 
practical  devices  for  the  subjugation  of 
steam,  air  and  water.  Chief  among  his 
original  creations  is  the  design  of  the  first 
turbo-blower  for  blast  furnaces  to  be  in- 
stalled in  America,  though  of  foremost 
value  were  the  Rice  &  Sargent  steam  en- 
gines, designed  jointly  with  John  W.  Sar- 
gent. These  latter  were  for  long  the  best 
recognized  slow  and  medium  steam  en- 
gines in  this  country,  and  were  produced 
by  the  Rice  &  Sargent  Engine  Company, 
of  Providence,  R.  I.,  between  1894  and 
1903,  when  Mr.  Rice  was  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  that  company  and  the  Provi- 
dence Engineering  Works.  Since  1903 
he  has  designed  the  smaller  ratings  of 
Curtiss  turbines,  or  those  up  to  5000  h.p. 

Albert  Smith  Rice  and  Frances  Weston 
(Baker)  Rice  were  the  parents  of  Richard 
H.  Rice.  Ancestors  on  both  sides  of  the 
family  were  early  settlers  in  New  Eng- 
land. A  paternal  grandfather,  Richard  D. 
Rice,  was  president  of  the  Portland  & 
Kennebec  Railroad  Company,  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Northern  Pacific  under 
the  presidency  of  Jay  Cooke,  having  been, 
too,  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Maine.  A  curious  reminiscence  concerns  his 
having  driven  a  steam  automobile  of  his 
own  invention  over  Maine  roads  in  1862. 
The  education  of  Richard  H.  Rice  be- 
gan in  the  public  schools  of  Rockland, 
Me.,  the  town  where  he  was  born,  Janu- 
ary 9,  1863.  Professional  studies  were 


taken  up  at  Stevens  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology. While  there  he  was  a  Delta  Tau 
Delta  man,  graduating  with  the  degree  of 
Mechanical  Engineer  in  1885.  Embark- 
ing then  in  active  pursuit  of  his  calling, 
he  served  a  special  apprenticeship  in  the 
Dennison  shops  of  the  Pittsburgh,  Colum- 
bus, Cincinnati  &  St.  Louis  Railroad  from 
1885  to  1886,  becoming  for  the  year  after 
a  draftsman  with  the  Bath  Iron  Works,  of 
Bath,  Me.  The  next  two  years  were  spent 
in  similar  work,  with  the  added  title  of 
chief  draftsman,  in  the  office  of  E.  D. 
Leavitt,  Jr.,  consulting  engineer  for  the 
Calumet  and  Hecla  Mines,  Cambridge- 
port,  Mass. 

By  this  time  Mr.  Rice  had  advanced  so 
far  in  the  development  of  his  profession 
that  he  was  called  to  become  general  super- 
intendent of  the  William  A.  Harris  Steam 
Engine  Company,  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
in  which  place  he  remained  from  1889  to 
1894,  or  until  he  became  engaged  with  the 
Rice  &  Sargent  Company,  entering  upon 
the  later  period  of  executive  and  inventive 
tasks  which  have  won  him  a  deservedly 
wide  reputation. 

Among  his  present  interests  is  a  direc- 
torship in  the  Peerless  Truck  &  Motor  Car 
Company. 

Mr.  Rice  was  first  married  to.  Miss 
Mary  Sue  Durgin,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  in 
1887,  who  died  in  1891,  leaving  three  chil- 
dren, Phyllis,  Richard  Drury  and  Sue  Dur- 
gin Rice.  He  was  married  in  1898  to  Miss 
Alice  Woodman  Kimball,  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Rice  has  been  closely  associated 
with  industrial  movements  and  organiza- 
tions of  a  professional  nature.  For  the 
first  two  years  of  its  existence  he  was  presi- 
dent of  the  Associated  Industries  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  he  is  president  of  the  Na- 
tional Conference  of  State  Manufacturers' 
Associations.  The  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers  counts  him  a  mem- 
ber and  the  Providence  Association  of  Mech- 
anical Engineers,  an  honorary  member. 

Mr.  Rice  is  also  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity Club,  New  York;  the  Mohawk 
Club,  Schenectady,  N.  Y. ;  the  Tedesco 
Country  Club  and  the  Neighborhood  Club 
of  Swampscott,  Mass.,  and  the  Appala- 
chian Mountain  Club. 


610 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CUTLER-HAMMER    MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 


Back  in  the  days  when  thousands  mar- 
veled at  the  electric  lighting  exhibited  at 
the  World's  Exposition  in  Chicago,  there 
was  established  in  that  same  city  a  little 
industry  which  might  have  been  termed  an 
electric  machinist  shop  in  which  small 
amounts  of  work  were  done  on  individual 
orders.  Messrs.  Cutler  and  Hammer  were 
the  enterprising  and  hopeful  young  men  of 
this  company. 

Soon  after  there  came  a  need  for  resist- 
ances, resistance  boxes,  some  to  be  used 
with  the  early  types  of  motors  and  others 
including  regulating  resistance  to  be  used 
with  generators.  As  a  result  of  the  need 
for  such  apparatus,  another  small  company 
was  started  in  Milwaukee,  known  as  the 
American  Rheostat  Co.  In  this  company 
were  two  men,  Mr.  F.  R.  Bacon  and  Mr. 
F.  L.  Pierce,  who  thought  the  future  of  the 
electrical  industry  particularly  good  and 
decided  to  stake  out  their  lines  in  this  field. 
The  specific  object  was  to  manufacture  an 
overload  starting  box  invented  by  Louis 
Gibbs*  and  later  improved  upon  by  Mr. 
Bacon. 

After  both  these  small  companies  had 
progressed  to  the  point  where  starters, 
speed  regulators  and  controllers  for  ele- 
vators, cranes  and  printing  presses  were 
made,  a  consolidation  of  the  companies  was 
effected  in  1898  and  an  enlarged  plant 
established  in  Milwaukee. 

One  of  the  early  evidences  of  the  clear 
realization  of  the  increased  use  in  motor 
drive  and  incidentally  the  need  for  con- 
troller apparatus,  was  the  use  and  acquir- 
ing of  complete  rights  to  the  No- Voltage 
Release  which  although  it  had  been  used 
on  Cutler-Hammer  apparatus  had  really 
been  patented  by  a  Mr.  Blades  of  Detroit 

The  new  plant  occupied  a  two-story 
building  with  about  17,000  sq.  ft.  of  floor 
space.  Within  a  year  however,  the  busi- 
ness had  increased  to  such  an  extent  that 


the  plant  was  doubled  and  this  process  has 
been  repeated  at  frequent  intervals,  until 
at  the  present  time  the  plant  at  Milwaukee 
occupies  not  only  the  entire  block  bounded 
by  1 2th  St.,  St.  Paul  Ave.,  I3th  St.,  and 
the  railroad  tracks  of  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  R.  R.,  but  goodly  por- 
tions of  four  adjoining  blocks. 

Other  companies  became  associated  with 
The  Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  of  Milwau- 
kee from  time  to  time :  The  Iron  Clad 
Resistance  Co.  was  one  of  these.  This 
company  began  operating  at  Westfield, 
N.  J.,  about  the  same  time  that  The  Cutler- 
Hammer  Company  started  in  Chicago.  In 
the  fall  of  1900  this  company  sold  out  to 
the  Cutler-Hammer  interests  and  the  year 
following  all  work  was  transferred  to  Mil- 
waukee, along  with  a  number  of  the  men. 
Of  the  latter,  Mr.  A.  W.  Berresford,  now 
Vice-President  and  General  Manager  of 
The  Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  was  among 
the  number. 

Three  years  later  the  Carpenter  En- 
closed Resistance  Co.  of  New  York  was 
taken  over,  and  in  1907  the  Wirt  Electric 
Co.  of  Philadelphia  came  in,  and  in  1910, 
the  Schureman  Company  of  Chicago  was 
moved  to  Milwaukee  and  joined  the  larger 
interests. 

Now  after  27  years  of  designing  and 
manufacturing  electrical  equipment  for  the 
starting,  stopping  and  speed  regulation  of 
electric  motors,  The  Cutler-Hammer  Com- 
pany has  more  available  information  and 
authentic  data  on  the  subject  of  the  control 
of  motors  than  probably  exists  elsewhere 
in  the  world.  Giving  counsel  or  advice  to 
customers  is  not  new  to  the  company:  for 
many  years  the  engineering  and  industrial 
men  have  been  urged  to  make  use  of  the 
advice  of  Cutler-Hammer  experts  in  con- 
trol matters  until  as  one  editor  of  an 
electrical  publication  wrote :  "The  company 
(Cutler-Hammer)  is  today  regarded  as 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


611 


the  court  of  last  resort  on  the  subject  of 
electrical  control  and  many  consulting  and 
practicing  electrical  engineers,  contractors 
and  others  who  are  called  on  in  the  course 
of  their  work  to  solve  problems  involving 
the  use  of  electric  motors  and  their  control 
have  received  assistance  of  value  by  simply 
telling  what  they  wished  to  accomplish  and 
letting  the  engineers  of  The  Cutler-Ham- 
mer Mfg.  Co.  give  them  details  in  the 
light  of  their  past  experience  and  training." 

The  apparatus  manufactured  by  The 
Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  now  comprises 
many  lines,  the  most  prominent  of  which 
are  listed  below: 

Motor  starters,  speed  regulators,  con- 
trollers—  Manually  and  automatically 
operated  types,  for  every  kind  of  applica- 
tion of  direct  current  and  alternating 
current  type  motors,  Theater  dimmers, 
Battery  charging  equipment  for  Trucks, 
Mine  and  Industrial  Locomotives,  Battery 
charging  racks  for  miners'  storage  bat- 
tery lamps,  Lifting  Magnets,  Magnetic 
Clutches,  Magnetic  Separator  Pulleys, 
Magnetic  Brakes,  Motor-Operated  Brakes, 
Dean  Motor-Operated  Valve  Control,  Wir- 
ing devices  and  push  button  specialties : 
including  sockets,  pendent,  snap,  pull,  door, 
automobile  switches,  etc. ;  Molded  insula- 
tion material — thermoplax  and  pyroplax; 
Thomas  Meter  for  measuring  gases  and 
air  in  gas  plants,  steel  plants,  coke  oven 
plants,  etc. ;  Industrial  heating  apparatus, 
linotype  and  other  metal  pot  heaters,  space 
heaters,  soldering  irons ;  Domestic  heat- 
ing appliances  —  irons,  toasters,  table 
stoves,  room  heaters,  milk  warmers,  etc. 

The  clutch  department  has  a  line  of 
heavier  products  including  lifting  magnets 
up  to  the  standard  62-inch  circular  type, 
magnetic  clutches  and  clutch-brakes,  mag- 
netic separator  pulleys,  motor-operated  and 
magnet-operated  brakes.  Cutler-Hammer 
lifting  magnets  are  known  particularly  for 
their  large  lifting  capacities  and  their 
ability  to  withstand  extremely  severe  ser- 
vice as  evidenced  by  a  number  of  remark- 
able recoveries  of  sunken  cargoes  of  pig 
iron,  wire  nails,  barbed  wire  and  other 
material. 

The  push-button  specialties  department 


was  established  n  years  ago,  late  in  1908. 
The  late  Mr.  C.  J.  Klein,  who  was  asso- 
ciated in  the  early  days  of  the  incandescent 
lamp  with  Edison  and  Bergman,  brought 
a  little  movement  to  Milwaukee  which  has 
been  the  basis  of  the  line.  A  further 
development  of  this  known  as  the  "Hill 
and  Valley"  movement  is  used  at  the 
present  time  in  the  well-known  C-H 
Seventy-Fifty  Switch  and  other  products  of 
this  department. 

The  insulation  department  has  been  in 
existence  nine  years  and  besides  making  the 
insulating  material  used  in  Cutler-Hammer 
switches  and  attachment  plugs  and  arc 
shields  for  magnetic  switches  on  control 
apparatus,  makes  a  varied  line  of  pieces 
such  as  marine  fittings,  automobile  radiator 
caps,  fuses,  housings  and  boxes,  motor  and 
generator  terminal  blocks,  bases  for  electric 
grills,  heater  connectors,  etc. 

The  heating  department  was  established 
in  the  same  year  and  it  is  significant  that 
the  man  who  invented  and  made  the  first 
electric  iron,  Mr.  C.  E.  Carpenter — thirty- 
one  years  ago — is  now  with  the  Cutler- 
Hammer  Company.  Both  industrial  and 
domestic  lines  of  heating  appliances  are 
made  in  this  department  which  is  housed 
in  the  New  York  Works,  I44th  St.  and 
Southern  Boulevard. 

Of  the  industrial  products  in  greatest  use 
are  the  metal  melting  pots,  an  example  of 
which  is  the  pot  used  on  the  electrically- 
heated  Mergenthaler  linotype  machine. 
The  standardized  two-foot  space  heater 
unit  has  the  most  varied  use. 

The  Thomas  Meter  Department  makes 
electrically  operated  meters  for  measuring 
gases  and  air.  These  meters  are  used  in 
city  coal,  gas  and  water  gas  plants  for 
measuring  the  gas  made  and  distributed. 
They  are  also  used  for  measuring  natural 
gas;  surplus  and  full  gas  in  coke  oven 
plants;  gas  supplied  to  soaking  pits,  boiler 
house  and  open  hearth  furnaces.  For  air 
measurements  they  are  adapted  for  meter- 
ing air  to  batteries  of  coke  ovens  and  to 
blast  furnaces,  in  the  latter  case  with  a 
view  to  increasing  uniformity  of  output 
and  decreasing  production  cost  of  steel. 

The  officers  of  the  company  are:  Mr. 


612 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Frank  R.  Bacon,  President;  Mr.  F.  L. 
Pierce,  Treasurer;  Mr.  A.  W.  Berresford, 
Vice-President  and  General  Manager; 
Mr.  T.  E.  Barnum,  Secretary  and  Chief 
Engineer. 

FRANK  R.  BACON 

Mr.  Frank  R.  Bacon,  president  of  the 
Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  was  born  in 
Milwaukee,  Sept.  28th,  1872.  His  ances- 
tors were  New  Englanders  of  English 


FRANK    R.    BACON 

origin.  They  were  active  in  both  the 
Revolutionary  and  Civil  Wars.  Mr.  Bacon 
attended  Princeton  University,  class  of  '95, 
but  did  not  complete  his  course,  entering 
the  grain  business  with  his  father  in  Mil- 
waukee the  latter  part  of  1892.  He  later 
became  interested  in  the  electrical  business 
owing  to  a  decided  taste  for  manufacturing 
pursuits.  His  early  work  in  this  Held  is 
referred  to  in  another  section  of  this 
sketch. 

Mr.  Bacon  has  been  connected  with  the 
electrical  industry  ever  since  the  forming 
of  the  American  Rheostat  Company  and 
its  subsequent  amalgamation  with  The 


Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  Aside  from 
being  president  of  this  company,  Mr. 
Bacon  has  also  found  time  to  act  as  vice- 
president  of  the  Lackawanna  Bridge  Co. ; 
secretary  of  the  Worden-Allen  Co. ;  vice- 
president,  E.  P.  Bacon  Co. ;  director  of 
the  Bucyrus  Co.,  and  vice-president  and 
treasurer  of  the  Niagara  Smelting  Corpo- 
ration. 

In  October,  1917,  he  entered  the  govern- 
ment service,  working  in  the  Engineering 
and  Production  Divisions  of  the  Ordnance 
Department,  and  in  August,  1918,  was 
appointed  assistant  ordnance  chief  for  the 
Chicago  district.  After  the  signing  of  the 
armistice,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Chicago  District  Claims  Board  for 
settlement  of  ordnance  contracts. 

Mr.  Bacon  is  a  member  of  the  following 
organizations:  Milwaukee  Club,  Milwau- 
kee Country  Club,  Fox  Point  Country  Club, 
University  Club  of  Milwaukee,  Engineers' 
Club  of  New  York,  University  Club  of 
Washington,  Milwaukee  Town  Club,  Mil- 
waukee Gun  Club,  Chevy  Chase  of  Mary- 
land, Society  of  Automotive  Engineers, 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers, 
and  the  Caw  Caw  Shooting  Club. 

ARTHUR  W.  BERRESFORD 

Mr.  A.  W.  Berresford,  vice-president  of 
The  Cutler-Hammer  Company  was  born 
in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  July  9,  1872,  and 
graduated  from  the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic 
Institute  in  1892  with  the  degree  of  B.S. 
and  from  the  Cornell  University  the  fol- 
lowing year  with  the  degree  of  M.E. 

Shortly  after  graduation  he  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Brooklyn  City  Railroad  Co. 
and  was  later  connected  as  engineer  with 
the  Ward-Leonard  Co.  of  Bronxville, 
N.  Y.  He  then  became  vice-president  and 
manager  of  the  Iron  Clad  Resistance  Co. 
of  Westfield,  N.  J.,  and  with  others  of  this 
company  joined  the  Cutler-Hammer  organ- 
ization in  1900.  During  that  and  the  fol- 
lowing years  he  was  the  engineer  for  the 
company,  then  became  superintendent  and 
in  1906  was  made  general  manager  and 
elected  to  the  vice-presidency. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


613 


As  evidenced  by  his  early  work  in  the 
electrical  field,  he  has  always  had  the 
utmost  confidence  in  the  electrical  industry. 
He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers;  is  a  past  vice- 
president  and  manager  of  this  Institute; 
member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers;  Society  of  Naval 
Architects  and  Marine  Engineers;  National 
Electric  Light  Assn. ;  president  of  the  Asso- 
ciated Manufacturers  of  Electrical  Sup- 
plies; chairman  of  the  Electric  Safety 


CHARLES  E.  CARPENTER 


ARTHUR    W.    BERRESFORD 

Conference;  member  of  the  Society  for 
Promotion  of  Engineering  Education; 
Electrical  Manufacturers'  Club;  Machin- 
ery Club  of  New  York;  Engineers'  Club 
of  New  York;  Chemists'  Club  of  New 
York;  University  Clubs  of  Milwaukee  and 
Chicago;  Town  Club,  Milwaukee;  Coun- 
try Club,  Milwaukee;  Milwaukee  Club, 
and  the  Mohawk  Club  of  Schenectady. 

During  the  war,  Mr.  Berresford  was 
Chairman  of  the  General  War  Service 
Committee  Electrical  Manufacturing  In- 
dustry, and  Chairman  of  the  General  War 
Service  Committee,  Electrical  Manufac- 
turers of  Electrical  Supplies. 


Mr.  Charles  E.  Carpenter  was  born 
in  the  year  1864  and  was  educated  at  Cook 
Academy,  Cornell  University  (Class  of 
'88),  and  the  University  of  Minnesota. 

In  the  Fall  of  1888,  Mr.  Carpenter's 
initial  electrical  engineering  work  consisted 
of  the  invention  of  the  first  electrical  flat- 
iron  ever  produced  and  a  few  months  later 
during  the  early  part  of  1889,  he  orga- 
nized at  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  the  first  com- 


CHARLES    E.    CARPENTER 

pany  to  manufacture  electric  heating  tools 
and  utensils. 

In  1900  he  invented  the  well-known 
enamel  type  of  resistor  used  in  electric 
heating  apparatus  and  in  what  are  known 
as  Carpenter  Enamel  rheostats.  This  type 
of  resistor  for  heating  appliances  is  still 
in  use  and  motor  control  rheostats  are  also 
still  made  in  which  this  type  of  resistance 
is  employed.  Mr.  Carpenter  was  awarded 
a  medal  at  the  Exposition  in  Chicago  in 
1893,  and  the  gold  medal  at  the  Paris 
Exposition  in  1900. 

In  1892  he  organized  the  Carpenter 
Enamel  Rheostat  Co.  and  in  1900  The 


614 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Carpenter  Enclosed  Resistance  Co.  of 
New  York,  which  later  became  a  part 
of  The  Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co.  Since 
this  time,  Mr.  Carpenter  has  been  actively 
engaged  particularly  in  the  application  of 
controller  apparatus  to  the  printing  and 
publishing  industry  in  which  his  inventive 
and  engineering  abilities  have  been  put  to 
use.  About  30  patents  have  been  credited 
to  Mr.  Carpenter  on  electric  heating, 
resistance,  and  control  apparatus. 

One  of  Mr.  Carpenter's  hobbies  is 
photography  and  projection  work.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  and  of  the  Machinery 
Club  of  New  York  City.  ' 

His  business  address  is  The  Cutler- 
Hammer  Mfg.  Co.,  Times  Square  Bldg., 
New  York  City,  and  his  residence  is  also 
in  New  York  City. 


FREDERICK  L.  PIERCE 

Mr.  Frederick  L.  Pierce,  treasurer  of 
the  Cutler-Hammer  Company, was  born  in 
Milwaukee,  July  8,  1860,  and  began  his 
active  business  career  in  Milwaukee  in  the 
commission  business  in  1880,  becoming 
interested  financially  in  the  American  Rheo- 
stat Co.,  with  Frank  R.  Bacon  in  about 
the  year  1897.  This  company  referred  to 
in  the  brief  history  herewith  of  The  Cutler- 
Hammer  Company,  later  joined  with  the 
original  Cutler-Hammer  Co.  of  Chicago 
and  the  combined  organization  located  in 
Milwaukee.  Mr.  Pierce  has  had  charge 
chiefly  of  the  financial  end  of  the  business 
and  was  induced  to  enter  the  electrical 
field  by  the  bright  future  it  seemed  to 
present. 

Besides  being  treasurer  of  the  Cutler- 


FREDERICK    L.    PIERCE 

Hammer  Co.,  Mr.  Pierce  is  also  treasurer 
and  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee 
of  the  Wisconsin  Gun  Co.,  a  director  of 
the  National  Exchange  Bank  of  Milwau- 
kee, a  trustee  of  the  Northwestern  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Co.  and  a  member  of  the 
Executive  and  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Northwestern  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Pierce  is  a  member  of  the  Milwau- 
kee Club,  Milwaukee  Country  Club,  The 
Town  Club,  The  Milwaukee  Athletic 
Club,  and  the  Chenequa  Country  Club. 

During  the  war,  Mr.  Pierce  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  local  Liberty  Bond  and  Red 
Cross  Campaign  Committees. 


J.  K.  ROBINSON 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


615 


J.  K.  ROBINSON 


J.  K.  Robinson  whose  untimely  death 
occurred  in  September,  1917,  was  perhaps 
the  best  known  American  in  the  electrical 
exporting  field.  The  following  obituary 
notice,  published  in  the  Electrical  World, 
is  a  brief  resume  of  a  most  energetic  life: 

"J.  K.  Robinson,  the  Chilean  representa- 
tive of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  Export 
Company,  died  at  his  summer  home, 
Naples,  Me.,  on  Sept.  7,  1917.  Mr.  Rob- 
inson was  born  in  Chicago  in  1866  and 
secured  his  technical  education  at  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Institute  of  Technology.  He 
then  entered  the  employ  of  the  Thomson- 


Houston  Electric  Company,  which  sent  him 
to  Chile  on  construction  work.  Soon  after- 
ward he  decided  to  go  into  business  for 
himself,  and  was  appointed  representative 
of  the  Westinghouse  Electric  &  Manufac- 
turing Company  at  an  exposition  in  Chile. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  a  lifetime  con- 
nection, during  which  Mr.  Robinson  be- 
came an  engineer  of  wide  repute  and  one 
of  the  best-known  Americans  on  the  west 
coast.  Mr.  Robinson  was  a  fellow  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  a  member  of  numerous  other  profes- 
sional and  social  organizations  in  this  coun- 
try and  abroad." 


616 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


CHARLES    EZRA    SCRIBNER 


Charles  E.  Scribner,  for  many  years 
chief  engineer  of  the  Western  Electric  Co., 
Inc.,  who  now  acts  in  a  consulting  capacity 
with  that  corporation,  was  born  in  Toledo, 
Ohio,  February  16,  1858,  and  is  a  de- 
scendant of  Benjamin  Scribner,  the  found- 
er of  the  Scribner  family  in  America.  Mr. 
Scribner  attended  the  Toledo  High  School 
and  in  1876  entered  the  employ  of  the 
Western  Electric  Manufacturing  Co.,  Chi- 


cago, Illinois.  The  name  of  this  company 
was  changed  in  1882  to  the  Western  Elec- 
tric Company  and  in  1915  to  the  Western 
Electric  Co.,  Inc.  In  all,  Mr.  Scribner  has 
been  with  the  Company  for  40  years,  and 
during  that  long  period  has  taken  out  be- 
tween three  and  four  hundred  patents  and 
filed  between  six  and  seven  hundred  appli- 
cations, principally  in  connection  with  tele- 
phone switchboards.  Mr.  Scribner,  as  an 


FRANK    J.    SPRAGUE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


617 


inventor,  stands  third  in  the  electrical  field, 
and  for  his  work  was  awarded  a  gold 
medal  at  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1901. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  a  member 
of  the  Waubanakee  Golf,  Lake  Mansfield 
Trout,  and  Engineers'  Clubs,  the  Tele- 
phone Pioneers  of  America,  and  New  York 


Electrical  Society.  In  connection  with  the 
early  development  of  the  Roentgen  ray  ap- 
paratus, Mr.  Scribner  was  the  first  in  this 
country  to  make  an  X-ray  photograph 
from  which  an  operation  was  performed, 
and  his  investigations  and  research  work 
along  this  line  made  a  substantial  contri- 
bution to  the  art. 


FRANK  JULIAN  SPRAGUE 


In  the  roster  of  men  who  have  been  the 
foremost  energizers  of  electrical  invention 
and  industry  will  be  found  the  name  of 
Frank  J.  Sprague.  The  plot  and  plan  of 
his  life  is  laid  upon  an  uncommonly  large 
scale,  encompassing  the  creation,  promo- 
tion and  organization  of  varied  electrical 
utilities.  After  achieving  rank  and  honors 
rare  in  the  profession,  his  power  of  analyz- 
ing electrical  problems  is  still  resorted  to 
by  numerous  interests.  From  his  office  at 
165  Broadway,  New  York,  he  acts  as  con- 
sulting engineer  for  the  General  Electric 
Company,  the  Sprague  Electric  Company, 
and  the  Otis  Elevator  Company.  At  the 
outset,  Mr.  Sprague  was  singularly  favored 
with  education  and  experience.  His  birth- 
place was  Milford,  Conn.,  and  the  date 
July  25,  1857.  Winning  a  competitive  ap- 
pointment to  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy,  and  graduating  therefrom  in 
1877,  his  orders  took  him  to  Chinese 
waters  aboard  the  U.  S.  S.  Richmond, 
where  he  was  a  witness  to  incidents  of 
President  Grant's  Far  Eastern  tour,  which 
he  chronicled  for  the  Boston  Herald.  An 
opportunity  was  afforded  in  1880  to  put 
his  electrical  studies  and  fondness  for  ex- 
perimentation to  the  test  at  the  shops  of 
Stevens  Institute  and  the  Brooklyn  Navy 
Yard.  Subsequently  he  made  the  first  at- 
tempt to  introduce  the  incandescent  electric 
light  in  the  U.  S.  Naval  Service.  In  the 
•course  of  his  naval  career  he  was  assigned 
to  attend  a  notable  early  electrical  exposi- 
tion held  at  Crystal  Palace,  Sydenham, 
England.  There  he  was  the  only  American 
on  the  jury  of  award  composed  of  such  em- 
inent scientists  as  Horace  Darwin,  Capt.  de 
Abney,  Professors  Frankland,  W.  Grylls 
Adams  and  Fleeming  Jenkin.  Mr.  Sprague 


resigned  from  the  Navy  to  associate  him- 
self with  Thomas  A.  Edison,  engaging 
upon  improvements  relating  to  electric 
light  distribution  systems.  A  year  later  he 
left  Mr.  Edison  to  organize,  with  Mr.  E. 
H.  Johnson,  the  Sprague  Electric  Railway 
and  Motor  Company,  and  to  work  out  new 
principles  of  design  in  electric  motors  and 
electric  railways.  Their  developments  in 
motors  were  exhibited  at  the  1884  Phila- 
delphia Electrical  Exhibition,  created  a 
great  sensation,  and  were  afterwards 
adopted  by  the  parent  Edison  Electric 
Light  Company  for  use  by  its  licensed  com- 
panies. In  May,  1887,  there  was  a  con- 
tract taken  for  the  equipment  of  the  Union 
Passenger  Railway  of  Richmond,  Va., 
with  80  motors  for  40  cars,  a  complete 
overhead  system  and  a  central  power  plant. 
This  constituted  the  first  sizable  commer- 
cial electric  road  in  the  world,  and  conse- 
quently had  a  vitally  quickening  influence 
upon  electric  trolley  development.  Sprague 
trolley  roads  were  installed  all  over  the 
country  and  abroad,  and  were  soon  fol- 
lowed by  elevated  electric  roads.  About 
1890  the  Sprague  Company  was  absorbed 
by  the  Edison  General  Electric  Company. 
Though  Mr.  Sprague  remained  for  a  time 
as  consulting  engineer,  he  eventually  spe- 
cialized upon  a  new  venture,  organizing  the 
Sprague  Electric  Elevator  Company,  which 
developed  the  modern  high-speed  screw 
elevator,  the  automatic  screw  elevator, 
the  automatic  house  elevator  and  the 
double-motor  elevator.  The  latter  was 
adopted  by  the  Central  London  Railway  in 
1892,  and  later  the  multiple  unit  system  of 
train  equipment  was  installed,  by  personal 
contract  with  Mr.  Sprague,  upon  the  South 


618 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Side  Elevated  Railway  in  Chicago.  It 
served  as  a  pioneer  and  standard  for  many 
other  underground  and  elevated  roads. 
His  election  to  the  Electric  Traction  Com- 
mission of  the  New  York  Central  Railway 
was  the  beginning  of  a  four  year  period  of 
activity  on  the  installation  of  the  road's 
electric  system.  When  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific Company  were  planning  the  electrifica- 
tion of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountain  Sec- 
tion of  the  Sacramento  Division  Mr. 
Sprague  shared  with  the  officers  of  the 
company  the  preparation  of  a  report  upon 
the  possibilities  and  difficulties  involved. 
Mr.  Sprague  has  been  the  recipient  of  very 
concrete  recognition  of  his  achievements 
in  the  form  of  medals  awarded  at  the  Phil- 
adelphia Exhibition  and  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion in  1889,  the  grand  prize  for  electrical 


developments  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase 
Exposition,  the  Elliott  Cresson  Medal  of 
the  Franklin  Institute  and  the  Edison  Gold 
NJedal  for  eminence  in  the  electric  arts. 
He  is  a  past  president  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the 
New  York  Electrical  Society;  a  member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Consulting  Engi- 
neers, the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers and  the  English  institutions  of  civil 
and  electrical  engineers;  president  of  the 
Inventors  Guild  in  1916;  a  member  of  the 
University,  Century,  Engineers,  Railway 
and  Bankers  clubs  of  New  York.  He  has 
served  upon  the  U.  S.  Naval  Consulting 
Board.  Mr.  Sprague  is  president  of  the 
Sprague  Development  Corporation  and 
vice-president  of  the  Sprague  Safety  Con- 
trol and  Signal  Corporation. 


LEROY  P.  SAWYER 


LEROY    P.    SAWYER 

Necessity  being  the  mother  of  industry 
as  well  as  invention,  Leroy  P.  Sawyer 
adopted  the  electrical  profession  on  its 
commercial  side  because,  we  assume,  he 


thought  it  very  much  worth  while.  He 
cut  a  wide  enough  swath  through  the  lower 
ranks  to  land  him  in  the  responsible  post 
of  general  manager  of  the  Buckeye  Elec- 
tric Division,  National  Lamp  Works  of 
the  General  Electric  Company  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  and  as  chairman  of  the  sales 
organization  of  the  National  Lamp  Works. 
According  to  the  vital  statistics  of 
Michigan,  Mr.  Sawyer  was  born  at  School- 
craft  on  December  26,  1878.  By  1899  he 
was  an  alumnus  of  the  University  of  Ne- 
braska. Starting  as  a  clerk  with  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company  at  Chicago,  he 
changed  to  the  Sawyer-Man  Electric 
Company  as  a  salesman,  but  in  a  year's 
time  became  the  Minneapolis  manager  of 
the  Bryan-Marsh  Company.  Mr.  Sawyer 
has  recently  taken  up  special  work  in 
the  executive  department  of  the  National 
Lamp  Works,  at  Cleveland,  relinquishing 
his  position  as  general  manager  of  the 
Buckeye  Division.  He  is  counted  in  the 
Hermit,  Roadside  and  Union  clubs  of 
that  city  and  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and 
the  Sons  of  Jove. 


LOUIS      STEINBERGER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


619 


There  is  no  need  to  tell  electrical  men  of 
the  vital  value  or  immense  importance  of 
proper  and  perfect  insulation.     The  sub- 
ject is  one  that  has  commanded  the  atten- 
tion from  the  beginning  of  great  inventors 
and  leading  electrical  engineers.     Back  in- 
deed to  the  primitive  days  of  crude  experi- 
mentation and  eager  investigation  in  the 
art  electric,  go  theories  and  tests  as  to  con- 
ductors   and    nonconductors;     and    when 
modern    applications    began    with    teleg- 
raphy, the  crying  need  of  good  insulation 
manifested  itself  immediately.      It  would 
be  pathetic,  if  it  were  not  often  amusing,  to 
read  of  the  desperate  attempts  of  Morse 
to   insulate   his   lines.      He  himself  could 
share  the  Homeric  laughter  over  his  great 
discovery  that  beeswax  might  be  smeared 
upon  the  wires  as  insulation,  and  his  utter 
discomfiture  when  all  the  bees  in  New  Jer- 
sey bivouacked  along  the  circuits  for  free 
lunch  and  made  a  clean  job  of  this  heaven- 
sent manna.     Or  when  tar  was  applied  to 
the  iron  spans,  from  a  bucket,  with  a  big 
sponge!      Such    episodes,    and    the    early 
struggles  with  glass  knobs,   rubber  cloth, 
and  other  material  for  pole  insulators,  are 
an   intensely  interesting  chapter  in  them- 
selves, which,  however,  can  here  be  merely 
suggested.  Real  insulation,  indoors  and  out, 
was   and   is   an   imperative   necessity,    and 
the  search  for  it  has  been  carried  on  with 
the  intensity  of  the  quest  for  the  North 
Pole.     It  has  gone  through  many  stages 
from  silk  and  cotton  and  gutta  percha,  up 
through  glass  and  porcelain  and  hard  rub- 
ber, and  may  safely  be  said  for  this  age 
to  have  found  its  goal  in  "Electrose." 

In  any  country  but  this,  Louis  Stein- 
berger,  the  inventor  of  Electrose  insu- 
lation, would  have  enjoyed  signal  distinc- 
tion and  decoration  for  his  services  to  the 
Government,  but  it  has  been  reward 
enough  that  in  a  time  of  stress  and  danger, 
he  could  during  the  late  World  War  ren- 
der real  patriotic  service  by  the  use  of  his 
inventions  and  the  utilization  of  his  large 
manufacturing  resources.  To  speak  of 
one  department  alone,  it  may  be  noted  that 
Electrose  insulating  equipment  for  various 


uses,  has  been  installed  throughout  the 
range  of  the  American  Navy,  from  the 
great  battleship  "Pennsylvania"  down  the 
long  list  of  other  monster  men-of-war, 
cruisers,  destroyers,  and  the  submarines  as 
well.  It  is  also  in  general  use  in  all  the 
wireless  stations  established  by  the  Gov- 
ernment, as  well  as  by  companies  and  in- 
dividuals. 

Louis   Steinberger  has  already  secured 
some  two  hundred  U.  S.  patents,  and  has 
hundreds  of  others  coming  to  him,  in  a  field 
where  his  inventive  genius,   and  initiative 
have    literally    been    pitted    against    the 
brains  of  the  world;  for  one  of  the  prizes 
of  progressive  chemistry  and  science  has 
been  an  insulation  that  shall  rise  superior 
to  all  tests  to  break  it  down  in  actual  use 
under  the    tremendous   and   inconceivable 
high    frequencies   and   high   potentials    of 
Twentieth  Century  electrical  applications. 
Much  of  this  work,  especially  the  earlier, 
relates  to  interior  protection  or  insulation 
of  apparatus  and  circuits,  leading  up  to  the 
spectacular  triumphs  in  the  field  of  radio- 
telegraphy.      In   wireless,    as  is   generally 
known,  the  conditions  are  onerous,  the  re- 
quirements   are    most    exacting,    but    the 
Steinberger   material   based   on   thorough 
study  and  knowledge  as  to  the  vagaries  of 
subliminated   static   and    fugitive   currents 
and  discharges  has  proved  more  than  equal 
to  each  emergency  as  it  arose,  greatly  bene- 
fitting  and  stimulating  the  new  art  of  "mak- 
ing the  ether  jump."     Yet  from  this  ex- 
treme, where  tenuous  currents  are  lashed 
into  surpassing  fury  of  expression  by  su- 
per-subtle means  that  crack  the  whip  of 
lightning  over  the  earth,  Louis  Steinberger 
has  carried  his  work  to  the  other  extreme, 
where  he  grapples  boldly  with  the  latest 
high    voltage    transmission    systems    over 
which  thousands  of  electrical  horsepower 
of  energy  are  sent  hundreds  of  miles.   This 
is  piling  one  achievement  on  another,  and 
the  statement  may  seem  to  smack  of  rank 
exaggeration;  but  it  is  literal  fact  just  the 
same. 

Dating  from  the  historic  tests  of  Creil- 
Paris,  Lauffen-Frankfort,  and  Niagara,  the 


620 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


industry  of  power  transmission  by  electric- 
ity has  advanced  with  giant  strides  in  a 
bare  25  years.  Thanks  to  the  alternating 
current,  with  its  huge  generators  and  trans- 
formers, deriving  energy  from  either 
steam  or  hydro  turbines,  pressures  have 
gone  up  to  150,000  volts  and  the  far-flung 
circuits  extend  for  hundreds  of  miles. 
Hence  it  is  now  proposed  to  district  all 
England  with  only  a  few — less  than  a 
dozen — great  sources  of  electrical  supply; 
practically  all  California  is  linked  up  in 
one  set  of  transmission  circuits;  and  now 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  proposes  to 
tie  together  all  the  electrical  power  supply 
of  the  North  Atlantic  Coast.  But  all  this 
assumes  circuits  that  are  and  must  be  prop- 
erly insulated,  and  future  plans  carrying 
voltages  far  higher  and  making  the  dis- 
tances greater  all  depend  on  having  the 
right  insulator.  Glass  and  porcelain  still 
have  their  place,  but  Louis  Steinberger  has 
given  the  world  the  first  high-tension  in- 
sulator of  other  material,  with  many  gains 
and  advantages.  It  is  based  on  "Electrose" 
once  more,  specially  adapted,  refined  and 
perfected  for  the  purpose,  and  now  carried 
far  beyond  the  point  of  commercial  econ- 
omy and  technical  success  reached  when  the 
method  and  appliances  were  described  very 
fully  in  Scientific  American  as  far  back 
as  May,  1914,  when  it  analysed  both  "sus- 
pension" and  "strain"  types  of  insulator, 
and  showed  some  of  them  "alive"  in  opera- 
tion smothered  in  snow  and  ice  on  blizzard- 
smitten  pole  lines.  This  authority  gives 
due  credit  to  Louis  Steinberger  as  "the  first 
to  make  successfully  and  on  a  commercial 
basis  high  potential  insulators  from  a  mate- 
rial other  than  glass  or  porcelain." 

The  curious  thing  is  that  all  this  notable, 
epoch-making  work  has  been  done  by  a 
man  whose  training  and  instincts  are  of  an 
artistic  character,  he  having  studied  and 
practiced  portrait,  figure  and  landscape 
painting  successfully  in  his  youth;  and 
a  parallel  must  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
the  father  of  American  telegraphy  was  a 
portrait  painter,  that  Charles  J.  Van  De- 
poele  was  a  carver  of  reredoses,  that  Leo 
Daft  was  a  photographer,  that  Thomas 
Davenport  was  a  blacksmith.  But  when 
they  turned  intuitively  to  electricity,  a  career 
and  glory  opened  up  before  them  all.  It  is 


needless  to  say,  however,  that  in  none  of 
the  instances  thus  cited  of  American  in- 
ventiveness was  the  result  reached  fortui- 
tous or  accidental.  There  were  many  years 
of  weary  toil,  painful  effort,  privation,  long 
vigils  of  the  night,  an  insistent  snatching 
from  Nature  of  her  secrets  by  those  who 
would  not  be  denied. 

Moreover,  as  in  some  other  distin- 
guished electrical  instances,  Louis  Stein- 
berger, an  American  in  every  fibre  of  his 
being,  is  not  of  native  birth,  having  been 
born  in  Hungary.  For  most  of  us  to  be 
born  American  has  been  a  matter  beyond 
our  choice;  here  it  is  a  case  of  deliber- 
ate selection,  and  of  a  patriotism  that 
burns  with  white  heat.  All  through  our 
recent  participation  in  the  effort  to  "make 
the  world  safe  for  Democracy,"  Louis 
Steinberger  was  a  shining  example  of  lavish 
generosity  toward  all  the  great  movements, 
national  and  philanthropic,  and  a  constant 
advocate  amongst  his  numerous  employees 
of  participation  also  on  their  part.  One 
striking  little  news  item  in  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle — and  many  others  could  be  quoted 
— names  casually  as  gifts  "to  the  cause," 
no  fewer  than  six  episodes  of  public  gath- 
erings where  he  bid  or  gave  outright  no  less 
than  $6,925,  "boosting"  in  a  way  that 
made  others  respond  in  kindred  measure. 
Such  a  man  in  any  community  does  good 
beyond  computation. 

Louis  Steinberger  is  president  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Electrose  Manufactur- 
ing Company,  which  he  organized  in  i  892  ; 
he  has  retained  the  presidency  ever  since 
and  has  won  awards  at  the  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis  World's  Fairs,  etc.  Through  his 
untiring  energy  he  developed  the  business 
to  a  point  where  the  sales  reach  the  very 
respectable  figure  of  a  million  dollars  a 
year — being  the  largest  volume  of  sales 
ever  attained  by  any  concern  in  the  world 
making  and  selling  exclusively  insulators 
and  insulating  parts.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Institute  of  Radio  Engineers  of  the 
U.  S.  A.,  the  Navy  League,  Naval  Relief 
Society,  The  American  National  Red 
Cross,  and  of  many  other  patriotic  and 
welfare  bodies  in  all  of  which  he  takes  a 
personal,  active  share,  playing  a  man's 
part  with  all  his  vigorous,  energetic,  buoy- 
ant nature. 


MESSRS.   STONE  AND  WEBSTER 

CHARLES  A.    STONE  EDWIN  A.   WEBSTER 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


621 


CHARLES  AUGUSTUS  STONE  AND    EDWIN    SIBLEY    WEBSTER 

OF     THE 

FIRM  OF  STONE  AND  WEBSTER 


In  the  electrical  field  are  included  some 
notable  men  who,  combining  business  acu- 
men and  financial  experience  with  technical 
knowledge,  have  taken  a  leading  and  cre- 
ative part  in  the  inauguration  of  great  and 
prosperous  electrical  enterprises.  Of  these 
none  is  better  known  than  Charles  Augus- 
tus Stone,  of  the  famous  engineering  firm 
of  Stone  &  Webster. 

He  was  born  in  Newton,  Massachu- 
setts, January  16,  1867,  was  prepared  for 
college  in  Newton  High  School,  was  grad- 
uated from  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  S.B.  with  the  Class  of  1888, 
and  received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.M. 
from  Harvard  University  in  1914. 

He  began  his  business  career  with  the 
Thomson-Houston  Electric  Company,  of 
Lynn,  Massachusetts  (now  the  General 
Electric  Company) ,  and  from  that  first 
glimpse  of  the  opportunities  of  the  electric 
field  became  so  impressed  that  he  deter- 
mined to  embark  upon  the  business  of 
building  and  organizing  public  service 
plants  and  corporations,  and  has  since,  as 
member  of  the  firm  of  Stone  &  Webster 
and  associated  and  subsidiary  corpora- 
tions created  many  electric  light  and  trac- 
tion companies  and  built  large  plants.  In 
addition  his  firm  has  done  much  work  in 
large  dam  and  water-works  construction 
and  power  plants  for  the  generation  and 
electric  transmission  of  power. 

He  is  now  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
Stone  &  Webster;  president  and  director 
of  the  American  International  Corpora- 
tion, and  director  of  numerous  public  utili- 
ties and  other  companies. 

One  of  the  most  treasured  associations 
of  Mr.  Stone  is  that  which  links  him  to 
his  Alma  Mater,  and  he  is  a  trustee  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
member  of  the  Executive  Committee  and  a 
life  member  of  the  Corporation.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Society  of  Me- 
chanical Engineers,  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  Union  Club,  Bank- 
ers' Club  of  America,  Boston  Chamber  of 


Commerce,  Tennis  and  Racquet,  Boston 
City,  St.  Botolph,  Eastern  Yacht,  India 
House,  and  University  clubs  of  Boston, 
University  Club  (New  York),  and  New 
York  Yacht  Club. 


Edwin  Sibley  Webster,  of  that  firm, 
was  born  in  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  Au- 
gust 26,  1866.  After  preparatory  studies 
he  entered  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  and  was  graduated  in  the 
Class  of  1888.  Soon  after  he  entered 
business  life  with  Kidder,  Peabody  &  Co., 
bankers,  and  later  joined  Mr.  Charles  A. 
Stone  (his  former  classmate  at  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology)  in  form- 
ing the  engineering  firm  of  Stone  & 
Webster. 

He  and  his  partner  were  among  those 
who,  in  the  early  development  of  systems 
of  electric  light,  power  and  traction  serv- 
ice, had  the  vision  to  appraise  accurately 
the  importance  of  these  developments  and 
the  opportunities  they  presented  for  ju- 
dicious and  permanent  investment.  They 
organized  for  engineering  work  of  the 
most  advanced  efficiency  upon  the  largest 
scale,  secured  rights  and  capital,  cre- 
ated electric  light  and  traction  systems, 
built  dams,  developed  water  powers,  and 
constructed  and  installed  great  plants  for 
the  hydraulic  generation  of  electrical  cur- 
rent for  long  distance  distribution  and  use 
in  light,  traction  and  power  plants. 

No  names  are  better  known  in  the  elec- 
trical world  than  those  of  Stone  &  Web- 
ster, who  have  largely  created  and  are  now 
extensively  interested  in  public  utility 
plants  all  over  the  country.  Mr.  Webster, 
besides  his  partnership  in  Stone  &  Web- 
ster, is  a  director  of  the  American  Interna- 
tional Corporation,  Northern  Texas  Elec- 
tric Company,  Paducah  Traction  and 
Light  Company,  Pensacola  Electric  Com- 
pany, Puget  Sound  Traction,  Light  & 
Power  Company,  Savannah  Electric 
Company,  Tampa  Electric  Company, 


622 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Association,  Tampa  Electric  Company, 
Blackstone  Valley  Gas  and  Electric  Com- 
pany, Cape  Breton  Electric  Company, Ltd., 
Columbus  Electric  Company,  The  Con- 
necticut Power  Company,  El  Paso  Elec- 
tric Company,  Fall  River  Gas  Works 
Company,  Galveston -Houston  Electric 
Company,  Haverhill  Gas  Light  Company, 
The  Lowell  Electric  Light  Corporation, 
Mississippi  River  Power  Company,  Has- 
kell  &  Barker  Car  Company,  the  Latin 
American  Corporation,  and  various  other 
companies. 

Mr.  Webster  is  a  trustee  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Institute  of  Technology;  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  of  the  Union,  Ex- 
change, Country,  St.  Botolph,  Boston 
City,  Tennis  and  Racquet  and  Eastern 
Yacht  clubs  of  Boston  and  the  University 
Club  of  New  York. 


H.  A.  SINCLAIR 

Single-minded  devotion  to  the  interests 
of  the  electrical  profession  has  distin- 
guished the  work  of  Henry  A.  Sinclair. 


HARRY    A.    SINCLAIR 

Many  will  recall  how  unstintingly  he  gave 
of  his  time  and  energy  to  the  affairs  of 


the  New  York  Electrical  Society  which  he 
served  as  treasurer  for  twenty-four  years. 
He  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers  and  a  member  of 
the  Illuminating  Engineering  Society, 
Brooklyn  Engineers  Club,  Brooklyn  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce,  American  Geographical 
Society,  American  Numismatic  Society  and 
the  Mechanics  Institute.  Since  1887,  Mr. 
Sinclair  has  been  continuously  active  in  the 
business  of  the  Tucker  Electrical  Construc- 
tion Company  of  New  York,  Cleveland  and 
Montreal,  as  engineer,  secretary  and  treas- 
urer. Born  Sept.  13,  1856,  at  Springfield, 
Mass.,  and  gaining  his  education  in  that 
city  and  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  his  fortunes  took 
a  unique  turn  in  1873  when  he  was  called 
to  the  United  States  Proving  Ground  at 
Sandy  Hook,  N.  J.  There  he  became  an 
expert  upon  the  uses  of  electricity  in  con- 
nection with  ordnance,  having  for  ten  years 
entire  charge  of  the  electrical  apparatus. 
In  1882  Mr.  Sinclair  married  Miss  Nellie 
W.  Grant  of  Brooklyn.  Their  one  son 
was  born  in  1892.  Mrs.  Sinclair  died 
October  15,  1916. 


FREDERICK  G.   STRONG 

The  life  of  Frederick  G.  Strong  early 
found  its  outlet  in  mechanical  and  electri- 
cal pursuits.  He  came  from  Portland, 
Conn.,  where  he  was  born  Mar.  9th,  1868, 
going  for  education  to  Dr.  Hollbrook's 
famous  old  Briar  Cliff  Military  Academy 
at  Ossining-on-the-Hudson.  His  first  pro- 
fessional connection  was  with  the  Mather 
Electric  Company  which  then,  in  1885,  was 
at  Hartford,  Conn.,  but  later  moved  to 
Manchester.  Photometry  and  testing  oc- 
cupied his  time.  Here,  also,  he  profited  by 
several  years  of  association  with  Prof. 
William  A.  Anthony,  who  had  come  from 
Cornell  University.  While  he  was  working 
under  Professor  Anthony  at  Manchester, 
Nikola  Tesla  appeared,  seconded  by  a 
mechanician,  to  test  and  present  his  induc- 
tion motor.  A  sidelight  is  thrown  on 
Tesla's  ever-ready  fund  of  facetious  criti- 
cism by  his  remarks  upon  examining  the 
minute  directions  accompanying  one  of  the 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


623 


old-fashioned  direct  current  motors  of  the 
period  (about  1886).  He  said,  "I  will 
make  a  motor  that  may  be  given  to  a 
Chinaman  with  these  instructions:  'Here 

you  d fool,  grease  the  bearings.'  "  His 

prophecy  fell  on  unbelieving  ears. 

Mr.  Strong  has  wandered  far  afield  in 
the  course  of  his  years  of  resultful  service. 
In  Denver,  Colo.,  he  acted  as  chief  engi- 
neer for  the  Midland  Electric  Company 
and  was  secretary  and  chief  engineer  of  the 
South  Denver  Electric  Lighting  Co.,  and 
constructing  the  first  station  for  the 
Georgetown  Light  &  Power  Co.  at  George- 
town, Colo.  The  General  Electric  Com- 
pany of  Yucatan  sent  him  to  Progreso, 
Mexico,  where  he  assumed  charge  of  im- 
portant electrical  construction.  Mr.  Strong 
is  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers.  In  recent  times  he 
has  been  engaged  in  independent  practice. 
His  offices  and  home  are  in  Hartford, 
Conn.,  the  former  at  36  Pearl  Street  and 
the  latter  at  473  Edgewood  Street. 


The  Late  General  EUGENE  GRIFFIN 

One  of  the  best  known  and  most  respected  mem- 
bers of  the  profession.  Long  connected  with  the 
General  Electric  Co.  as  a  chief  executive  officer. 


BARZILLAI  G.  WORTH 


During  the  past  quarter  of  a  century 
new  applications  of  electricity  have  been 
a  factor  in  the  development  of  industrial 
plants.  Not  only  in  applications  for  the 
propulsion  or  control  of  machinery,  but  as 
a  direct  factor  in  the  manufacturing  pro- 
cesses themselves,  electrical  expansion  has 
been  marvelous,  this  being  especially  true 
of  electrochemical  processes. 

These  electric  processes  have  been 
evolved  by  much  research  and  patient  ex- 
perimentation of  trained  workers,  among 
whom  Mr.  Barzillai  G.  Worth  of  New 
York  is  one  who  has  attained  results  of 
value. 

Mr.  Worth,  who  was  born  at  Tenafly, 
New  Jersey,  June  5,  1880,  is  of  old  Colo- 
nial lineage,  descendant  of  the  first  Ameri- 
can Worth,  an  English  Quaker,  who  emi- 
grated to  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  in 
1662,  and  engaged  in  the  whaling  business. 
From  his  earliest  days  Mr.  Worth  exhib- 
ited a  liking  for  constructive  work,  and 
after  completing  his  elementary  and  pre- 
paratory education  he  entered  the  Stevens 
Institute  of  Technology  at  Hoboken,  New 


Jersey,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 
the  Class  of  1901,  with  the  degree  of  Me- 
chanical Engineer. 

After  graduation  he  entered  the  office  of 
Walter  Kidde,  a  noted  engineer  of  New 
York  City,  and  later  became  electrical  engi- 
neer of  Walter  Kidde  &  Company,  Incor- 
porated, of  which  he  is  now  a  director  and 
vice-president.  In  his  connection  with  that 
organization  Mr.  Worth  has  made  vari- 
ous developments  in  electrical  engineering 
as  applied  to  industrial  plants. 

Mr.  Worth  also  became  connected,  sev- 
eral years  ago,  with  the  Monmouth  Chemi- 
cal Company,  at  first  in  charge  of  research, 
but  now  is  a  director  of  the  company,  hav- 
ing charge  both  of  manufacturing  and 
research.  He  has  accomplished  for  this 
company  the  development  of  cells  and 
processes  for  the  electrochemical  manu- 
facture of  chlorate  of  potash. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  American  Institute 
of  Electrical  Engineers,  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, the  American  Electrochemical  So- 
ciety and  the  New  York  Electrical  Society. 


624 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


' 

I 

TRUMBULL  ELECTRIC   MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 


An  interesting  story  is  shown  in  the 
origin  and  development  of  the  Trumbull 
Electric  Manufacturing  Company,  associ- 
ated, as  it  is,  with  the  industrial  growth  of 
Plainville,  Conn.,  and  which  has  made  that 
town  known  in  every  center  where  electri- 
cal appliances  are  sold;  for  the  product  of 
the  company  is  such  that  the  names 
"Trumbull"  and  "Plainville"  are  indissolu- 
bly  linked.  The  Trumbull  Electric  Manu- 
facturing Company  was  organized  in  Octo- 
ber, 1899,  by  John  H.  and  Henry  Trum- 
bull. Each  having  had  practical  experi- 
ence along  electric  lines,  they  determined  to 
start  in  business  for  themselves,  and  rent- 
ing an  old,  one-story  factory  they  began 
in  a  small  way  to  manufacture  two-piece 
rosettes.  They  employed  less  than  half  a 
dozen  workmen,  and  their  struggles  to 
meet  the  weekly  payroll  and  their  present 
success  shows  what  energy  and  persever- 
ance will  accomplish  when  confronting 
seemingly  invincible  obstacles.  The  busi- 
ness increased  slowly  but  steadily  and  an- 
other story  was  added  to  the  old  frame 
building.  The  company  was  incorporated 
after  Frank  T.  Wheeler  had  joined  issues 
with  the  Trumbull  brothers,  the  capital  be- 
ing $2,000;  which  was  all  held  by  the 
owners.  In  1905,  the  company  began 
building  the  present  plant  by  the  erection 
of  a  brick  extension  on  the  front,  which  also 
replaced  the  original  factory.  Then  a  sim- 
ilar building  was  placed  in  the  rear  and 
later  another  addition  was  built  running  at 
right  angles  from  the  center  of  the  plot. 
The  last  construction  was  in  December, 
1917.  This  is  a  structure  running  parallel 
with  the  first  built  and  joining  the  center 
building,  forming  the  letter  H.  All  the 
buildings  conform  in  design  and  are  three 
stories  with  basement  and  contain  three 
acres  of  floor  space.  Soon  after  the  com- 


pany was  organized  it  began  the  manufac- 
ture of  knife  switches  and  afterwards 
added  a  large  line  of  wiring  devices,  in- 
cluding panel  boards  and  switch  boards. 
The  most  recent  addition  to  the  product 
is  a  complete  line  of  "safety  service,"  ex- 


JOHN  H.  TRUMBULL 
President 

ternally-operated  knife  switches,  in  which 
the  company  specializes.  Success  has  been 
continuous,  the  output  showing  an  increase 
of  over  300  percent  since  1913,  while  the 
number  of  employees  has  grown  from  the 
first  meager  force  to  over  500.  The  cap- 
ital is  now  $500,000  divided  into  $300,000 
common  and  $200,000  preferred,  the  lat- 
ter being  held  by  the  officers  of  the  com- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


625 


pany — John  H.  Trumbull,  president; 
Henry  Trumbull,  treasurer,  and  Frank  T. 
Wheeler,  vice-president.  An  inventory 
shows  assets  of  double  the  amount  of  cap- 
ital. The  manufactured  product  reaches 


FRANK  T.  WHEELER 
Vice-President 

the  entire  United  States  and  Canada,  with 
a  large  export  trade  in  Cuba,  South  Amer- 
ica, Spain,  Australia  and  other  countries. 
Offices  are  maintained  and  stocks  carried 
at  the  following  places:  114-118  Liberty 
Street,  New  York  City;  40  South  Clinton 
Street,  Chicago,  111.;  595  Mission  Street, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.  The  company  also 
has  personal  representatives  at  76-78  Pearl 
Street,  Boston,  Mass.;  1017-19-21  Race 
Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  agents  in 
Buenos  Aires,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Barcelona, 
and  Sydney,  New  South  Wales.  S.  S.  Gwil- 
lim  is  secretary  of  the  corporation,  J.  C. 
Regan,  general  superintendent,  and  L.  L. 
Brastow,  sales  manager.  John  H.  Trum- 
bull, president  of  the  company,  who  is  also 
president  of  the  Plainville  Trust  Com- 
pany and  director  in  several  corporations, 


was  born  March  4,  1873,  in  Ashford, 
Conn.  He  is  one  of  seven  sons,  all  of 
whom  entered  the  manufacturing  business. 
He  was  married  November  30,  1903,  to 
Maude  Pierce  Usher  of  Plainville. 

Henry  Trumbull,  treasurer  of  the  com- 
pany, was  born  in  Burnside,  Conn.,  Jan- 
uary 12,  1875.  He  was  married  October 
21,  1903,  to  Nettie  Northrup  of  Bridge- 
port, Conn. 

Frank  T.  Wheeler,  treasurer,  was  born 
in  Southington,  Hartford  County,  Conn., 
July  23,  1874.  He  served  an  apprentice- 
ship at  the  machinist  trade  and  is  an 
expert  mechanic.  He  became  president 
of  the  Trumbull  Electric  Manufacturing 
Company  in  1899,  Dut  resigned  in  1910,  to 
become  its  vice-president.  He  is  an  assist- 
ant treasurer  of  the  Plainville  Trust  Com- 


HENRY  TRUMBULL 
Treasurer 

pany,  and  a  director  of  several  other  cor- 
porations and  of  the  Connecticut  Automo- 
bile Association.  He  was  married  June  17, 
1903,  to  Bertha  Munson  Buell  of  South- 
ington, Conn. 


626 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


UNITED  GAS  &  ELECTRIC  CORPORATION 


Nothing  has  contributed  more  to  the  up- 
building of  public  utilities  throughout  the 
United  States  than  the  development  of 
holding  companies  organized  in  recent 
years.  Under  their  management  improve- 
ments have  succeeded  each  other  so  rapidly 
and  public  service  companies  have  tried  so 
earnestly  to  meet  the  public  demand  for 
better  service  that  the  ten  years  just  passed 
have  marked  greater  public  utility  progress 
than  the  preceding  thirty.  The  public  has 
learned  that  holding  companies  stand  for 
better  service,  better  equipment,  and  better 
management,  and  the  companies  have  won 
their  deserved  place  in  the  confidence  of 
the  people  they  serve. 

This  success  is  possible  because  holding 
companies  are  managed  by  leaders  in  the 
public  utility  field,  men  whose  life  work  has 
been  the  expansion  and  refinement  of  pub- 
lic service.  These  men  study  each  step 
taken  by  other  holding  companies.  They 
keep  in  touch  with  the  developments  and 
trend  of  public  opinion,  not  only  in  one 
community,  but  in  every  town  and  city 
where  public  utilities  operate.  Thus  can 
they  adapt  to  their  subsidiaries  the  best  in 
public  utility  operation  the  country  over. 

For  the  administration  of  its  subsid- 
iaries the  holding  company  is  always  on 
the  lookout  for  high-grade  men.  Offering 
as  it  does  chances  of  advancement  not  pos- 
sible in  an  independent  company,  the  hold- 
ing company  attracts  to  itself  the  most 
progressive  and  the  best  trained  public 
utility  experts.  To  a  man  whose  signal 
success  with  a  street  railway  or  electric 
company,  for  example,  has  benefited  some 
one  community,  the  holding  company  of- 
fers a  place  where  he  can  apply  his  talents 
to  a  whole  group  of  companies,  with  a  cor- 


responding increase  of  responsibility  and 
remuneration. 

At  its  central  office  the  holding  company 
employs  a  staff  of  specialists  who  devote 
themselves  to  the  needs  of  all  subsidiaries. 
Each  man  on  this  corps  speaks  with  author- 
ity in  his  department,  as  a  recognized  ex- 
pert. Thus  by  maintaining  its  central  en- 
gineering department,  for  example,  the 
holding  company  places  at  the  service  of  its 
smallest  subsidiary  high-grade  engineering 
experts,  such  as  only  the  largest  and 
wealthiest  independent  company  could 
afford. 

Central  managing,  accounting,  and  legal 
departments,  too,  secure  to  each  subsidiary 
an  efficiency  otherwise  impossible.  A  cen- 
tral purchasing  department  effects  further 
savings  by  standardizing  equipment  and 
supplies  for  all  subsidiaries  and  buying 
them  in  large  quantities. 

Probably  the  largest  public  utility  hold- 
ing company  is  The  United  Gas  &  Electric 
Corporation,  which  controls  properties 
whose  gross  earnings  in  the  year  ending 
December  31,  1918,  were  approximately 
$35,000,000. 

The  nucleus  of  this  corporation  was 
formed  in  1896,  when  Bertron  &  Storrs 
(now  Bertron,  Griscom  &  Co.)  bought 
the  Lockport  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Co. 
With  large  property  acquisitions  in  1900, 
1902,  1908  and  1912  came  successive 
changes  in  the  holding  company,  until  in 
1912  The  United  Gas  &  Electric  Corpora- 
tion was  formed.  It  now  controls  the 
following  companies : 

Birmingham,  Ala. — Birmingham  Rail- 
way, Light  &  Power  Co. —  (Street  Rail- 
ways, Gas  and  Electricity) . 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


627 


Bloomington,  111. — Union  Gas  &  Elec- 
tric Co. —  (Gas). 

Buffalo,  N.  Y. — International  Traction 
Co.  of  New  Jersey — (Street  Railways). 

Colorado    Springs,    Colo. — The    Colo- 
rado Springs  Light,  Heat  &  Power  Co.— 
(Gas,  Electricity  and  Steam  Heat). 

Columbia,  Pa. — Columbia  Gas  Co. — 
(Gas). 

Elmira,  N.  Y. — Elmira  Water,  Light  & 
Railroad  Co. —  (Street  Railways,  Gas  and 
Electricity) . 

Harrisburg,  Pa. — Harrisburg  Light  & 
Power  Co. —  (Electricity) . 

Houston,  Tex. — Houston  Gas  &  Fuel 
Co. —  (Gas). 

Houston,  Tex. — Houston  Lighting  & 
Power  Co. —  (Electricity). 

Knoxville,  Tenn. — Knoxville  Railway  & 
Light  Co. —  (Street  Railways  and  Elec- 
tricity) . 

Lancaster,  Pa. — Conestoga  Traction 
Co. —  (Street  Railways). 

Lancaster,  Pa. — The  Lancaster  Gas 
Light  &  Fuel  Co.— (Gas). 

Lancaster,  Pa. — Edison  Electric  Co. — 
(Electricity). 

Lancaster,  Pa. — Lancaster  Light,  Heat 
&  Power  Co. 


Lockport,  N.  Y. — Lockport  Light, 
Heat  &  Power  Co. —  (Electricity,  Gas  and 
Steam  Heat) . 

Leavenworth,  Kan. — The  Leavenworth 
Light,  Heat  &  Power  Co. —  (Gas  and  Elec- 
tricity). 

Little  Rock,  Ark. — Little  Rock  Railway 
&  Electric  Co. —  (Street  Railways,  Elec- 
tricity and  Steam  Heat) . 

Memphis,  Tenn. — Memphis  Street  Rail- 
way Co. —  (Railways). 

New  Orleans,  La. — New  Orleans  Rail- 
way &  Light  Co. —  (Street  Railways,  Gas 
and  Electricity) . 

New  Orleans,  La. — Consumers'  Electric 
Light  and  Power  Co. —  (Electricity). 

Richmond,  Ind. — The  Richmond  Light, 
Heat  and  Power  Co. —  (Gas) . 

Terre  Haute,  Ind. — Citizens'  Gas  & 
Fuel  Co. —  (Gas). 

Wilkes-Barre,  Pa. — The  Wilkes-Barre 
Co. —  (Gas,  Electricity  and  Steam  Heat). 

The  population  served  by  the  subsid- 
iaries of  the  corporation  is  about  2,600,- 
ooo.  Their  railways  facilities  embrace 
the  equivalent  of  1,198  miles  of  single 
track;  their  gas  properties  embrace  1,420 
miles  of  mains;  and  the  electric  generating 
capacity  of  their  properties  totals  228,920 
K.W. 


THE  GREAT  WHITE  WAY 


The  first  electric  illumination  of  a  New 
York  street  was  attempted  Dec.  20,  1880, 
when  a  trial  was  given  to  the  new  system 
of  street  lighting.  With  the  crude  appara- 
tus then  in  use  the  result  was  far  from  bril- 
liant, and  was  but  a  dim  forecast  of  the 
wonders  to  be  accomplished  in  the  future. 
As  a  result  of  this  and  other  tests  it  was 
predicted  by  many  "experts"  that  electricity 
could  never  take  the  place  of  gas  as  an 
economical  and  efficient  method  of  lighting 
streets.  Poor  as  it  was,  however,  the  first 
electric  display  of  street  illumination  in  the 


American  metropolis  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  "Great  White  Way,"  and  the  trans- 
formation of  Broadway  by  night  into  a 
scene  of  dazzling  splendor  such  as  our 
grandfathers  could  never  have  dreamed  of. 
The  first  display  of  electric  lighting  on  a 
large  scale  was  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of 
1878,  when  the  wonders  of  the  "electric 
candle"  of  Paul  Jablochkoff,  a  Russian 
engineer,  startled  the  world.  The  Paris- 
ian display,  however,  was  dim  and  dull 
compared  with  the  marvels  since  accom- 
plished. 


628 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


JOSEPH  PHINEAS  DAVIS 


A  life  like  that  of  Joseph  P.  Davis 
leaves  grateful  memories  behind;  a  sense 
of  indebtedness,  and  a  chronicle  of  that 
fertility  of  human  interest  which  needs 
must  be  preserved  apart  from  any  material 
heritage.  Large  as  was  the  part  he  played 
in  great  engineering  projects  of  his  day, 
there  is  a  background  of  character  and  in- 
cident illuminating  a  career  which  extends 
beyond  professional  bounds.  We  are  priv- 
ileged to  present  details  of  his  origin,  edu- 
cation, travels,  and  associations,  as  related 
by  those  who  knew  him  best.  There  comes 
to  us  a  description  of  his  services  while 
chief  engineer  of  the  American  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company,  one  of  the  most  influen- 
tial positions  which  he  held,  as  fol- 
lows: "Mr.  Davis  realized  at  an  early 
date  that  provision  would  have  to  be  made 
in  all  densely  populated  centers  for  plac- 
ing wires  underground.  He  experimented 
extensively,  seeking  in  all  likely  quarters 
of  the  globe  for  information  relative  to 
foreign  as  well  as  domestic  practice  in  the 
undergrounding  of  electrical  conductors, 
and  for  possible  materials  suitable  for 
underground  construction.  He  left  behind 
him  volumes  of  data  and  information  thus 
collected.  The  detailed  manner  in  which 
he  entered  into  this  study  is  amazing.  As 
a  result  of  his  exhaustive  researches  and 
practical  experiments  he  became  one  of  the 
foremost  authorities  on  this  subject  of  his 
time." 

"When  an  apparently  satisfactory  type 
of  conduit  was  developed  (and  their  num- 
ber in  the  early  years  was  legion)  we  find 
that  he  experimented  with  it  not  only  under 
all  possible  conditions  that  might  be  en- 
countered in  one  locality,  but  in  various  lo- 
calities in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Davis 
with  his  keen  analytical  mind,  was  able  to 
grasp  and  to  take  into  consideration  the 
various  factors  influencing  construction. 
When  the  agitation  for  the  underground- 
ing  of  electrical  circuits  finally  swept  over 
the  country  he  was  fully  prepared  to  meet 
it.  All  of  the  subway  construction  for  tele- 
phone and  telegraph  lines  throughout  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  the  construction 
for  electric  light  and  power  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  was  at  that  time  personally  di- 
rected by  him." 


Joseph  P.  Davis  was  born  ini  Northboro, 
Mass.,  April  15,  1837,  the  son  of  William 
Eager  and  Almira  (Sherman)  Davis.  His 
ancestors  were  among  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England.  The  Davis  predecessor, 
Captain  Dolor  Davis,  landed  in  Plymouth 
in  1634.  Later  he  settled  in  Concord, 
Mass.  The  first  man  killed  at  the  battle  of 
Concord  Bridge  was  a  Davis,  doubtless  a 
descendant. 

The  Northboro  home  was  started  in 
1773  by  the  great-grand-father  of  Mr. 
Joseph  Davis,  Deacon  Isaac  Davis,  who 
went  there  from  Rutland,  Mass.,  and  be- 
came a  successful  tanner.  The  Sherman 
family  were  also  among  the  early  arrivals 
in  New  England,  landing  in  1634.  Captain 
John  Sherman  settled  in  Watertown,  Mass. 
He  was  a  captain  of  militia,  a  steward  of 
Harvard  College, a  surveyor  and  representa- 
tive of  the  general  court.  William  Eager 
Davis,  Mr.  Davis'  father,  died  when  only 
thirty-three  years  of  age  of  "Inflammation 
of  the  lungs,"  after  he  had  been  duly  bled 
by  the  country  doctor.  He  died  Christmas 
day  before  Mr.  Davis  was  born  the  follow- 
ing April. 

The  young  widow  had  three  others  sons, 
the  oldest  seven.  She  suddenly  had  the  re- 
sponsibility of  a  large  farm  and  a  share 
in  the  tannery  business,  with  apprentices 
"bound  out"  in  the  house.  Of  inestimable 
assistance  to  her  was  a  neighbor,  CoL 
Joseph  Davis,  for  whom  Mr.  Davis  was 
named.  Mr.  Davis  always  spoke  of  this 
old  gentleman  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
and  reverence.  Col.  Joe  was  a  colonel  of 
militia  and  annually  drilled  the  volunteer 
troops.  When  he,  with  nine  children  of 
his  own,  wished  to  marry  "the  Widow 
Sherman,"  the  stepmother  of  Mr.  Joseph 
Davis'  mother,  she  said,  "But  what  will 
become  of  my  five  Sherman  step-children?" 
He  promptly  replied,  "Bring  them  along, 
mix  them  with  mine." 

John  Davis,  who  was  four  years  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts  and  twenty-four 
years  in  the  United  States  Senate  was  a 
great  uncle.  He  was  popularly  known  as 
"Honest  John."  Tradition  says  that  when 
he  was  serving  on  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee  with  Daniel  Webster  he 
staunchly  refused  to  sanction  some  meas- 


JOSEPH     P.  DAVIS 
(DECEASED) 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


629 


ure  which  he  did  not  consider  right.  After 
several  days  arguing  Mr.  Webster  said: 
"Gentlemen,  we  might  as  well  adjourn, 
you  can't  move  Honest  John."  Mr.  Joseph 
Davis  often  spoke  of  how  proud  he  was 
of  the  traditions  of  honesty  and  integrity 
throughout  the  family.  He  strongly  dis- 
approved of  "lobbying"  and  when  com- 
panies with  which  he  was  associated  con- 
sidered this  necessary  he  was  not  in- 
formed concerning  it.  He  would  never  al- 
low his  name  to  be  put  on  a  bridge  of  which 
he  was  chief  engineer.  Usually  the  names 
of  the  mayor,  board  of  aldermen,  etc.,  were 
carefully  inscribed,  but  he  considered  his 
work  only  in  the  line  of  duty.  He  always 
refused  to  give  a  position  or  recommenda- 
tion to  anybody,  "because  he  went  to 
school  with  their  grandfather."  Nothing 
but  known  merit  won  a  recommendation 
from  him.  He  was  just  and  generous 
always  trying  to  develop  original  ideas  in 
those  working  with  him.  Thus  his  career 
was  guided  by  the  principals  of  his  stern 
New  England  forbears, 

Mr.  Davis'  earliest  school  days  were 
under  "Parson"  Joseph  Allen,  who  for 
fifty-five  years  ministered  to  the  spiritual 
needs  of  the  people  of  Northboro,  and 
who  in  his  Home  School  started  the  career 
of  many  prominent  men  in  New  England 
in  the  early  part  of  the  century.  Later 
Mr.  Davis  went  to  school  in  Boston.  Dur- 
ing vacation  he  was  expected  to  work  and 
accordingly  was  early  placed  in  a  Boston 
store.  Soon  stock-taking  time  came  and  he 
was  set  to  measuring  the  bolts  of  cloth. 
Whenever  they  ran  short  in  measure  they 
were  to  be  marked  up  to  the  next  yard. 
Though,  but  fifteen,  his  native  honesty  re- 
belled and  he  returned  home  indignant. 
This  decided  him  in  regard  to  the  future, 
for  he  entered  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  In- 
stitute in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  1856,  at  the  age  of  nineteen. 
Immediately  afterward  he  was  engaged  as 
a  rodman  at  $1.25  a  day  on  the  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  waterworks,  later  being  promoted 
to  the  position  of  transitman  at  $2  per  day. 
The  party  had  charge  of  the  building  of 
the  foundations  and  the  construction  of 
Mt.  Prospect  reservoir  and  engine  house. 
Mr.  Davis  directed  the  building  of  engine 
house  No.  2,  at  Ridgewood  and  his  salary 
was  increased  to  $60  per  month. 


In  the  summer  of  1860,  hearing  that 
the  Peruvian  Government  wished  the 
services  of  three  American  engineers,  he 
made  a  proposition  through  the  Peruvian 
Minister  for  a  contract  for  five  years  at 
$4,000  per  year,  one-half  payable  in  gold. 
While  awaiting  a  decision  the  Civil  War 
came  on.  Mr.  Davis  was  drilling  with  a 
Brooklyn  regiment  when  he  saw  the  troops 
pass  through  New  York  on  their  way 
South  in  April,  1861,  and  noting  sectional 
feeling  running  high,  he  went  to  the  Peru- 
vian Minister  to  withdraw  his  proposition. 
To  his  surprise  the  Minister  drew  out  a 
bag  containing  $2,000  in  gold  and  in- 
formed him  that  he  was  bound  to  his  con- 
tract. 

On  July  n,  1 86 1,  as  topographical  engi- 
neer of  Peru,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Church 
and  Mr.  Backus,  he  sailed  in  the  steamer 
Northern  Lights  for  Aspinwall.  They 
made  an  irregular  course  to  avoid  pri- 
vateers and  apparently  the  living  was 
neither  comfortable  nor  good.  There  was 
no  ice  on  board  and  much  of  the  food 
spoiled.  The  same  month  he  sailed  for 
Callao  in  the  steamer  Lima,  which  he 
described  as  "an  iron  paddle,  elegantly 
fitted  up  and  very  well  arranged.  The 
only  reform  should  be  in  the, table  waiters 
and  the  cleanliness  of  the  linen."  The  coast 
of  Peru  was  most  uninteresting.  They 
arrived  in  Calloa,  after  paying  the  exorbi- 
tant price  of  $25  to  get  their  baggage 
ashore,  then  proceeded  to  Lima,  where  in 
Mr.  Davis'  words,  they  "put  up  at  the 
best  hotel  here.  Church  and  myself  occu- 
pied rooms  in  the  third  story.  Without 
carpets,  or  anything  to  give  them  an  ap- 
pearance of  comfort,  beds  with  scant  cov- 
ering, a  few  wooden  chairs,  a  rough  table, 
and  a  chest  of  drawers,  are  the  whole 
furnishing  of  the  room." 

The  carefully  kept  journals  of  the  next 
four  years  are  of  the  greatest  interest, 
together  with  copies  of  reports  handed  in 
to  the  Minister  of  Public  Works,  concern- 
ing the  water  supply  of  towns,  plans  for 
bridges,  railroads,  artesian  wells,  and  re- 
pairs to  public  works.  Mr.  Davis  made 
designs  for  an  iron  bridge  across  the  Piura 
at  Piura,  a  stone  arch  bridge  across  the 
Ilavian  in  the  department  of  Puno  (spans 
of  1 6l/2  meters  each),  a  number  of  wire 
cable  bridges  (hammock  bridges)  for 


630 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


mule  traffic,  and  for  a  system  of  sewage 
in  the  city  of  Lima. 

Probably  the  most  important  piece  of 
work  he  did  while  in  Peru  was  to  survey 
the  great  guano  beds  of  Lobos  and  the  coast 
north  of  Lima.  This  work  lasted  from 
October,  1862  to  May,  1863.  Mr.  Davis 
was  head  of  a  commission,  to  which  later 
belonged  Engineer  Hindle  and  assistants 
Tweedale  and  Lund.  The  steamer  trans- 
port Huarez  was  sent  with  them.  The 
captain  of  the  ship  refused  to  give  the 
engineer  corps  the  aid  needed  and  they 
were  delayed  by  lack  of  instruments.  The 
islands  were  not  only  surveyed,  but  bor- 
ings were  made  to  determine  the  char- 
acter and  depth  of  the  guano.  The  ship 
would  be  gone  ten  to  twelve  days  to  obtain 
water,  and  in  the  meantime  the  engineers 
had  scarce  food,  mostly  beans,  no  cook  and 
no  tent.  The  Spanish  proclivity  to  pro- 
crastinate, the  proverbial  "manana,"  was 
a  great  detriment.  It  seemed  almost  im- 
possible to  get  men  started  before  noon, 
and  whole  days  were  lost  because  officials 
could  not  make  up  their  minds  when  to 
move. 

Some  time  was  spent  in  Lima  preparing 
the  reports  and  doing  minor  work  for  the 
city  and  neighboring  towns.  The  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  wished  this  presen- 
tation hastened  that  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr. 
Church  might  go  inland,  one  to  the  Prov- 
ince of  Puno,  and  the  other  to  Cuzco. 
There  was  some  trouble  with  Spain  in 
regard  to  the  Guano  Islands  at  the  time, 
and  the  general  dissatisfaction  threatened 
a  revolution.  The  engineers  did  not  wish 
to  go  inland,  perhaps  suddenly  have  the 
treasury  seized  and  their  entire  source  of 
supply  cut  off,  so  they  offered  to  resign, 
but  finally  compromised  by  being  allowed 
to  make  a  tour  of  the  provinces  together, 
making  notes  in  regard  to  public  works 
on  the  way.  They  left  on  the  steamer 
Bolivia  for  Islay.  There  they  got  pack 
and  saddle  animals  and  proceeded  inland 
to  Puno.  "At  the  tambos  or  rest  houses 
you  were  furnished  with  grass  or  dry 
straw  for  the  beasts,  a  chipe,  and  room 
upon  the  earthen  floor  on  which  you  spread 
your  own  bed.  The  nights  were  very  cold 
and  the  rooms  exceedingly  well  ventilated." 
They  saw  many  herds  of  llama  and  vic- 
unas. Near  Lake  Titicaca  the  engineers 


met  Mr.  E.  George  Squeir,  the  antiquarian, 
with  whom  they  traveled  up  to  Cuzco  and 
down  over  the  Andes  to  the  coast.  They 
surveyed  with  great  care  the  Inca  temples 
and  fortifications  and  were  much  interested 
to  find  that  earlier  than  Columbus'  time 
these  intelligent  people  had  so  developed 
the  "arch"  that  some  of  their  bridges  were 
still  usable.  They  also  had  some  form  of 
drills,  for  tunnels  were  found  which 
showed  the  mark  of  some  such  instrument. 
The  party  surveyed  the  wonderful  terraces 
on  the  mountain  sides  where  the  Incas  had 
gardens. 

In  coming  down  to  Lima  they  crossed 
the  great  hammock-like  swinging  bridge 
across  the  Apurimac,  one  of  the  head 
waters  of  the  Amazon.  Mr.  Davis  says, 
"as  we  zigzagged  our  way  into  the  valley 
below  by  a  descent  of  some  3,000  feet,  the 
scenery  grew  magnificent,  and  just  before 
reaching  the  bridge,  stupendous.  The 
road  enters  the  Apurimac  Valley,  which 
is  here  a  canon  with  high  precipices  for 
sides,  by  a  narrow  lateral  valley  and  as  you 
reach  the  former  you  are  on  a  level  with 
the  water.  From  the  river  you  ascend  to 
the  left  by  a  ledge  cut  on  the  face  of  the 
rock  precipice  to  the  level  of  the  bridge. 
Here  the  animals  were  unloaded  and  the 
cargoes  taken  over  on  the  backs  of  men." 

Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Church  took  accur- 
ate measurements  of  the  bridge  and  found 
it  to  be  147  feet  long  and  118  feet  above 
low  water.  It  was  constructed  of  thirteen 
cables  of.  twisted  cabuya  or  maguey  fibres, 
eleven  arranged  below  the  floor  and  one  on 
each  side  to  form  a  hand  railing.  These 
ropes  were  strongly  tied  to  timbers 
anchored  in  the  rocks.  The  floor  consisted 
of  small  slippery  sticks  lashed  together 
and  laid  across  the  cables.  They  had  no 
difficulty  in  getting  animals  to  cross  and 
experienced  none  themselves,  though  a 
strong  wind  swayed  the  bridge  some  five 
feet  from  side  to  side,  and  as  the  cables 
had  sagged,  there  was  a  steep  inclination 
toward  the  middle. 

Although  the  contract  with  the  Peruvian 
government  was  for  five  years,  Mr.  Davis 
returned  to  the  United  States  in  July,  1865, 
receiving  a  leave  of  absence,  as  a  revo- 
lution was  threatening — the  revolution 
was  successful  and  the  engineer  corps  was 
abolished.  Mr.  Davis  was  appointed 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


631 


assistant  engineer  to  lay  a  48  inch  main 
from  the  Ridgewood  Reservoir  to  Brook- 
lyn. In  June,  1866,  he  was  made  chief 
engineer  of  Prospect  Park.  In  May,  1867, 
he  was  offered  the  position  of  principal 
assistant  engineer  on  the  St.  Louis  Water 
Work,  which  were  about  to  be  constructed. 
This  he  accepted,  went  to  St.  Louis,  and 
under  the  direction  of  T.  J.  Whitman  at 
once  began  plans  for  putting  the  work 
under  contract. 

Early  in  1870  he  was  appointed  chief 
engineer  of  the  Lowell,  Mass.,  water  com- 
missioners, who  had  recently  been  chosen 
to  build  a  new  system  of  water  supply  for 
that  city.  He  designed  and  placed  under 
contract  the  new  supply.  In  November, 
1871,  he  received  the  appointment  as  chief 
engineer  of  the  Boston,  Mass.,  water 
board.  He  accepted  the  position,  agree- 
ing to  give  part  of  his  time  to  Lowell.  He 
resigned  in  May,  1872,  and  in  December 
was  made  chief  engineer  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  which  post  he  held  until  March, 
1880,  when  he  became  chief  engineer  of 
the  Telephone  Company. 

While  acting  as  chief  engineer  of  the 
Boston  Water  Board  in  1871  and  1872, 
he  made  an  oral  report  to  the  Board 
recommending  the  Sudbury  River  as  an 
additional  supply.  During  his  term  the 
works  to  bring  that  supply  to  the  city  were 
designed  and  constructed,  also  an  improved 
system  of  sewage  was  made  and  placed 
under  contract.  In  preparation  for  this 
improved  sewage,  the  city  granted  Mr. 
Davis  four  months'  leave  of  absence  and 
1,000  pounds  sterling  for  expenses.  For 
his  investigations  he  visited  England,  Hol- 
land and  Germany.  The  results  were 
something  quite  new  in  this  country. 

In  1880  Mr.  Davis  became  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company  and  its  successor,  the  American 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company.  He 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee  and  elected  vice-president, 
which  position  he  held  until  1886,  when 
he  resigned  his  positions  on  account  of  ill 
health.  The  territory  of  the  company 
covered  a  circle  of  thirty-three  miles  rad- 
ius, centered  at  City  Hall  and  including 
all  of  Long  Island  and  Monmouth  County, 
New  Jersey.  As  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany resided  in  Boston  and  took  little  part 


in  its  management,  Mr.  Davis  performed 
the  local  administrative  duties  of  the  presi- 
dent as  well  as  general  manager. 

In  1885  Mayor  O'Brien,  of  Boston, 
asked  him  to  become  consulting  engineer 
of  the  Commission  appointed  to  consider 
high  service  water  supply  for  that  city. 
From  1886  to  1904  he  was  consulting  engi- 
neer of  the  Metropolitan  Water  &  Sewage 
Board,  of  Massachusetts.  In  April,  1884, 
he  was  made  consulting  engineer  to  the 
New  York  Aqueduct  Commission.  In  ac- 
cepting his  resignation  in  1886,  on  account 
of  ill  health,  the  commissioners  "wish 
to  express  their  high  appreciation  of  your 
professional  skill  and  attainments  and  the 
very  valuable  service  you  have  rendered 
to  this  commission."  After  returning  from 
a  trip  to  Europe  he  was  appointed  an  ex- 
pert in  March,  1888,  by  the  Aqueduct 
Commission  to  consider  the  plans  of  the 
Quaker  Bridge  Dam. 

In  July,  1887,  Mr.  Davis  was  appointed 
consulting  engineer  of  the  Metropolitan 
Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company.  The 
same  year  he  was  appointed  consulting 
engineer  of  the  Consolidated  Telegraph 
&  Electrical  Subway  Company,  also  of  the 
Phoenix  Construction  Company.  In  1887 
Mr.  Davis  was  chosen  an  expert  to  assist 
the  city  engineer  of  Milwaukee.  He  also 
served  as  an  expert  for  the  city  of  Provi- 
dence. He  was  president  of  the  Hudson 
River  Telephone  Company,  from  1889  to 
1895,  and  the  Westchester  Company, 
from  1890  to  1893. 

For  some  time  Mr.  Davis'  eye  sight  had 
been  failing.  He  used  to  say  that  much  of 
his  work  was  done  at  night,  often  toward 
the  early  morning  hours,  and  frequently 
the  artificial  lights  were  very  poor.  In 
January,  1903,  the  worst  eye  was  operated 
on  for  cataract,  satisfactorily  from  a  surgi- 
cal standpoint,  but  the  eye  was  found  to 
be  congenitally  abnormal,  only  a  small  por- 
tion of  the  retina  ever  having  been  sensi- 
tive to  light.  The  disappointment  was 
great,  but  he  kept  at  work  as  long  as  possi- 
ble and  in  1903  he  was  a  director  in  the 
following  companies :  Metropolitan  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Co.;  New  York  Tele- 
phone Co. ;  Hudson  River  Telephone  Co. ; 
Westchester  Telephone  Co. ;  Union  Tele- 
phone Co. ;  Northern  New  York  Tele- 
phone Co. ;  Hudson  River  Telephone  Co. 


632 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


of  Penn.;  American  Telegraph  &  Tele- 
phone Co. ;  N.  Y.  &  N.  J.  Telephone  Co. ; 
N.  Y.  &  Penn.  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Co.;  Empire  City  Subway  Company; 
Chesepeake  &  Potomac  Telephone  Com- 
pany; Southern  Bell  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Co.;  Bell  Telephone  Company  of 
Buffalo;  Central  District  and  Printing 
Telegraph  Company;  and  Chicago  Tele- 
phone Co. 

Convinced  that  he  could  do  no  more 
useful  work,  Mr.  Davis  began  to  resign 
his  positions.  In  February,  1909,  Mr. 
Vail  wrote  "Your  letters  of  resignation  re- 
ceived. As  you  seem  to  be  insistent  that 
they  should  be  accepted,  we  have  accepted 
them  this  day,  but  it  is  with  much  regret 
that  we  do  so.  I  had  intended  to  let  it 
lay,  but  upon  my  return  I  find  that  you 
have  returned  your  check  for  the  January 
salary.  I  should  be  pleased  if  you  would 
reconsider  your  action  and  continue  here, 
at  least  for  the  present,  under  the  old  ar- 
rangement. This  is  the  wish  of  all  con- 
nected with  our  company."  Mr.  Davis 
was  -obdurate  for  he  never  believed  that 
any  man  should  retain  a  salary  or  position 
as  an  honorarium. 

Many  a  young  man  has  Mr.  Davis  to 
thank  for  the  commencement  of  his  edu- 
cation. He  would  have  resented  being 
considered  socialistic  in  his  tendencies,  but 
thirty  years  ago  he  told  a  friend  that  he 
considered  that  every  man  who  did  not 
marry  and  have  children  of  his  own  to 
educate  had  a  duty  to  the  State.  In  order 
to  fulfil  that  duty  he  should  help  other  men 
to  educate  their  children  and  thus  make 
useful  citizens.  A  very  large  nortion  of 
his  income  went  for  educational  purposes, 
not  only  among  private  individuals  but  also 
to  institutions.  This  was  never  done  with 


any  sense  of  it  being  a  charity.  He  was 
a  man  of  very  deep  religious  principles, 
though  he  never  went  to  church.  He  said 
that  he  would  enjoy  going  if  the  prayers 
were  omitted.  He  could  not  help  feeling 
that  such  dictation  to  the  Almighty  was  in- 
sulting. His  early  training  was  in  the  Uni- 
tarian Church,  and  Sunday  was  then  a  day 
of  ordeals. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  director  and  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers; a  member  of  the  Society  of  Tele- 
graphic Engineers  and  Electricians  of  Eng- 
land, American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  Society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
neers, and  the  Boston  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers.  His  greatest  pleasures  were 
the  fishing  trips  in  the  summer,  when  with 
a  chosen  few  "Bostonians"  he  camped  and 
angled  for  the  wily  trout  and  ounaniche. 
In  1883  he  became  a  member  of  the  Cen- 
tury Club,  and  for  many  years  the  old 
friends  met  together  there. 

In  social  matters  Mr.  Davis  was  a  very 
timid  man  but  he  thoroughly  enjoyed  com- 
panionship, and  the  letters  which  came  to 
him  from  men  who  had  formerly  worked 
with  him.  Perhaps  many  years  after  they 
had  met  with  success  they  would  realize 
how  much  they  had  gleaned  from  him  and 
write  to  him  accordingly.  He  felt  more 
grateful  for  those  letters  than  for  praise 
of  his  own  engineering  achievements.  He 
died  as  he  had  lived,  everything  well 
ordered  and  methodical.  His  check  book 
balanced  in  the  morning,  he  took  a  walk 
in  the  afternoon,  became  unconscious  while 
preparing  himself  for  dinner,  and  died  the 
next  night,  March  31,  1917.  He  was 
buried  in  Northboro,  the  town  which  still 
retained  his  affection  and  whose  welfare 
he  remembered  in  his  will. 


MILAN    R.  BUMP 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


633 


MILAN  R.  BUMP 


An  intimate  connection  of  several  years 
with  the  public  utilities  represented  by 
Henry  L.  Doherty  &  Company  has  been 
the  medium  through  which  Milan  R. 
Bump  has  become  known  for  his  work  in 
electrical  engineering.  Beginning  in  1904 
as  field  engineer  and,  from  1910  to  date, 
as  chief  engineer  of  that  organization,  his 
position  has  entailed  supervision  over  the 
operations  of  thirty-eight  public  utility 
companies  controlled  by  the  Cities  Service 
Company  as  well  as  the  general  engineer- 
ing direction  of  other  activities  of  the  same 
company.  The  one  interruption  in  the  con- 
tinuity of  Mr.  Bump's  service  with  the  Do- 
herty interests  occurred  in  1915,  during 
which  year  he  was  vice-president  of  the 
Picher  Lead  Company  of  Joplin,  Missouri. 

Throughout  his  experience  Mr.  Bump 
has  been  influenced  by  faith  in  the  great  fu- 
ture possibilities  of  the  public  utility  field, 
believing  that  the  most  satisfactory  devel- 
opment must  come  through  a  closer  mutual 
understanding  between  the  companies  and 
their  customers.  Further,  his  conception 
of  the  ideal  relationship  is  one  that  would 
make  every  customer  a  security  holder. 

Mr.  Bump  was  born  at  Rock  Falls,  Wis- 


consin, on  March  18,  1881.  He  received 
his  common  schooling  in  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington, but  for  higher  education  he  re- 
turned to  Wisconsin  to  enter  the  State 
University.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Tau 
Beta  Pi  the  honorary  engineering  fratern- 
ity, graduating  in  1902  with  the  B.S.E.E. 
degree.  Going  west,  he  joined  the  Wash- 
ington Water  Power  Company  of  Spokane 
as  an  engineer  on  the  design  and  construc- 
tion of  that  company's  first  60,000  volt 
transmission  lines  connecting  Spokane  with 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  mining  district. 

Mr.  Bump  is  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  2nd  vice-president  of  the 
National  Electric  Light  Association,  hav- 
ing also  been  chairman  of  the  Hydro-elec- 
tric and  Technical  Section.  In  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  he  has 
been  an  Associate  since  1902.  He  holds 
membership  in  the  Engineers'  Club  of  New 
York,  the  Toledo  Club  of  Toledo,  Ohio, 
and  the  Reform  Club  of  New  York,  in 
which  he  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees. 

Mr.  Bump  makes  his  home  at  Mont- 
clair,  New  Jersey.  His  business  address 
is  60  Wall  Street,  New  York. 


634 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


MARIANO   L.   MORA 


Mora  &  Mendoza  conducts  a  business 
of  influence  in  the  export  of  machinery 
for  the  sugar  industry  of  the  West  Indies. 
The  firm's  principal  connection  is  with  the 
Victor  G.  Mendoza  Company  of  Havana, 
Cuba.  The  New  York  house  has  in  Mar- 
iano L.  Mora,  an  electrical  engineer 
whose  experience  fits  him  to  deal  with  the 
specialized  electrical  questions  pertaining 
to  their  machines.  He  is  also  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Victor  G.  Mendoza  Company 
of  Havana,  and  the  Mora-Ona  Trading 
Company  of  Sagua,  Cuba. 


Mr.  Mora  was  born  at  Sagua  la 
Grande,  Cuba,  on  February  28,  1869.  He 
was  graduated  from  the  Columbia  Uni- 
versity School  of  Mines  in  1891  as  a  civil 
engineer  and  again  in  1894  as  an  electrical 
engineer.  Mr.  Mora  spent  sixteen  years 
in  the  service  of  the  General  Electric  Co. 

He  is  an  Associate  of  the  American  In- 
stitute of  Electrical  Engineers;  a  member 
of  the  India  House,  New  York;  the  Ged- 
ney  Farm  Country  Club,  White  Plains, 
N.  Y. ;  the  Mohawk  Club,  Schenectady, 
N.  Y.,  and  the  Havana  Yacht  Club. 


ARMISTEAD     K.    BAYLOR 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


635 


ARMISTEAD  K.  BAYLOR 


Many  tasks  of  consequence  in  adminis- 
trative electrical  work  have  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  Armistead  K.  Baylor,  one  of  the  Gen- 
eral Electric  Company's  experienced  exec- 
utiv&s.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  last 
thirty  years  he  has  devoted  his  services  to 
this  company  or  its  allied  enterprises. 

Of  recent  consideration  are  his  activities 
dating  from  1911  when,  returning  from  a 
sojourn  abroad,  he  assumed  managerial 
duties  in  connection  with  the  business  of 
public  utility  holding  companies  at  the  gen- 
eral offices  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, New  York  City,  being  also  active 
from  time  to  time  on  various  special  as- 
signments. The  department  of  heating  de- 
vices was  under  his  supervision  from 
December,  1914,  to  January,  1918,  or  un- 
til the  date  when  it  was  transferred  to  the 
control  of  the  Edison  Electric  Appliance 
Company.  An  appointment  of  both  honor 
and  responsibility  was  given  Mr.  Baylor  in 
September,  1918,  by  the  General  Electric 
Company,  which  made  him  special  repre- 
sentative in  charge  of  its  Government 
work  at  Washington.  To  complete  the 
undertaking  involved,  he  remained  at  that 
post  until  June,  1919. 

By  ancestry  Mr.  Baylor  comes  of  a  fam- 
ily originally  English,  but  the  branch  to 
which  he  belongs  has  traditions  going  back 
to  1735  when  John  Baylor,  a  paternal  an- 
cestor, settled  in  Newmarket,  Virginia.  A 
number  of  the  latter's  descendants  served 
in  the  Revolutionary  War,  one  having  been 
an  aide  on  the  staff  of  General  Washing- 
ton. Armistead  K.  Baylor  was  born  April 
nth,  1868,  near  New  York  City.  Tech- 
nological subjects,  especially  the  nascent 
arts  of  electricity,  had  the  strongest  appeal 
for  him  from  earliest  years.  Studies  per- 
taining thereto  were  pursued  in  prepara- 
tory schools  only  to  be  interrupted  after 
two  or  three  years  by  his  going  into  busi- 
ness in  Boston. 

The  defection  from  his  chosen  calling 
was  of  brief  duration,  however,  for  in 
1891  he  found  an  open  avenue  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  his  talents  at  the  Lynn,  Mass., 
plant  of  the  Thomson-Houston  Company. 
Upon  completing  the  prescribed  service  he 
entered  the  construction  department.  Re- 
turning to  Lynn  after  a  year's  absence  he 
became  a  special  assistant  to  Walter  H. 


Knight.  In  that  capacity  he  acted  as  engi- 
neering representative  for  the  factory  on 
railway  work,  and  while  so  engaged  ob- 
served the  demonstrations  and  followed 
the  operation  of  the  novel  types  of  motors 
and  controllers  then  being  introduced.  In- 
cidental assistance  given  to  the  salesman 
led  him  directly  into  the  sales  department. 
He  went  to  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  in  1894 
when  the  headquarters  of  the  newly  or- 
ganized General  Electric  Company  were 
established  there.  Again,  in  the  same  year, 
he  moved  to  New  York  City,  to  become  the 
New  York  assistant  of  W.  J.  Clark,  man- 
ager of  the  railway  department,  with 
whom  he  was  associated  until  May,  1896. 

The  last  date  marks  a  point  of  depar- 
ture in  Mr.  Baylor's  professional  record. 
His  engagements  in  America  were  laid 
aside  to  go  to.  London.  In  the  English 
capital  he  joined  the  British  Thomson- 
Houston  Company  as  manager  of  the  trac- 
tion department,  and  to  these  responsibili- 
ties were  added  those  of  general  sales  man- 
ager. For  several  years,  from  1901, 
when  his  labors  with  the  Thomson-Hous- 
ton Company  were  brought  to  a  conclusion, 
Mr.  Baylor  remained  in  England  in  pri- 
vate practice  as  a  consulting  engineer. 

As  already  related,  since  his  return  to 
America  he  has  been  identified  with  the 
business  of  the  General  Electric  Com- 
pany, at  its  general  offices  in  New  York. 
He  is  a  vice-president,  director,  and  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committete  of  the  Edi- 
son Electric  Appliance  Company,  and  a 
director  of  the  Electric  Vacuum  Cleaner 
Company. 

A  pursuit  of  spare  hours  which  has 
claimed  the  interest  of  Mr.  Baylor  is  the 
study  of  the  educational  and  industrial  uses 
of  motion  pictures,  an  art  whose  commer- 
cial possibilities  are  just  beginning  to  be 
realized.  Mr.  Baylor's  social  and  club 
affiliations  are  many.  On  the  electrical  side 
they  include  the  American  Institute  of  Elec- 
trical Engineers,  and  the  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers  of  London.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Engineers',  Lotos, 
Bankers',  Engineers'  Country  Club,  Rich- 
mond County  Country  Club  of  N.  Y.,  and 
the  Mohawk  and  Mohawk  Golf  Clubs  of 
Schenectady. 


636 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


MORTIMER  B.  FOSTER 


The  electrical  engineer  has  in  some  cir- 
cumstances been  driven  to  invention  by  the 
architect  and  builder.  Architects  evolve 
ambitious  plans,  precedents  of  construc- 
tion are  broken  right  and  left,  and  new 
and  radical  departments  must  be  made  in 
the  hitherto  settled  methods  of  erecting  a 
complete  building.  The  word,  comolete, 
means  here  an  harmonious  whole  com- 
posed of  co-ordinate  units,  each  demand- 
ing a  separate  activity.  A  modejn  office 
building  holding  a  daily  population  of 
several  hundred,  or  even  several  thousand 
people  has  its  vital  parts  like  some  great 
trans-Atlantic  liner;  functions  through  its 
system  of  heating,  lighting,  .ventilation, 
and  transportation.  New  York's  lofty  sky- 
scrap'ers  created  a  host  of  new  construc- 
tion problems  to  test  the  mettle  of  experts, 
and  the  task  of  the  electrical  engineer  was 
not  the  least  difficult. 

The  engineering  profession  as  pursued 
by  Mortimer  B.  Foster  has  covered  more 
than  one  specialized  branch  of  >practice, 
but  an  interesting  feature  of  his  career  is 
the  number  and  variety  of  buildings  the 
electrical  equipment  of  which  he  has 
planned.  The  Singer  Building,  New  York, 
is.  a  noteworthy  example.  As  might  be 
inferred,  there  were  new  calculations  to  be 
made  and  original  methods  to  be  devised 
for  carrying  them  out.  The  exterior  illum- 
ination of  the  tower  called  for  an  ingeni- 
ous arrangement  of  lights,  which  was  the 
subject  of  extended  experiment.  A  few  of 
the  other  buildings  which  Mr.  Foster 
equipped  electrically  were,  the  American 
Bank  Note  Building,  New  York;  the  new 
West  Point  Buildings,  the  Boston  Opera 
House;  the  Morgan  Memorial  Building 
at  Hartford,  Conn.;  and  the  Municipal 
Buildings  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  St.  Louis 
and  other  cities,  as  well  as  textile  and 
paper  mills  in  New  England. 

Mr.  Foster  is  a  New  Yorker,  born 
October  26,  1878.  He  received  the  excel- 
lent education  given  student  engineers  by 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
graduating  with  degrees  in  the  class  of 
1901.  Then  followed  practical  training 


in  electrical  construction  in  the  employ  of 
P.  L.  Hoag  of  New  York  City. 

From  the  fall  of  1902  until  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Singer  Building,  Mr.  Foster 
practiced  independently.  Through  later 
years  he  has  chiefly  devoted  his  time  to  a 
variety  of  commissions  undertaken  by  the 
Shield  Electric  Company,  conducted  by 
him  with  the  assistance  of  E.  E.  Schmid,  a 
young  engineer  of  keen  talents.  They  have 
engaged  in  the  solution  of  incidental  prob- 
lem pertaining  to  diverse  electrical  appli- 
ances whose  description  is  impracticable 
in  a  non-technical  volume.  They  have  con- 
structed trolley  lines,  designed  numerous 
types  of  electric  railway  and  transmission 
materials,  and  Mr.  Foster  has  accom- 
plished extensive  work  for  the  Govern- 
ment in  the  placing  of  underground  and 
submarine  cables,  at  West  Point  and  else- 
where in  the  vicinity  of  New  York. 

The  activities  of  the  War  Industries 
Board,  so  much  in  the  public  press  in  the 
eventful  years  of  1917  and  1918  were 
divided  into  sixteen  sections,  each  under 
the  supervision  of  a  chief.  Mr.  Foster 
presided  over  the  "Miscellaneous  Sec- 
tion," which  by  its  very  title  suggests  a 
complexity  of  detail.  The  duties  of  his 
Board  consisted  principally  in  acting  as 
intermediaries  between  the  Allies  and 
American  manufacturers,  and  in  appor- 
tioning those  supplies  which  happened  to 
be  limited  in  quantity  among  the  Allies 
and  the  U.  S.  Army  and  Navy.  It  was  a 
crowded  year  that  Mr.  Foster  spent  in 
Washington. 

The  M.  I.  T.,  Automobile,  Railroad 
and  Engineers'  Clubs,  and  the  Kane 
Masonic  Lodge,  New  York  City,  are  rep- 
resentative of  the  social  affiliations  of  Mr. 
Foster.  His  liking  for  sports  and  out- 
door life  is  responsible  for  his  member- 
ship in  the  Greenwich  and  Blind  Brook 
Country  Clubs,  and  he  frequently  resorts 
for  relaxation  to  his  country  home  at 
Sound  Beach,  Conn.  The  officers  of  the 
Shield  Electric  Company  are  in  the  Singer 
Building,  New  York. 


C.  C.    CHESNE  V 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


637 


CUMMINGS  C.   CHESNEY 


Cummings  C.  Chesney  is  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  electrical  discovery  and  has 
been  the  associate  of  other  pioneers  nota- 
ble in  the  history  of  the  science.  He  made 
plans  for  the  first  polyphase  power  trans- 
mission plant  in  America  to  be  operated 
successfully,  designed  advanced  types  of 
alternating  current  generators  for  high 
voltages,  and  has  led  in  the  creation  of 
many  other  improvements. 

Probably  Mr.  Chesney  derived  much  of 
his  inspiration  from  William  Stanley, 
famed  inventor  of  the  alternating  current 
system  of  long  distance  light  and  power 
transmission,  with  whom  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  study  and  collaborate  and 
knowledge  of  whose  life  and  work  he  has 
helped  disseminate. 

Selinsgrove,  Pa.,  was  Mr.  Chesney's 
birthplace,  on  October  28,  1863.  He  took 
the  B.S.  degree  from  the  Pennsylvania 
State  College,  later  teaching  mathematics 
and  -chemistry  there  and  at  Doylestown 
Seminary.  He  first  came  in  contact  with 
William  Stanley  in  1888,  as  a  member  of 


the  scientist's  laboratory  forces  at  Great 
Barrington,  Mass.  After  spending  the 
years  1889  and  '90  with  the  U.  S.  Elec- 
tric Lighting  Company,  Newark,  N.  J., 
he  became  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
Stanley  Electric  Manufacturing  Company 
of  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  of  which  company  he 
was  vice-president  and  chief  engineer  from 
1904  to  1906.  On  the  latter  date  Mr. 
Chesney  took  up  the  duties  of  chief  engi- 
neer and  manager  of  the  Pittsfield  plant 
of  the  General  Electric  Company,  which 
had  absorbed  the  Stanley  Company  and 
where  he  has  since  continued.  The  posi- 
tion Mr.  Chesney  now  holds  is  one  of  the 
most  important  in  the  electrical  field.  The 
management  of  the  Pittsfield  Works  of  the 
General  Electric  Company,  devoted  prin- 
cipally to  the  manufacture  of  trans- 
formers, requires  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  vagaries  of  electricity  as  well  as  a 
trained  business  and  commercial  mind. 

Mr.  Chesney  is  a  Fellow  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  also 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  London, 
England. 


638 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


W.   G.   NAGEL 


W.  G.  Nagel,  president  and  general  man- 
ager of  the  W.  G.  Nagel  Electric  Com- 
pany of  Toledo,  Ohio,  has  put  twenty-one 
years  of  concentrated  effort  into  this  or- 
ganization and  made  a  success  of  it. 

At  the  suggestion  of  the  principal  of  the 
public  schools  at  Wapakoneta,  Ohio,  his 
birthplace,  Mr.  Nagel  became  interested 
in  electrical  studies.  The  higher  branches 
of  mechanical  and  electrical  engineering 
were  acquired  at  the  Ohio  State  Univer- 
sity. During  his  term  as  undergraduate, 
Mr.  Nagel  became  a  member  of  the  Sigma 
Nu  fraternity.  He  was  graduated  in  1895, 
well  prepared  for  entrance  to  professional 
ranks. 

Mr.  Nagel's  first  two  years  of  practical 
experience  were  spent  on  the  road  as  a 
traveling  salesman  and  engineer.  It  did 
not  take  him  long  to  plan  the  course  his 
career  should  take  for  in  1898  he  decided 
to  go  into  business  on  his  own  account,  set- 


tled in  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  there  organized 
the  W.  G'  Nagel  Electric  Company,  which 
has  since  established  a  secure  reputation  in 
the  electrical  supplies  market. 

The  company  operates  three  depart- 
ments, one  handling  supplies  and  another 
machinery.  The  third  is  employed  in 
strictly  manufacturing  activities,  which  are 
carried  on  at  a  plant  at  515  Hamilton 
Street.  The  output  is  of  varied  descrip- 
tion, providing  for  the  incidental  but  im- 
portant necessities  of  many  industries. 
Automobile  accessories  are  a  feature,  and 
in  the  catalogue  of  products  are  included 
ammeters,  oil  indicators,  gasoline  gauges, 
oil  pressure  gauges,  and  wind  shield  wipers. 
The  list  might  be  lengthened  by  other  spe- 
cialties also  produced  in  quantities  for  the 
trade.  The  sales  headquarters,  including 
the  supplies  and  machinery  departments 
have  exclusive  occupation  of  the  building 
at  28-32  St.  Clair  Street. 


CHARLES     LEONARD     NEWCOMB 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


639 


CHARLES  LEONARD  NEWCOMB 


Charles  Leonard  Newcomb,of  Holyoke, 
Mass.,  early  concentrated  his  efforts  upon 
applied  electricity  in  the  design  and  manu- 
facture of  steam  and  electrically-operated 
pumps.  He  is  President  and  General  Man- 
ager of  The  Deane  Steam  Pump  Company, 
of  Holyoke,  foremost  in  the  production  of 
electrically-operated  pumping  machinery. 
He  became  associated  with  this  business  in 
April  1 88 1,  as  Superintendent  and  Chief 
Engineer,  and  has  continued  in  active  man- 
agement, becoming  President  and  General 
Manager  when  the  Company  was  merged 
into  the  International  Steam  Pump  Co.  in 
1899,  and  remaining  so  after  it  became  a 
part  of  the  Worthington  Pump  and  Ma- 
chinery Corporation  in  1916. 

Mr.  Newcomb's  policies  have  been  dis- 
tinguished by  a  singular  foresight  in  antici- 
pating the  onward  trend  of  electrification. 
For  twenty-five  years  past  the  adaptation 
of  the  electric  drive  and  electric  illumina- 
tion have  been  a  conspicuous  feature  of  his 
plans  and  designs,  and  the  improvements  in 
the  company's  product  and  manufacturing 
methods  are  the  results  of  his  faith  in  the 
inexhaustible  resources  of  electricity. 

The  genealogical  records  of  Massachu- 
setts mention  Simon  Newcomb  of  Lebanon, 
Connecticut,  who  died  in  1744.  He  was  a 
grandson  of  Captain  Andrew  Newcomb, 
who  left  England  for  America  soon  after 
1620.  Simon  Newcomb's  son,  Hezekiah, 
in  the  direct  line  of  descent  of  the  Charles 
Leonard  Newcomb  branch  of  the  family, 
married  Jerusha  Bradford,  a  great-grand- 
daughter of  William  Bradford,  famous 
among  the  "Mayflower"  colonists  and  an 
early  Governor  of  Plymouth  Colony.  Six 
generations  followed  Simon  Newcomb. 
Charles  Leonard  Newcomb  is  of  the  last, 
having  been  born  August  7,  1854,  at 
West  Willington,  Conn.,  the  son  of  Charles 
Leonard  Newcomb  and  Martha  Jane 
(Hudson)  Newcomb.  Young  Newcomb 
worked  on  a  farm  during  the  summers  and 
in  mills  and  factories  in  the  winters,  serv- 
ing ten  years'  apprenticeship  to  the  machin- 
ist, millwright,  and  moulder's  trades  in  the 
Pratt  &  Whitney  shops  in  Hartford,  in  tex- 
tile mills,  and  in  the  Murless  Foundry, 
Rockville,  Conn.  He  attended  the  Worce- 


ster Polytechnic  Institute,  from  which  he 
was  graduated  in  1880  with  the  B.  S.  and 
M.  E.  degrees.  Mr.  Newcomb  then  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  American  Electrical 
Lighting  Co.,  New  Britain,  Conn.,  later 
merged  with  the  Thomson-Houston  Co.,  of 
Lynn,  Mass.,  and  into  the  General  Electric 
Co.  Among  his  associates  in  those  early 
days  were  Edwin  W.  Rice,  Jr.,  now  Presi- 
dent of  the  General  Electric  Co.,  and  Prof. 
Elihu  Thomson,  who  was  developing  the 
Thomson-Houston  arc  lamp  and  genera- 
tors. Prof.  Thomson  entrusted  young 
Newcomb  with  the  resnonsibility  of  manu- 
facturing the  equipment  developed.  Some 
of  the  first  electric  searchlights  and  genera- 
tors. Prof.  Tomson  entrusted  young 
ernment  use  were  produced  under  Mr. 
Newcomb's  supervision. 

Mr.  Newcomb's  broad  engineering  ac- 
tivities as  hydraulic,  mechanical  and  elec- 
trical expert,  consulting  engineer  and  inven- 
tor frequently  brought  him  into  contact  with 
public  affairs.  Notable  among  them  were 
the  condemnation  actions  and  civil  suits  of 
the  City  of  Holyoke  vs.  Holyoke  Water 
Power  Co.,  involving  the  acquisition  by  the 
city  of  the  latter's  steam  and  hydro-electric 
plants. 

Mr.  Newcomb  has  given  much  in  per- 
sonal service  to  the  community,  acting  as 
Councilman  and  Alderman  of  Holyoke 
from  1886  to  1888.  He  is  president  of  the 
Holyoke  Co-operative  Bank.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  original  Fire  Commission  formed 
in  1892,  and  its  chairman  from  1893  to 
1911,  Mr.  Newcomb  was  a  pioneer  in  ap- 
plying electric  power  to  propel  fire  appa- 
ratus. 

Mr.  Newcomb's  interest  in  the  field  of 
machinery  and  engineering  is  seen  in  his 
connection  as  a  founder  and  official  of  the 
National  Metal  Trades  Association  and  of 
the  National  Founders  Association,  as  an 
ex-president  of  the  New  England  Foundry- 
men's  Association,  manager  and  member 
of  the  council  of  the  American  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  member  of  the  En- 
gineers' Club  of  New  York,  member  of  the 
Society  of  Naval  Architects  and  Marine 
Engineers,  and  president  of  the  Engineer- 
ing Society  of  Western  Massachusetts. 


640 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


Mr.  Newcomb  is  a  member  of  the  Bos- 
ton Athletic  Association,  a  Knight  Temp- 
lar, a  member  of  the  Shrine,  and  of  the 
Elks.  He  is,  however,  pre-eminently  a 
home  man,  and  spends  most  of  his  leisure 
time  with  his  wife  and  children.  He  was 
married  in  1874  to  Miss  Inez  Louise  Ken- 
dall. 

PRESTON  S.  MILLAR 

Preston  Strong  Millar  was  born  on 
March  9,  1880.  He  has  been  identified 
with  the  Electrical  Testing  Laboratories 
and  its  work  for  over  twenty  years,  becom- 
ing in  January,  1914,  general  manager  and 
secretary. 

Mr.  Millar  has  been  engaged  in  the  pro- 
motion of  the  study  of  illuminants  and  il- 
luminating engineering.  He  is  a  past 
president  (1913)  of  the  Illuminating 
Engineering  Society  and  is  a  strong  sup- 
porter of  the  work  of  many  engineering 
and  technical  organizations.  He  has  pre- 
sented a  number  of  important  papers  and 
reports  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  the  Illuminating  En- 
gineering Society,  the  Association  of  Edi- 
son Illuminating  Companies,  the  American 
Association  for  the  Conservation  of  Vision 
and  other  bodies,  besides  being  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  technical  press. 

In  association  with  Dr.  C.  H.  Sharp,  he 
has  designed  a  new  form  of  portable  pho- 
tometer and  has  developed  the  integrating 
sphere  photometer  which  is  now  coming 
into  extensive  use  in  the  measurement  of 
incandescent  lamps. 

During  the  war  Mr.  Millar  served  as 
chairman  of  the  Illuminating  Engineering 
Society's  Committee  on  War  Service  and  as 
treasurer  of  the  War  Committee  of  Tech- 
nical Societies. 

Among  the  more  recent  papers  by  Mr. 
Millar  are  the  following:  "Study  of  the 
Lighting  Art,"  "The  Problem  of  Lamp 
Testing,"  "An  Unrecognized  Aspect  of 
Street  Illumination,"  "Lighting  Curtail- 
ment," etc. 

Organizations  to  which  he  belongs  are: 
The  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, National  Electric  Light  Association, 
New  York  Electrical  Society,  Engineers' 
Club  of  New  York,  American  Association 
for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Associa- 
tion of  Railway  Electrical  Engineers,  Old 
Colony  Club,  and  the  Jovian  Order. 


GEORGE  A.  MURCH 

One  of  the  pioneers  in  the  construction 
and  operation  of  electric  railways,  George 
A.  Murch,  was  born  in  Unity,  Maine,  Au- 
gust 27,  1 86 1,  and  was  educated  in  com- 
mon schools  and  high  schools  of  Hamp- 
den  and  Bangor,  Maine,  and  in  the  Castine 
(Maine)  Normal  School. 

He  began  his  connection  with  street 
railways  as  conductor  of  a  horse  car  at 
Salem,  Mass.,  and  served  on  track  and  in 
stable,  and  as  driver  and  in  ordinary  work 
in  horse  railway  service.  He  became  fore- 
man of  the  Woburn  Division  of  the  East 
Middlesex  Horse  Railroad,  and  later  for 
one  year  was  superintendent  of  construc- 
tion and  operation  of  the  Waterville  and 
Fairfield  (Maine)  Street  Railway. 

Convinced  that  electricity  would  become 
the  motive  power  of  street  railways  he  be- 
came connected  with  the  Thomson-Hous- 
ton Electric  Company,  for  which  he  was 
superintendent  of  construction  of  the 
Toledo  (Ohio)  Electrical  Railway,  the 
first  electric  line  in  Toledo,  and  on  its  com- 
pletion became  treasurer  and  general  man- 
ager, for  the  local  Thomson-Houston 
Company.  Returning  East  he  worked  and 
studied  in  the  company's  West  Lynn  fac- 
tory. He  was  superintendent  of  the  Attle- 
boro,  North  Adams  and  Wrentham  Elec- 
tric Railway  one  year,  then  superintendent 
of  construction  of  the  Worcester,  Leic- 
ester and  Spencer  Electric  Railway  for  two 
years.  After  that,  with  Charles  O.  and 
Charles  A.  Richardson,  Michael  McGrath, 
and  W.  A.  Kendal,  he  formed  the  Worce- 
ster Construction  Company,  for  all  sorts 
of  electrical  construction,  and  for  some 
years  had  charge  of  building  the  Bath 
(Maine),  Calais  (Maine),  Skowhegan 
(Maine),  Bangor  and  Orono  (Maine), 
Worcester  and  Grafton  (Mass.),  Mont- 
pelier  and  Barre  (Vermont)  parts  of  the 
Blackstone  Valley,  Mass. ;  Warren,  Brook- 
field  and  Spencer,  Mass. ;  Southbridge  and 
Sturbridge,  Mass.;  Dayton,  Ohio;  Dayton 
and  Xenia,  and  other  trolley  systems.  He 
is  now  general  manager  of  the  St.  Albans 
and  Swanton  Traction  Company,  St.  Al- 
bans, Vermont,  and  the  Public  Electric 
Light  Company  of  that  city. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Professional  and 
Business  Men's  Association  of  St.  Albans 
and  the  Owl  and  Country  clubs  there. 


JAMES      BURKE 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


641 


JAMES   BURKE 


The  salient  details  in  the  life  of  James 
Burke,  as  relating  to  his  electrical  en- 
deavors, concern  the  results  of  his  well 
recognized  inventive  talents  and  his  au- 
thoritive  treatment  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing subjects.  The  narration  of  his  cease- 
lessly active  career  will  be  to  many  but  the 
repetition  of  familiar  facts.  The  Burke 
Electric  Company  is  one  medium  through 
which  Mr.  Burke  has  expressed  his  pur- 
poses, and  incident  to  its  leadership  he 
brings  the  tangible  issue  of  much  analyti- 
cal and  constructive  practice  applied  in 
several  environments. 

The  utilization  of  his  inventions  is  the 
basis  of  his  own  industry,  among  a  goodly 
number  of  others  made  possible  by  the 
same  creative  hand.  As  a  designer  of  al- 
ternating and  direct  current  machinery  he 
has  been  prolific.  Evidence  thereof  is 
shown  in  United  States  and  foreign  patent 
offices  where  over  one  hundred  patents 
have  been  issued  to  him  and  their  practi- 
cality has  been  commercially  demonstrated 
in  a  large  percentage  of  cases.  For  ex- 
ample; the  three  wire  system  of  generator, 
affording  a  three  wire  service  from  a  single 
generator  has  been  produced  in  great 
quantities  by  the  Burke  Electric  Company 
and  their  licensees.  One  of  his  most  im- 
portant Inventions  is  the  "Universal 
Motor"  which  operates  on  both  alternat- 
ing and  direct  current  and  which  is  being 
manufactured  by  the  Burke  Electric  Com- 
pany and  its  licensees  in  enormous  quanti- 
ties, particularly  for  portable  tools,  vacuum 
cleaners,  household  labor  saving  devices, 
etc. 

Tames  Burke,  like  most  men  of  deeds, 
had  an  obscure  beginning,  hewing  out  his 
own  pathway  by  dint  of  perseverance, 
talent,  and  the  supreme  requisite  of  having 
something  to  give  the  world.  Born  April 
7,  1873,  'm  England,  his  education  was  be- 
gun in  the  English  elementary  schools  and 
later  continued  by  self-disciplinary  methods, 
intermittently  with  the  aid  of  private  tutors 
and  nearly  always  at  night  study  after 
working  hours.  Electrical  studies  and  ex- 
periments held  a  fascination  for  him  as  a 
boy.  He  was  one  who  made  electrical  ex- 
periments his  pastime  and  books  on  ele- 


mentary physics  and  electricity  his  close 
companions.  Approaching  his  sixteenth 
birthday,  he  was  in  America  and  had  a  suf- 
ficient store  of  knowledge  to  gain  admit- 
tance to  the  Edison  Machine  Works, 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  now  known  as  the 
General  Electric  Company. 

Beginning  a  service  of  nearly  six  years, 
ending  December,  1894,  the  young  engi- 
neer passed  from  one  department  to  an- 
other of  the  Schenectady  works,  testing 
and  experimenting  until  he  had  acquired 
so  thorough  an  understanding  of  the  pro- 
cesses of  manufacture  that  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  staff  of  designing  electri- 
cal engineers  on  which  he  spent  the  last 
three  years  of  his  association  with  that 
company. 

Mr.  Burke  resigned  from  his  position 
at  Schenectady  to  embark  upon  an  inde- 
pendent venture.  He  was  ready  then  to 
rely  upon  his  own  ability  as  a  consulting 
and  designing  engineer  and  so  formed  the 
partnership  of  Herrick  &  Burke  in  New 
York  City.  While  thus  engaged  in  private 
practice  he  designed  motors  and  genera- 
tors for  the  Bergman  Electrical  Company 
of  Berlin,  Germany.  His  interest  in  this 
commission  led  him,  after  three  years,  to 
dissolve  the  firm  of  Herrick  &  Burke  that 
he  might  be  free  to  go  to  Berlin,  there  to 
direct  the  manufacturing  and  engineering 
operations  of  the  aforesaid  company.  He 
remained  for  a  term  of  six  years  from 
1898  as  technical  director  and  chief  engi- 
neer of  the  Bergman  Electrical  Company. 
During  his  incumbency  the  prestige  of  that 
company  was  heightened  to  the  degree  of 
making  it  one  of  the  leading  electrical 
manufacturing  companies  of  Europe. 

Mr.  Burke's  return  to  the  United  States 
was  induced  by  motives  eventuating  in  the 
Burke  Electric  Company,  the  culmination 
to  date  of  his  accomplishments.  This  com- 
pany was  established  July,  1904,  since 
when  Mr.  Burke  has  been  its  president. 
Meanwhile  the  business  has  flourished, 
obtaining  international  recognition  for  its 
products  and  maintaining  a  steady  growth. 
The  war-time  activities  of  the  company 
were  solely  devoted  to  the  nation.  No 


642 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


fuller  measure  of  patriotic  co-operation 
could  be  offered  by  any  business  than  to 
turn  over  its  entire  facilities  to  the  Gov- 
ernment's needs.  This  the  Burke  Electric 
Company  did,  manufacturing  for  war 
purposes  a  variety  of  special  electrical 
machinery  and  apparatus,  the  precise  na- 
ture of  which  it  has  not  thus  far  been 
at  liberty  to  divulge.  The  factories  of  the 
company  are  at  Erie,  Pa.,  which  city  is 
also  Mr.  Burke's  business  and  home  ad- 
dress. The  company  has  sales  offices  in 
various  cities. 

Mr.  Burke  is  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers;  a  mem- 


ber of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanics 
Engineers,  the  American  Association  fo 
the  Advancement  of  Science,  and  the  Eng 
neers'  Club  of  New  York,  besides  locz 
Erie  societies,  including  the  University 
Erie  and  Kahkwa  clubs;  as  well  as  a  men 
ber  of  the  Standards  Committee  of  th 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineer 
and  also  of  the  United  States  Committe 
of  the  International  Electrotechnical  Corr 
mission.  In  May,  1919,  Mr.  Burke  wa 
elected  president  of  the  Electric  Powe 
Club,  which  organization  includes  in  it 
membership  the  leading  manufacturers  o 
electrical  machinery  in  the  United  States 


I.  P.  FRINK,  INC. 


The  pioneer  reflector  concern  in  this 
country,  I.  P.  Frink,  Inc.,  was  established 
by  I.  P.  Frink  in  1857,  at  551  Pearl  Street, 
New  York,  from  whence  the  Frink  daylight 
reflectors  were  introduced  and  came  into 
general  use  throughout  the  country  I.  P. 
Frink  retired  in  1881,  and  Mr.  George 
Frink  Spencer  assumed  active  control  of 
the  business  and  still  directs  its  policies. 
During  the  early  years  an  extensive  field 
was  developed  in  oil  and  gas  reflecting 
chandeliers.  Frink  reflectors  became  a 
well-known  feature  of  practically  every  im- 
portant building,  as  indicated  by  the  wide 
use  of  these  reflectors  in  the  more  than  25,- 
ooo  churches  which  were  equipped  with 
them. 

With  the  introduction  of  electricity 
Frink  reflectors  were  quickly  adapted  to  the 
changed  conditions.  About  this  time  the 
firm  of  I.  P.  Frink  became  convinced  that 
the  prevalent  method  of  lighting  store  win- 
dows was  wrong  in  principle.  The  Frink 
window  reflector  was  developed,  whereby 
the  source  of  light  was  entirely  concealed 
from  the  view  of  prospective  customers  and 
the  light  focused  on  the  goods. 

A  great  variety  of  new  inventions  in  the 
lighting  field  have  been  successfuly  oper- 
ated with  the  use  of  Frink  reflectors,  and 
special  types  of  lighting  have  been  devel- 
oped to  meet  the  peculiar  requirements  of 
practically  every  type  of  building.  Close 
attention  has  been  paid  to  the  lighting  of 
fine  paintings  and  the  illumination  of  art 
galleries.  Concealed  lighting  from  coves 
has  been  brought  to  a  high  state  of  perfec- 


tion with  the  cooperation  of  the  leadin; 
architects  and  engineers  of  the  country. 

Some  few  years  ago  Mr.  W.  H.  Spencei 
of  the  firm  of  I.  P.  Frink,  invented  a  de 
cided  improvement  in  the  lighting  equip 
ment  of  banks.  Frink  reflectors  are  no\ 
used  as  an  integral  part  of  the  cornic 
equipments  by  which  the  concealed  light  i 
evenly  diffused  over  the  counters  througl 
ground  glass  diffusing  doors.  A  complet 
line  of  double  and  single  desk  reflectors  o 
bronze  and  steel  have  been  devised  to  sui 
the  varying  conditions  of  any  bank. 

To  fully  meet  the  specific  needs  of  cov 
lighting,  show  case  lighting,  and  othe 
lighting  novelties,  such  for  example  as  thi 
Frink  Polarite  signs,  I.  P.  Frink  are  no\> 
marketing  the  well-known  Frink  Linolit 
lamp.  This  lamp  provides  a  practically 
continuous  light  source,  approaching  ; 
point  source  of  light,  which  is  of  materia 
aid  in  the  careful  design  of  reflecting  sur 
faces  so  essential  to  the  proper  action  o 
the  lamp. 

The  firm  took  possession  of  new  anc 
spacious  quarters  in  1910,  occupying  thi 
five  story  building  at  24th  Street  and  Tentl 
Avenue.  A  greater  expansion  of  busines: 
than  ever  experienced  in  any  previou: 
period  taxed  their  resources  in  the  year; 
to  follow.  In  1916  I.  P.  Frink  were  in 
corporated.  The  present  demand  for  Frinl 
reflectors  represents  in  large  part  the  cal 
for  improved  systems  of  lighting,  anc 
under  Mr.  Spencer's  leadership,  I.  P 
Frink,  Inc.,  is  one  of  the  foremost  houses 
in  its  special  field. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


643 


THE    KERITE    INSULATED   WIRE  &  CABLE  COMPANY,  INC. 


The  names  of  William  R.  Brixey  and 
his  son  Richard  D.  Brixey  are  so  closely 
connected  as  to  be  almost  synonymous  with 
the  name  of  the  company  with  which  their 
life  work  is  identified.  It  may  be  of  in- 
terest to  give  a  brief  synopsis  here  of  The 
Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company 
and  its  products.  The  company,  as  man- 
ufacturers of  insulated  wires  and  cables, 
enjoys  the  highest  reputation  for  its 
product  and  business  standing.  The  busi- 
ness is  the  oldest  and  among  the  best 
known  in  its  line  in  this  country.  Kerite  In- 
sulated wires  and  cables  have  earned  an 
unequaled  record  of  performance  in  serv- 
ice under  all  conditions. 

The  business  was  founded  and  estab- 
lished by  Austin  Goodyear  Day,  one  of 
the  pioneers  of  the  rubber  industry  in  this 
country,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century 
ago  at  Seymour,  Conn.  Mr.  Day  finding 
in  his  experience  with  rubber  that  while  it 
was  a  very  remarkable  material,  its  life 
was  limited,  and  being  by  nature  of  an  in- 
ventive turn  of  mind,  he  determined  to  try 
by  experimenting  with  different  kinds  of 
material  in  various  ways  to  develop  a  sub- 
stance or  compound  which  could  be  amal- 
gamated with  the  rubber  and  which  would 
preserve  its  life.  After  a  great  deal  of 
research  and  experiment  Mr.  Day  had  the 
good  fortune  to  succeed  beyond  even  his 
fondest  expectations.  He  developed  or 
evolved  a  combination  of  material  under  a 
special  process,  which  not  only  acted,  as  a 
preservative  of  rubber,  but  was  also  a 
remarkably  good  dielectric.  This  dis- 
covery resulted  in  his  engaging  in  the  wire 
and  cable  manufacturing  business,  using  as 
an  insulator  his  material  which  he  now 
called  "Kerite." 

During  the  Civil  War  the  plant  was 
burned,  but  was  re-built  on  the  original 
site.  Pictures  of  the  factory  existing  at  that 
time  as  compared  with  the  present  exten- 
sive plant  of  the  company  show  in  a  meas- 
ure the  expansion  which  has  taken  place. 
As  the  electrical  industry  developed,  so  the 
business  of  the  company  expanded,  partic- 
ularly in  later  periods  under  the  manage- 
ment of  William  R.  Brixey  and  then  under 
that  of  his  son,  Richard  de  Wolfe  Brixey, 


both  of  whom  brought  to  the  business  at 
the  most  opportune  time  remarkable  en- 
ergy and  intelligence  in  grasping  the  pos- 
sibilities and  getting  the  results  from  the 
application  of  Kerite  to  the  larger  and 
more  varied  uses  for  which  it  has  since 
been  adopted. 

One  of  the  earliest  uses  for  insulated 
wire  was  in  telegraph  work.  In  this  field, 
Kerite  immediately  proved  its  merit  and 
adaptability.  In  1868  Prof.  Samuel  F.  B. 
Morse  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Day  com- 
mending in  the  highest  terms  the  use  of 
Kerite  for  telegraph  work.  This  interest- 
ing letter  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Kerite 
Company  today. 

As  the  use  of  electricity  developed,  so 
the  use  of  insulated  wire  and  cable  devel- 
oped, and  while  the  developments  and  new 
inventions  have  followed  each  other  rap- 
idly, it  has  been  found  that  the  character- 
istics of  Kerite  are  such  as  to  more  than 
fully  meet  all  of  the  requirements  imposed 
by  service  conditions  in  all  kinds  of  en- 
vironment. For  this  reason  and  from  the 
fact  that  the  durability  of  Kerite  and  its 
ability  to  withstand  the  most  severe  condi- 
tions met  in  all  kinds  of  service,  has  been 
so  fully  demonstrated,  the  company  has 
pursued  the  policy  of  making  nothing  but 
Kerite  insulation,  feeling  that  in  offering 
a  product  which  has  been  proved  in  serv- 
ice and  which  has  behind  it  the  record  of 
over  half  a  century  it  is  not  only  offering 
the  electrical  industry  something  of  known 
reliability,  but  is  also,  at  the  same  time  pro- 
tecting its  own  interests  in  so  doing  rather 
than  attempting  to  sell  a  new  product 
which  has  no  actual  proof  of  service  to 
verify  its  use. 

Kerite  is  today  regarded  as  the  last  word 
in  insulation  and  is  used  in  all  kinds  of 
service  where  reliability  and  permanency 
are  required.  The  Kerite  Company  has  the 
unique  distinction  of  having  consistently 
followed  the  practice  of  manufacturing 
nothing  but  Kerite  and  selling  it  as  such, 
and  has  refused  to  alter  its  product  in  order 
to  meet  the  varying  specifications  which  are 
drawn  from  time  to  time,  feeling  that  it 
can  in  the  long  run  safely  depend  on  the 
inherent  merits  of  this  product.  The  Kerite 


644 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Company  has  records  of  cable  still  in  serv- 
ice which  date  as  far  back  as  1875.  It  has 
wire  and  cable  in  service  from  the  Atlan- 
tic to  the  Andes  Mountains  under  every 
conceivable  condition.  While  the  cost  of 
the  Kerite  product  is  considerably  higher 


than  others,  it  is  in  no  sense  a  competitively 
priced  article.  The  constantly  increasing 
demand  for  Kerite  insulated  wires  and 
cables  is  the  best  measure  of  the  value  of 
the  product  and  of  the  policy  of  The  Kerite 
Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Co. 


WILLIAM  RICHARD  BRIXEY 


The  arteries  of  electrical  installations 
are  the  wires  over  which  flow  the  current. 
In  this  connection,  the  subject  of  insulation 
becomes  of  great  importance  and  the  prog- 
ress in  electrical  industries  has  been  due  in 
no  small  measure  to  the  high  degree  of  per- 
fection attained  in  the  related  industry  of 
the  manufacture  of  insulated  wires  and 
cables.  No  more  important  steps  have  been 
taken  in  that  direction  than  those  which 
resulted  from  the  invention  by  the  late  Mr. 
A.  G.  Day  of  the  substance  known  as 
"Kerite."  Mr.  Day  who  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  the  American  rubber  -industry 
had  been  much  impressed  by  the  need  for 
an  insulating  material  combining  efficiency 
with  reliability  and  permanency,  and  after 
painstaking  experiments  his  efforts  were 
rewarded  by  the  qualities  he  combined  in  a 
material  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
"Kerite."  It  soon  became  widely  used  as  a 
standard  insulation,  and  was  in  fact  used 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  term  "Kerite" 
was  admitted  to  the  dictionaries  as  a  tech- 
nical name  for  an  insulated  wire.  Mr.  Day 
established  his  original  plant  at  Seymour, 
Conn.,  in  1850.  In  the  development  of  the 
Kerite  industry  to  a  position  of  command- 
ing influence  in  its  branch  of  usefulness,  a 
most  important  event  was  the  entry  into 
the  business  of  Mr.  William  Richard 
Brixey.  His  sister  had  married  Mr.  Day, 
and  Mr.  Brixey  after  having  joined  Mr. 
Day  in  the  business  devoted  his  attention 
to  the  promotion  of  its  prestige  and  trade, 
and  in  course  of  time,  owing  to  his  force 
and  sagacity,  became  the  ruling  genius  of 
its  later  growth  and  the  leading  figure  in 
the  manufacture  of  insulated  wires  and 
cables  in  the  country.  Electrical  men  will 
be  interested  in  reading  something  of  the 
personal  career  of  this  man  who  so  im- 
pressed himself  upon  the  industry. 

Mr.  William  Richard  Brixey  was  born 
in  Southampton,  England,  May  n,  1851. 
He  was  educated  in  one  of  the  best  known 


grammar  schools  in  that  country,  and,  con- 
ceiving a  liking  for  sea  life,  he  entered  the 
British  Mercantile  Marine  Service,  becom- 
ing commander  of  his  own  ship,  trading 
with  all  parts  of  the  world,  around  which 
he  sailed  several  times,  gaining  valuable 
experience  and  an  outlook  broadened  by 
extensive  travel.  He  came  to  this  country 
in  1876,  and  determining  to  make  the 
United  States  his  permanent  home,  became 
a  citizen  of  this  country.  Upon  becoming 
associated  with  Mr.  Day,  he  made  an  ex- 
tensive study  of  the  subject  of  insulated 
wire  and  cable  for  electrical  transmission 
and  was  soon  the  manager  of  the  plant  at 
Seymour.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Day,  he 
became  the  general  manager  of  the  entire 
business,  and  when  his  sister,  Mrs.  Day, 
died,  he  became  its  sole  proprietor.  Mr. 
Brixey  kept  in  close  touch  with  the  wonder- 
ful progress  of  electrical  science  and  as  its 
applications  became  more  varied,  the  num- 
ber of  uses  for  insulated  wire  and  cable  in- 
creased, and  Mr.  Brixey  continued  to  add 
to  the  users  of  Kerite,  through  customers 
engaged  in  the  various  branches  of  electri- 
cal service. 

Mr.  Brixey  suffered  a  serious  injury  as 
a  result  of  the  subway  explosion  at  Mur- 
ray Hill,  New  York  City,  in  1902.  The 
injury  arose  from  glass  blown  into  his 
room  in  the  adjacent  hotel,  and  he  was  dis- 
abled for  a  considerable  time,  only  his 
wonderful  constitution  saving  him  from  a 
fatal  result. 

Mr.  Brixey  was  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers.  He 
was  for  many  years  a  captain  of  the  Old 
Guard  of  the  City  of  New  York  and  was  a 
high  degree  Mason. 

Mr.  Brixey  married,  in  1879,  Miss 
Frances  N.  de  Wolfe  who  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Alva  G.  de  Wolfe,  who  was  associ- 
ated with  Mr.  Day,  and  aided  him  in  the 
perfection  of  manufacturing  processes. 
Mrs.  Brixey  died  in  1909.  Mr.  Brixey 


WILLIAM      R.  BRIXEY 
(DECEASED) 


RICHARD     D.    BRIX  E  Y 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


645 


died  June  15,  1911,  being  survived  by  his 
three  sons,  Richard  de  Wolfe  Brixey,  Reg- 
inald Waldo  Brixey  and  Austin  Day 
Brixey. 

In  1908  Mr.  Brixey  incorporated  the 
business  under  its  present  title  of  The 
Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Company, 
and  soon  afterward  retired,  leaving  the 
business  to  the  management  of  his  eldest 
son,  Richard  de  Wolfe  Brixey,  who  has 
since  been  president  of  the  company. 


Mr.  Brixey  had  a  very  wide  acquaint- 
ance in  the  electrical  field  where  he  was 
highly  esteemed,  not  only  for  his  achieve- 
ments in  the  development  and  improvement 
of  manufacturing  processes,  but  also  for 
the  sterling  personal  qualities  which  made 
him  respected  of  all  men.  His  memory 
lives  as  that  of  a  foremost  figure  in  the 
building  up  of  the  great  electrical  industry 
and  in  the  training  of  his  son  for  the  fur- 
ther efficient  development  of  the  business. 


RICHARD  DE  WOLFE  BRIXEY 


Richard  de  Wolfe  Brixey,  President  of 
The  Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Com- 
pany, was  born  in  Seymour,  Conn.,  on 
September  22,  1880.  His  early  life  was 
spent  in  that  town  where  the  large  plant 
of  the  company  is  located.  As  a  boy  he 
was  deeply  interested  in  the  manufactur- 
ing end  of  the  business  and  under  his 
father's  guidance  spent  a  large  part  of  his 
spare  time  in  the  plant  watching  the  man- 
ufacture of  the  wires  and  cables  and  learn- 
ing to  know  the  different  machines  and 
their  processes.  From  his  earliest  boyhood 
he  was  always  ambitious  to  follow  in  his 
father's  footsteps  and  succeed  him  in  the 
business.  He  attended  the  public  schools 
of  Seymour  from  which  he  graduated  with 
high  honors  at  the  head  of  his  class.  After 
graduating  from  high  school,  Mr.  Brixey 
entered  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of 
Yale  University  where  he  made  a  specialty 
of  studies  which  would  be  of  assistance  to 
him  in  his  life  work.  He  -graduated  in 
1902  with  the  degree  of  Ph.B.  After  his 
graduation  he  entered  the  works  at  Sey- 
mour. While  he  already  had  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  practical  end  of  the  busi- 
ness, having  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in 
the  plant,  it  was  his  earnest  desire  to  be 
absolutely  familiar  with  every  detail  of  the 
business,  and  he  entered  the  works  as  an 
ordinary  laborer,  in  order  to  work  up  from 
that  point.  After  he  had  mastered  all  the 
details  of  manufacturing  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  head  office  at  New  York 
where  he  proceeded  to  add  to  his  practical 
knowledge  an  understanding  of  the  execu- 
tive end  of  the  business.  In  the  New  York 
office  he  went  through  all  the  branches  in 


the  same  way  he  had  at  the  plant  in  order 
to  perfect  himself  as  fully  as  possible  for 
the  firral  management  of  the  business  and  it 
was  not  long  before  he  was  made  general 
manager.  When  his  father  retired  he  be- 
came the  head  of  the  business,  and  due  to 
the  careful  training  he  had  undergone,  and 
his  natural  aptitude,  even  though  a  very 
young  man  to  have  such  a  responsibility 
placed  upon  him,  he  was  able  to  fill  the 
position  in  a  most  acceptable  manner. 

Under  Mr.  Brixey's  direction  the  busi- 
ness has  rapidly  expanded.  He  has  brought 
to  its  management  not  only  the  most  com- 
plete technical  knowledge  of  the  manufac- 
turing and  scientific  details,  but  adminis- 
trative and  executive  ability  of  a  singularly 
high  order.  Through  his  efforts  the  com- 
pany has  achieved  a  position  representa- 
tive of  the  highest  in  the  industry.  Mr. 
Brixey,  however,  personally  disclaims  any 
credit  for  the  remarkable  growth  of  his 
company  and  maintains  that  it  is  due  en- 
tirely to  the  extraordinary  characteristics 
and  merits  of  Kerite,  demonstrated  in 
actual  service. 

Mr.  Brixey  married  in  Jersey  City 
Heights,  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  in  November, 
1905,  Bertha  Marguerite  Anness  and  has 
one  daughter,  Doris  Marguerite. 

Mr.  Brixey  is  a  member  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club,'  Yale  Club,  Sleepy  Hollow 
Country  Club,  Essex  County  Country  Club, 
The  Pilgrims'  Society,  Electrical  Manu- 
facturers' Club,  Railroad  Club,  Machinery 
Club,  and  the  Quinnipiack  Club  of  New 
Haven.  He  is  a  member  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  American 


646 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Chemical  Society,  the  American  Society  for 
Testing  Materials,  the  Associated  Manu- 
facturers of  Electrical  Supplies,  the  Rail- 
way Signal  Association,  the  American  Elec- 
tric Railway  Association,  the  Association 
of  Railway  Telegraph  Superintendents 
and  the  Morse  Electric  Club. 

In  1900  Mr.  Brixey  took  advantage  of 
an  opportunity  to  obtain  experience  in  the 
laying  of  submarine  cables  and  went  as 
part  of  an  expedition  to  lay  a  cable  in 
Alaska.  He  not  only  gained  experience  in 
the  handling  and  laying  of  submarine 
cables,  but  also  had  an  experience  in  the 
form  of  a  shipwreck,  which  was  not  a  part 
of  the  original  schedule,  when  the  ship, 
during  the  course  of  laying  the  cable,  ran 


on  to  an  uncharterea  reef  about  which 
nothing  was  known  until  the  cable  ship 
located  it,  resulting  in  the  loss  of  the  ship. 
The  cable  was  salvaged  and  was  after- 
wards laid.  The  unique  part  of  the  ship- 
wreck lay  in  the  fact  that  when  the  ship 
ran  aground  assistance  was  called  for 
through  the  cable  which  had  already  been 
laid  and  boats  were  sent  out  and  arrived 
in  time  to  save  every  one  on  board. 

In  1904  Mr.  Brixey  went  to  Europe  to 
investigate  the  manufacture  of  wires  and 
cables  developed  there. 

Mr.  Brixey  is  recognized  as  a  man  of 
keen  judgment  and  is  an  example  of  the 
highest  type  of  American  business  man  in 
all  that  the  term  implies. 


ARTHUR  B.  STITZER 


The  Union  Traction  Company,  of  Phila- 
delphia engaged  Arthur  B.  Stitzer  as  drafts- 
man July  5,  1899.  Four  years  later  he 
was  electrical  engineer  in  charge  of  the 
design,  construction  and  erection  of  the 


ARTHUR  B.  STITZER 


machinery  and  equipment  used  by  the 
company  for  the  generation  and  utilization 
of  electricity,  being  eleven  years  in  the 
company's  service. 

Mr.  Stitzer  was  born  July  20,  1877,  at 
Hackettstown,  New  Jersey.  He  won  the 
city  scholarship  in  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, graduating  in  1899  with  the  de- 
gree of  bachelor  of  science,  and  taking  the 
degree  of  electrical  engineer  in  June,  1909, 
from  that  institution. 

Mr.  Stitzer  participated  in  important 
projects  as  electrical  engineer  with  the 
firm  of  Ford,  Bacon  and  Davis.  Since 
then  he  has  become  chief  engineer  for  the 
Republic  Railway  &  Light  Company  and 
also  for  the  Republic  Engineers,  Inc.,  two 
enterprises  administered  from  60  Broad- 
way, which  is  the  center  of  the  Harrison 
Williams  interests. 

Being  a  fellow  of  the  American  Insti- 
tute of  Electrical  Engineers,  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the 
Franklin  Institute,  the  Engineers'  Club  of 
Philadelphia  and  the  American  Electric 
Railway  Association,  Mr.  Stitzer  is  fa- 
miliarly known  in  technical  cirles. 


BANCROFT     GHERARDI 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


647 


BANCROFT  GHERARDI 


The  appointment  of  Bancroft  Gherardi 
to  the  post  of  chief  engineer  of  the  Ameri- 
can Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company, 
July  i,  1919,  only  emphasizes  the  recogni- 
tion accorded  him  by  all  members  of  the 
telephonic  fraternity. 

It  was  in  the  office  of  John  J.  Carty,  who 
was  then,  in  February,  1895,  engineer  of 
the  Metroplitan  Telephone  &  Telegraph 
Company,  the  predecessor  of  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company,  that  the  youth- 
ful Gherardi  took  up  the  first  of  the  un- 
broken sequence  of  telephone  engineering 
tasks  that  have  since  marked  his  advance- 
ment in  the  profession.  Prior  records 
state  that  he  was  born  at  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  April  6,  1873;  was  graduated  from 
the  Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  with  the  degree  of  B.S.,  in  1891; 
and  went  to  Cornell  University,  where 
he  specialized  in  mechanical  and  electrical 
engineering,  was  a  Chi  Psi  Fraternity  man, 
took  Sigma  Xi  honors,  and  received  the 
M.E.  degree  in  1893  and  the  M.M.E.  de- 
gree in  1894. 

Inspecting  and  testing  cables  was  Gher- 
ardi's  initiatory  duty  under  the  tutelage  of 
Mr.  Carty,  who  in  due  course  placed  him 
in  charge  of  the  material  inspection  work 
of  the  company,  which  was  followed  by  a 
greater  commission,  no  less  than  the  super- 
vising of  a  fundamental  plan  for  100,000 
lines  within  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx. 
The  traffic  department  of  the  New  York 
Telephone  Company,  in  1900,  next  claimed 
the  services  of  Mr.  Gherardi,  and  under 
his  direction  and  that  of  Mr.  Carty  was 
created  the  first  traffic  engineering  depart- 
ment in  existence.  In  1901  Mr.  Gherardi 
became  chief  engineer  of  the  New  York 
&  New  Jersey  Telephone  Company,  which, 
though  operating  independently,  was  of 
necessity  closely  allied  with  the  New  York 
organization.  He  prepared  fundamental 
plans  for  Brooklyn  and  other  cities  in  the 
company's  territory.  Ensuing  events  in 
his  administration  were  the  conversion  of 
the  plant  to  a  common  battery  basis,  and, 
loading  having  been  invented,  the  placing 
of  a  loaded  cable  between  New  York  and 
Newark,  which  was  the  first  commercial 
application  of  cable-loading  to  a  telephone 


plant.  The  two  companies  mentioned  were 
consolidated  in  March,  1906,  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  New  Jersey  Company  be- 
coming assistant  chief  engineer  of  the  com- 
bined forces,  and  again  acting  under  his 
former  mentor,  Mr.  Carty. 

When  Theodore  N.  Vail  became  presi- 
dent of  the  American  Telephone  &  Tele- 
graph Company  in  1907,  Mr.  Carty  was 
made  chief  engineer  and  concordantly  Mr. 
Gherardi  was  appointed  equipment  engi- 
neer, later,  in  1909,  taking  the  post  of 
plant  engineer  in  charge  of  plant  develop- 
ment and  standardizing  for  the  Bell  Sys- 
tem. For  the  year  preceding  July  i,  1919, 
he  was  acting  chief  engineer  of  the  com- 
pany. 

The  mere  recital  of  Mr.  Gherardi's 
official  capacities  gives  no  more  than  an 
inkling  of  the  consequential  movements  in 
which  he  was  concerned.  Among  these 
were  the  subway  and  cable  construction 
from  Boston  to  Washington,  lines  from 
New  York  to  Denver,  the  transcontinental 
line,  and,  in  1916,  the  wireless  telephone 
demonstrations  of  the  American  Tele- 
phone &  Telegraph  Company,  including 
transatlantic  wireless  from  Washington  to 
Paris,  and  wireless  from  Washington  to 
Hawaii.  Mr.  Gherardi  performed  impor- 
tant confidential  work  for  the  Government 
during  the  war. 

The  present  Bancroft  Gherardi  is  the 
second  of  that  name  distinguished  in  the 
history  of  telegraphy.  His  father,  Rear 
Admiral  Bancroft  Gherardi,  U.  S.  N.,  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  laying  of  the  first 
transatlantic  cable.  The  son  is  a  great- 
nephew  of  the  late  George  Bancroft,  the 
noted  historian  and  former  Secretary  of 
the  Navy. 

Mr.  Gherardi  is  an  honored  member  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, having  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Institute  and  as 
vice-president.  He  has  been  president  of 
the  Telephone  Society  of  New  York. 
Other  affiliations  are  with  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the 
Franklin  Institute,  and  the  New  York 


648 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Electrical  Society.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
University,  Engineers',  and  Machinery 
Clubs,  of  New  York;  the  Baltusrol  Golf 
Club,  Short  Hills  Club,  and  Bay  Head 
Yacht  Club. 


Mr.  Gherardi  married  Miss  Mary 
Hornblower  Butler  in  June,  1898.  During 
the  winter  they  reside  at  Short  Hills,  N.  J., 
and  have  a  summer  home  at  Bay  Head, 
N.  J. 


ALLAN  COGGESHALL 


The  distinguishing  mark  of  Allan  Cog- 
geshall's  work  in  electrical  engineering  has 
been  his  effectual  meeting  of  conditions 
imposed  by  the  advancing  standards  of 
electrical  contracting,  particularly  respect- 
ing the  application  of  electricity  to  indus- 


ALLAN   COGGESHALL 

trial  plants.  The  origination  of  various 
forms  of  flexible  distributing  systems  in 
manufacturing  plants,  the  maintenance  of 
operating  systems  in  them,  together  with 
educational  developments  within  the  pro- 
fession, have  been  subjects  of  engrossing 
study  during  his  incumbency, of  influential 
positions  in  this  field.  The  brief  notations 
following  herewith  are  in  themselves  an 


indication  of  such  variety  of  interest  and 
of  an  unusual  degree  of  versatility. 

Mr.  Coggeshall  had  ancestral  prece- 
dents for  his  choice  of  a  vocation.  On  his 
mother's  side  the  families  of  Bancroft  and 
Sellers  followed  mechanical  and  electrical 
pursuits  for  generations  back.  October 
12,  1 88 1,  at  Orange,  New  Jersey,  Allan 
Coggeshall  was  born.  Preparatory  stud- 
ies at  Carteret  Academy  and  electrical 
engineering  courses  at  Columbia  Univer- 
sity made  up  the  sum  of  his  academic  edu- 
cation. He  was  graduated  from  the  lat- 
ter in  1903  with  an  E.E.  degree. 

The  New  York  Navy  Yard  formerly 
had  what  was  called  the  equipment  depart- 
ment, which  inspected  and  tested  all  elec- 
trical material  and  apparatus  to  be  used  on 
shipboard.  Fresh  from  the  class  room,  Mr. 
Coggeshall  obtained  two  years'  experience, 
1903-1904,  as  a  sub-inspector.  The  Ohio 
State  University  then  engaged  him  for 
assistant  professor  of  electrical  engineer- 
ing— an  evidence  of  his  recognized  capa- 
bility in  the  science — and  there  he  spent 
the  next  three  years.  He  returned  to  New 
York  in  1907  to  join  the  staff  of  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company,  being  for  two 
years  thereafter  connected  with  the  plant 
department  of  the  Long  Island  division. 
The  electrical  contracting  firm  of  L.  K. 
Comstock  &  Company  drew  him  into  their 
service  for  the  period  of  1909  to  1916. 

In  1917  Mr.  Coggeshall  became  identi- 
fied with  Hatzel  &  Buehler,  Inc.,  electrical 
contractors,  of  which  he  is  now  vice-presi- 
dent and  a  director.  His  offices  are  with 
the  firm  at  373  Fourth  Avenue,  New 
York  City.  Mr.  Coggeshall  is  an  associate 
of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  En- 
gineers and  a  member  of  the  Phi  Gamma 
Delta  Club  of  New  York,  and  the  Univer- 
sity Club  of  Bridgeport. 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 
PAGE    STEEL   AND  WIRE   COMPANY 


649 


Plant  of  the  Page  Steel  and  Wire;  Company,  Monesscn,  Pa. 


Among  the  pioneer  industrial  firms  of 
the  United  States,  the  Page  Steel  and  Wire 
Company  has  earned  a  notable  and  enviable 
position.  Founded  at  Adrian,  Michigan, 
in  1883,  it  originated  the  manufacture  of 
woven  wire  fencing  and  by  persistent  re- 
search, experiment,  and  development  of 
new  processes,  established  itself  firmly 
among  America's  leading  manufacturers  of 
the  highest  grade  wire  products. 

The  continuous  growth  of  the  business 
in  its  earlier  years  made  necessary  the 
erection  of  new  and  large  steel  and  wire 
mills.  In  1899,  open  hearth  furnaces,  to- 
gether with  mills  and  laboratories  of  the 
most  modern  design  and  equipment,  were 
built  at  Monessen,  Pa. 

The  policy  of  the  firm  has  been  "quality 
first,"  and  the  chemical  and  physical  labora- 
tories were  made  scientifically  perfect  so  as 
to  insure  steady  improvement  and  the  out- 
put of  the  best  wire  possible  at  the  time  of 
manufacture. 

The  company  is  now  manufacturing  high 
carbon  rope  wire,  spring  wire,  and  other 
high  grade  wire  made  from  steel  of  certain 
and  special  analyses.  A  new  and  specially 
equipped  plant  is  devoted  exclusively  to 
drawing  Aristos  "Copperweld"  copper  clad 
steel  wire  under  a  distinctive  process  which 
firmly  unites  the  copped  coating  with  the 
steel  core. 


Another  product  which  has  brought- the 
firm  commercial  success  is  Armco  (Ameri- 
can Ingot)  iron  wire.  This  is  one  of 
America's  war-time  industrial  triumphs. 
Previous  to  the  commencement  of  hostili- 
ties in  1914  the  United  States  imported 
from  Europe  most  of  the  materials  for 
welding  the  mild  steel  and  wrought  iron  re- 
quired in  wire  making,  but  when  supplies 
were  no  longer  forthcoming  the  Page  Steel 
and  Wire  Company  undertook  the  produc- 
tion of  suitable  American-made  welding 
rods.  The  result  has  been  remarkable,  and 
all  tests  and  applications  prove  that  the  la- 
bors of  the  firm's  metallurgists  and  labora- 
tory specialists  have  developed  a  welding 
material  which  in  toughness,  density, 
homogeneity,  and  in  freedom  from  segre- 
gated impurities  and  occluded  gases,  is  su- 
perior to  anything  ever  imported.  Armco 
iron  welding  rods  have  been  standardized 
in  a  single  composition  in  two  tempers, 
one  for  oxy-acetylene  and  the  other  for 
electric  welding,  and  this  standard  compo- 
sition does  all  the  work  —  with  better  re- 
sults— that  heretofore  has  required  a 
choice  of  one  from  many  compositions. 

In  addition  to  the  plant  at  Monessen, 
Pa.,  the  Page  Steel  and  Wire  Company  has 
one  at  Adrian,  Mich.  The  domestic  and 
export  sales  offices  are  at  30  Church  Street, 
New  York  City. 


650 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


J.   HENRY  HALLBERG 


There  are  those  who  inherit,  those  who 
achieve,  and  those  to  whom  is  added  suc- 
cess in  the  electrical  profession,  to  para- 
phrase the  familiar  saying.  J.  Henry 
Hallberg  may  have  inherited  the  inclina- 
tion, but  he  achieved  for  himself  a  very  un- 
common mastery  of  practically  applied 
electricity.  He  is  a  business  man  who  has 
looked  into  the  electrical  needs  of  ordi- 
nary, popular  and  commercial  pursuits  and 
has  supplied  economical,  practical  devices 
to  meet  them. 

Mr.  Hallberg's  relation  to  the  motion 
picture  theater  and  its  promoters,  while  his 
energies  have  not  at  all  been  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  this  industry,  is  illustrative  of 
results  he  has  secured.  By  means  of  a  se- 
ries of  well-timed  inventions  applicable  to 
the  equipment  of  motion  picture  houses 
and  the  projection  of  pictures,  his  name 
has  gained  high  repute  in  the  motion  pic- 
ture industry. 

The  birthplace   of   Mr.   Hallberg  was 
Falkenberg,  Sweden,  where  he  was  chris- 
tened Josef  Henrik  Hallberg  in  the  year 
of  1874.    The  Latin-Laroverket  at  Halm- 
sted,     Sweden, — the     equivalent     of     the 
American  advanced  high  school  or  college 
— graduated    him    in    1890,    with    which 
preparation    he    embarked    for    America, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home.     One 
phase  of  his  later  career  is  seen  in  the  list 
of  his  thirty-one  patents.     There  are  five 
patents  taken  out  on  enclosed  arc  lamp  de- 
signs;   seven   on   constant   current   A.    C. 
regulators  for  street  lighting;  one  on  an 
eddy  current  electric  water  and  air  heater; 
five  on  a  system  of  electric  distribution  for 
railway  and  light  plants ;  three  on  a  single 
to   polyphase    railway   system;    one    on   a 
carbon  brush  contact  device;  six  on  flaming 
arc  lamps;  one  on  an  instantaneous  elec- 
tric water  heater;   one   on   an   automatic 
cut-out     for     series     incandescent     street 
lamps;  and  one  on  a  system  of  electric  dis- 
tribution for  projector  arc  lighting.     Some 
of  the  earlier  inventions  have  outlived  their 
day,  while  others  have  not  been  favored  by 
the  circumstances  and  conditions  necessary 
to  commercial  production.     The  single  to 
polyphase    railway   system,    for    instance, 
failed  of  materialization  for  no  inherent 


lack,  but  because  its  adoption  would  have 
meant  a  physical  reorganization  of  all 
roads  upon  which  it  might  have  been  used. 
Approved  by  electrical  authorities  and  rail- 
way experts,  and  possessing  superior  ad- 
vantages of  economy  and  simplicity  of  op- 
eration, it  still  awaits  employment.  But 
other  of  the  enumerated  inventions  are  the 
basis  of  a  thriving  industry.  Of  them 
more  is  to  be  said. 

The  biographical  data  on  the  life  of  Mr. 
Hallberg  discloses  a  climb  upward  from 
the  uninspiring  level  of  a  trade  apprentice. 
Beginning  on  the  date  of  his  arrival  in 
America,  he  worked  with  a  single-minded 
purpose.  The  first  three  years  were  spent 
in  the  Ottumwa  Iron  Works,  at  Ottumwa, 
Iowa,  gleaning  experience  on  the  construc- 
tion and  operation  of  steam  engines  and 
coal  mining  and  hoisting  machinery.  A 
brief  connection  with  Kohler  Brothers, 
contracting  engineers,  of  Chicago,  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  position  of  sales  engineer 
with  the  Electric  Appliance  Company  of 
Chicago,  after  which  ensued  a  three-year 
term  ending  in  1899  as  electrical  engineer 
and  designer  for  the  Standard  Thermome- 
ter &  Electric  Company  of  Peabody,  Mass. 

Between  1899  and  1903  Mr.  Hallberg 
began  to  attain  increased  prominence.  He 
was  then  a  designer  and  engineer  with  the 
General  Incandescent  Arc  Light  Company, 
New  York,  developing  a  complete  assort- 
ment of  enclosed  arc  lamps,  alternating- 
current  regulators,  automatic  transform- 
ers, switchboards,  and  protecting  devices. 
Thereafter  street  lighting  systems  became 
a  specialization  in  which  he  accomplished 
works  of  note.  The  greatest  arc  lighting 
installation  of  its  time,  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
was  made  under  his  supervision.  Mr. 
Hallberg  was  appointed  general  superin- 
tendent and  electrical  engineer  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati Gas  &  Electric  Company  in  1903. 

After  1904  Mr.  Hallberg  had  his  own 
office  in  New  York  City,  where  he  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  a  consulting  engineer. 
His  clients  numbered  firms  of  such  rank  as 
the  Atlantic  Mills,  of  Providence,  R.  I.; 
A.  D.  Juilliard  &  Co.,  New  York;  the 
Standard  Silk  Company,  Phillipsburg, 
N.  J. ;  the  Stanley  G.  I.  Electric  Manu- 


J.   HENRY  HALLBERG 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


65 1 


facturing  Company,  Pittsfield,  Mass. ;  and 
the  Jacob  Ruppert  Brewing  Co.,  New 
York.  He  was  at  one  time  a  consulting 
and  advisory  engineer  to  the  Commission 
on  Municipal  Electric  Lighting  of  New 
York  City,  and  he  served  the  National 
Carbon  Company,  Cleveland,  O.,  as  con- 
sulting expert  in  matters  pertaining  to  car- 
bon for  electrical  purposes. 

Mr.  Hallberg's  advent  into  the  motion 
picture  business  came  about  as  a  result  of 
his  interest  in  the  improvement  of  motion 
picture  projection  and  the  electrical  equip- 
ment of  theatres.  His  electrical  "Econo- 
mizer," flaming  arc  lamps,  special  termi- 
nals, and  connectors,  for  use  in  the 
picture  houses,  drew  him  gradually  into 
closer  association  with  the  manufacturers 
and  consumers  of  this  kind  of  equipment. 

Principal  among  the  interests  with 
which  Mr.  Hallberg  has  been  identified 
since  1914  is  the  United  Theatre  Equip- 
ment Corporation,  of  which  he  is  vice- 
president,  engineer,  and  director.  They 
are  the  world's  largest  distributors  of  elec- 
trical equipments  and  supplies  for  motion 
picture  theatres  and  for  motion  picture 
production  and  exhibition  purposes  in  gen- 
eral. Eleven  branch  stores  serve  all  the 
centres  of  population  throughout  the  coun- 
try. 

The  Standard  Slide  Corporation,  of 
which  Mr.  Hallberg  is  vice-president  and 
a  director,  is  a  consolidation  of  the  for- 
merly leading  individual  firms  in  the  slide 
trade,  the  merger  constituting  the  greatest 
existing  manufacturing  unit  of  its  type, 
with  a  production  of  fifteen  thousand 
slides  a  day,  for  educational,  commercial, 
and  motion  picture  trade  purposes.  As 
vice-president  and  director  of  the  Kansas 
City  Machine  &  Supply  Company,  Inc., 
Mr.  Hallberg  assists  in  the  direction  of  the 
second  largest  distributing  agency  for  elec- 
trical and  motion  picture  equipments  and 
supplies,  and  whose  activities  are  conducted 
in  the  middle  and  western  states.  He  oc- 
cupies similar  positions  in  the  Feature  Film 
and  Calcium  Light  Company  of  Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 

Mr.  Hallberg  has  succeeded  in  develop- 
ing and  popularizing  several  ingenious 
electrical  mechanisms  that  have  carried  his 
name  over  the  world.  One  is  the  Hallberg 
motor  generator  for  all  cycles,  which 


changes  alternating  to  direct  current  with- 
out rheostat  for  the  arc.  It  is  the  pioneer 
generator  for  its  purpose  and  combines 
many  heretofore  unknown  advantages,  in- 
cluding the  ability  to  deliver  the  maximum 
ampere  output  of  the  generator  to  either 
one  of  the  arcs.  The  Hallberg  D.  C.  to 
D.  C.  motor  generator  has  also  done  away 
with  the  rheostat  and  has  permitted  im- 
proved projection  with  a  30%  to  80%  re- 
duction of  electric  current  consumption. 

Another  Hallberg  invention  called  the 
"4  in  one"  automatic  regulator  is  a  boon 
to  the  motion  picture  operator.  It  is  a 
regulator  for  the  control  of  25  to  30  volt 
mazda  motion  picture  projector  lamps  of 
600-750  and  900  watts,  is  unique  in  being 
the  first  and  only  regulator  offered  to  the 
trade,  and  consists  of  a  transformer  with 
absolutely  separate  line  and  lamp  coils. 
The  Hallberg  electric  economizer  controls 
a  carbon  arc  on  alternating  current  no  or 
220  volts,  takes  the  place  of  a  rheostat, 
saves  66%  on  110  volts,  82%  on  220 
volts,  and  improves  the  light  at  least  $0%. 
The  Hallberg  portable  projector  for  mo- 
tion pictures  is  a  wonder  of  compactness 
and  efficiency.  It  weighs  only  twenty-two 
pounds,  yet  is  thoroughly  practical  for 
either  professional,  commercial,  or  ama- 
teur usage.  Portable  and  stationary  elec- 
tric light  plants,  the  Hallberg  "Inca 
Light"  system,  and  sundry  minor  contriv- 
ances, complete  Hallberg's  prolific  contri- 
butions to  picturedom. 

The  inventor's  writings  have  been  on  a 
par  of  usefulness  with  his  other  work.  Be- 
sides technical  papers  and  articles,  he  is 
the  author  of  a  comprehensive  working 
treatise,  "Motion  Picture  Electricity." 
He  was  intrusted  with  the  writing  of  the 
chapter  on  "Arc  Lamps  and  Arc  Light- 
ing" in  "Foster's  Electrical  Engineer's 
Pocket-Book";  and  he  has  frequently  lec- 
tured on  electrical  subjects  at  Columbia 
University. 

Mr.  Hallberg  is  vice-president  and  di- 
rector of  the  National  Association  of  the 
Motion  Picture  Industry,  an  associate  of 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers, and  a  member  of  the  National  Elec- 
tric Light  Association,  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Manufacturers,  New  York;  the 
Society  of  Motion  Picture  Engineers,  arid 
the  Swedish  Engineers'  Club  of  America. 


652 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


He  was  a  member  of  the  War  Coopera- 
tion Committee  of  the  Aircraft  Division  of 
the  War  Industries  Board,  and  technical 
director  on  the  Fuel  Conservation  Com- 
mittee of  the  National  Association  of  the 
Motion  Picture  Industry. 

In  off  hours  Mr.  Hallberg  indulges  in 
photography,  in  which  he  has  more  than 


amateur  skill.  A  yachtsman,  too,  he  be- 
longs to  the  Columbia  and  New  Rochelle 
Yacht  Clubs. 

Mr.  Hallberg's  New  York  City  offices 
are  with  the  United  Theatre  Equipment 
Corporation  at  1604  Broadway.  His  per- 
sonal address  is  445  Riverside  Drive,  New 
York. 


GEORGE   I.    RHODES 


George  I.  Rhodes,  manager  of  the  en- 
gineering department  of  Ford,  Bacon  & 
Davis,  New  York,  commands  a  position 
of  respect  and  consequence  in  metropolitan 
engineering  circles  by  reason  of  both  per- 
sonal and  professional  qualities.  His 
association  with  Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis  in 
itself  brings  him  within  the  sphere  of  ad- 
vanced engineering  practice,  and  in  the 
American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers 
and  elsewhere  he  is  well  known  to  the  fra- 
ternity. 

Mr.  Rhodes  is  a  New  Englander.  He 
was  born  at  Andover,  Massachusetts,  No- 
vember 27,  1883.  Very  natural  was  it 
that,  having  the  inclination  toward  scien- 
tific studies,  he  should  have  sought  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology, 
where  he  was  graduated  in  1905. 


The  first  working  connection  that  Mr. 
Rhodes  formed  was  fortunately  in  a  place 
of  opportunity  with  the  Interboro  Rapid 
Transit  Company  of  New  York,  which  en- 
gaged him  as  an  electrical  engineer  in  the 
motive  power  department,  where  he  was 
under  the  superintendent,  the  late  eminent 
engineer  Mr.  H.  G.  Stott.  Between  this 
experience  and  his  alliance  with  Ford, 
Bacon  &  Davis,  Mr.  Rhodes  held  only  one 
post,  that  of  consulting  engineer  to  the 
firm  of  White,  Weld  &  Company  at  the 
Boston  branch  under  the  direction  of 
Philip  Cabot. 

Mr.  Rhodes  makes  his  home  at  Glen 
Ridge,  N.  J.  His  offices  are  at  1 15  Broad- 
way, New  York. 


THE  NATIONAL  DISTRICT  HEATING  ASSOCIATION 
A   Brief   Review   of   an  Organization   of   Merit. 


The  National  District  Heating  Associa- 
tion, which  is  closely  allied  with  central 
station  work,  was  founded  in  1909,  the 
original  organizers  being  W.  A.  Wolls  of 
Columbus,  E.  F.  Gwynn  of  Delaware,  D.  J. 
Hard  of  Cleveland,  and  A.  C.  Rogers  of 
Toledo.  Mr.  Gwynn  is  now  deceased,  but 
each  of  the  other  originators  are  living  and 
holding  the  business  positions  which  they 
had  at  that  time.  Mr.  D.  J.  Hard  held 
the  rank  of  Colonel  in  the  late  war  and  did 
efficient  service  in  France  and  is  still  at  the 
head  of  the  Cleveland  Light  and  Power 
Company.  Mr.  Wolls  continues  with  the 
Columbus  Railway,  Light  and  Power  Com- 
pany, and  Mr.  Rogers  is  still  connected 
with  the  Toledo  Railways  &  Light  Com- 
pany. 


The  organizers  of  the  association  held 
their  preliminary  meeting  in  July,  1909, 
and  called  a  convention  to  be  held  in  the 
city  of  Columbus  in  November  of  that 
year,  at  which  time  the  association  may  be 
considered  to  have  been  officially  and  per- 
manently organized.  Nearly  all  of  the 
members  of  the  association  are  connected 
with  the  electric  light  industry,  and  prac- 
tically all  of  the  district  heating  plants  in 
the  country  are  operated  in  connection  with 
the  local  electric  lighting  companies. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  usefulness  of 
this  organization,  it  is  noted  that  at  the 
close  of  the  convention  in  1909  the  asso- 
ciation had  32  members,  and  ten  years 
later,  in  1919,  it  enrolled  nearly  400  mem- 
bers. Membership  in  the  association  is 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


653 


classified  as  follows:  Class  "A,"  Class  "B," 
Class  "C,"  and  "Associate"  members. 
Class  "A"  being  the  operating  companies 
and  those  engaged  actively  in  operating 
district  heating  plants ;  Class  "B"  being  em- 
ployees or  officers  of  Class  "A"  members; 
Class  "C"  being  those  engaged  in  plumbing 
and  "Associate"  those  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  appliances  to  serve  such  com- 
panies. The  majority  of  the  membership 
is  rated  under  Class  "A." 

Since  the  organization  in  1909,  conven- 
tions have  been  held  each  year  with  the 
exception  of  1918,  which  was  omitted  on 
account  of  the  war.  This  association  has 
probably  done  more  than  any  other  organ- 
ization in  gathering  information  in  refer- 
ence to  heating;  but  its  work  has  not  been 
confined  entirely  to  that  subject  but  has 
been  extended  to  plant  operation,  public 
policy  questions  and  other  matters  affecting 
and  helping  central  stations  in  the  com- 
plexity of  their  responsibilities.  One  of 
the  notable  achievements  of  the  associa- 
tion has  been  the  establishment  of  a  stand- 
ard rule  for  computing  required  radiation, 
which  was  completed  and  adopted  at  the 
convention  in  1919. 

The  association  has  published  its  pro- 
ceedings in  a  bound  volume  each  year,  and 
these  are  classed  as  standard  reference 
works  upon  the  subjects  covered.  In  1916 
it  established  its  own  publication  known  as 
the  Bulletin  of  the  National  District  Heat- 
ing Association,  which  is  issued  quarterly 
and  which  has  done  much  to  help  in  the 
work. 


At  the  convention  of  1909,  Mr.  D.  L. 
Gaskill,  of  Greenville,  Ohio,  was  chosen 
as  Secretary  and  he  is  still  serving  in  that 
capacity,  and  the  headquarters  of  the  asso- 
ciation have  been  located  in  the  office  of 
the  secretary  in  Greenville  since  the  first 
convention. 

The  past  presidents  of  the  association 
are  as  follows:  A.  C.  Rogers  of  Toledo, 
George  W.  Wright  of  Baltimore,  A.  D. 
Spencer  of  Detroit,  R.  D.  DeWolf  of 
Rochester,  S.  M.  Bushnell  of  Chicago,  H. 
R.  Wetherell  of  Peoria,  D.  S.  Boyden  of 
Boston,  B.  T.  Gifford  of  Grand  Rapids, 
Geo.  W.  Martin  of  New  York,  and  J.  C. 
Hobbs  of  Pittsburgh,  who  is  the  present 
encumbent. 

Conventions  have  been  held  in  Columbus, 
Toledo,  Pittsburgh,  Detroit,  Indianapolis, 
Rochester,  Chicago,  New  York,  Detroit, 
and  Pittsburgh,  two  each  having  been  held 
in  Detroit  and  Pittsburgh.  Mr.  W.  A. 
Wolls  acted  as  secretary  at  the  prelimin- 
ary organization  meeting  and  had  charge 
of  the  first  convention  held  at  Columbus, 
since  which  time  the  present  secretary  has 
filled  the  office. 

The  work  of  the  standing  committees 
of  the  association  has  been  very  strong 
and  their  reports  have  obtained  interna- 
tional circulation.  The  association  is  in 
excellent  condition  and  is  regarded  as  one 
of  the  strong  features  of  the  electrical 
organism,  and  as  working  industrially  and 
unceasingly  for  the  betterment  of  condi- 
tions as  they  arise  in  the  industry. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  BROTHERHOOD  OF  ELECTRICAL 

WORKERS 

AN  ORGANIZATION  EMBRACING  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  THIRTY  THOUSAND  WORKERS 

IN  THE  ELECTRICAL  FIELD 


THIS  Brotherhood  was  organized  and 
chartered  by  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  November  28,  1891. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  organization  was 
held  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  there  being  in 
attendance  representatives  from  associa- 
tions of  electricians  from  St.  Louis,  Chi- 
cago, Duluth,  Milwaukee,  Indianapolis, 
Evansville,  Toledo,  and  Philadelphia.  The 
names  of  those  attending  this  meeting  were 
J.  T.  Kelley,  Henry  Miller  and  W.  Heddin 
of  St.  Louis;  T.  J.  Fennell,  Chicago;  J.  G. 
Sutter,  Duluth;  M.  Dorsey,  Milwaukee; 
E.  Harting,  Indianapolis;  F.  Heizelman, 
Toledo;  Joseph  Burlitz,  Philadelphia,  and 
H.  Fisher,  Evansville. 

The  title  selected  for  the  organization 
at  that  time  was  National  Brotherhood  of 
Electrical  Workers  of  America.  Henry 
Miller  was  elected  president;  J.  T.  Kelley, 
secretary-treasurer;  J.  Harting,  first  vice- 
president;  F.  Heizelman,  second  vice  presi- 
dent. Thus  an  organization  of  electrical 
craftsmen  was  formed,  its  numerical 
strength  being  somewhat  less  than  one 
thousand  with  seven  affiliated  local  unions. 

There  was  little  to  encourage  this  small 
group  of  men.  The  opposition  to  unions 
at  that  time  was  active  and  bitter,  but  by 
the  untiring  efforts  on  the  part  of  those 
selected  to  officer  the  organizations,  when 
the  next  convention  was  held  November 
14,  1892,  at  Chicago,  there  were  twenty- 
four  locals  represented,  and  a  total  of 
forty-three  local  unions  affiliated  with  the 
organization.  The  records  of  the  conven- 
tion show  that  the  average  wage  for  jour- 
neymen at  that  time  was  $1.50  per  day,  and 


654 


the  hours  of  work  were  from  ten  to  twelve, 
and  in  many  cases  even  longer.  Quite  ex- 
tensive plans  for  extending  the  organiza- 
tion and  reducing  the  hours  of  work  and 
increasing  the  wage  rate  were  made  at  this 
meeting,  but  closely  following  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  convention  the  panic  of  1893 
occurred,  and  resulted  in  the  organization 
receiving  a  serious  set-back.  Out  of  the 
total  of  forty-three  locals  twenty-nine  be- 
came defunct. 

Those  responsible  for  the  administra- 
tion of  the  organization's  affairs  at  this 
time,  while  greatly  disheartened,  continued 
their  efforts  and  brought  it  through  the 
crisis  successfully,  and  from  that  time  on, 
continued  growth  and  progress  has  been 
made. 

At  the  Pittsburgh  convention,  1899,  it 
was  shown  that  the  growth  of  the  Brother- 
hood had  extended  into  Canada,  and  hav- 
ing in  mind  the  international  feature  the 
name  was  changed  from  National  to  Inter- 
national Brotherhood.  The  extension  of 
the  Brotherhood's  activity  to  Canada  was  a 
well  advised  move  and  developed  a  strong 
fraternal  bond  between  the  electrical  work- 
ers of  the  United  States  and  those  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada. 

The  progress  and  growth  of  the  Inter- 
national Union  has  been  steady;  and  from 
the  insignificant  beginning  of  less  than  one 
thousand  members  it,  at  present,  has  a 
paid  up,  good-standing  membership  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  members, 
all  of  whom  are  occupied  with  the  physical 
work  of  manufacturing,  installing,  main- 
taining, and  repairing  the  apparatus  neces- 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


655 


sary  for  the  generating  and  utilization  of 
electrical  energy.  From  the  frozen  con- 
fines of  the  Yukon  and  Hudson  Bay  to 
the  tropics  of  Panama  these  members  will 
be  found  devoting  their  time  to  harnessing 
that  great  force  which  has  brought  so  many 
comforts,  conveniences  and  necessities  to 
the  human  race. 

Over  eleven  thousand  members  of  the 
organization  responded  to  the  call  to  arms 
in  the  World's  War.  Thirty  per  cent  of 
the  entire  membership  in  the  Dominion  of 


CHARLES  P.  FORD 
International    Secretary 

Canada  enlisted  in  the  Canadian  forces. 
The  members  who  responded  to  their 
country's  call  quite  naturally  were  absorbed 
by  the  signal  corps  of  the  United  States 
and  Canadian  armies,  a  hazardous  branch 
of  the  service  which  resulted  in  heavy  casu- 
alties. Notwithstanding  this  the  Interna- 
tional Union  exempted  from  payment  all 
members  who  served  in  the  armies  or 
navies  of  the  Allied  countries,  and  also 
paid  full  death  benefits  to  those  who  made 
the  supreme  sacrifice. 

The  officers  of  the  Brotherhood  are  as 
follows:  President,  F.  J.  McNulty,  New- 
ark, N.  J.,  elected  September,  1905,  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  Convention;  Secretary,  Chas.  P. 


Ford,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  appointed  to  fill 
vacancy  July,  1912;  Treasurer,  Wm.  A. 
Hogan,  New  York  City,  elected  Chicago 
Convention,  September,  1909.  Vice-Presi- 
dents:  Jas.  P.  Noonan,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
elected  Louisville  Convention,  1905  ;  G.  M. 
Bugniazet,  New  York  City,  elected  Roches- 
ter Convention,  1911 ;  L.  C.  Crasser,  Oak- 
land, Cal.,  elected  Rochester  Convention, 
1911;  E.  Ingles,  London,  Ont.,  Can., 
elected  Atlantic  City  Convention,  1917. 
Executive  Board  members :  Frank  L.  Kel- 
ley,  Boston,  Mass.,  elected  Rochester  Con- 
vention, 1911;  George  W.  Whitford,  New 
York  City,  elected  Rochester  Convention, 
1911;  Edward  Nothnagel,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  elected  St.  Paul  Convention,  1915; 
M.  P.  Gordan,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  elected 
Rochester  Convention,  191 1 ;  M.  J.  Boyle, 
Chicago,  111.,  elected  Boston  Convention, 
1913;  Frank  Swor,  Dallas,  Texas,  ap- 
pointed to  fill  vacancy  September,  1909; 
T.  C.  Vickers,  Fresno,  Cal.,  elected  at 
Boston  Convention,  1913. 

Those  entrusted  with  the  administration 
of  an  organization's  affairs  define  the  gen- 
eral business  policy  of  the  organization, 
and  nothing  could  be  more  important  to 
the  Brotherhood  than  its  business  relations. 
The  policy  established  by  the  officers  and 
in  force  at  this  time  has  won  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  great  majority  of  elec- 
trical employers  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada. 

The  organization,  while  primarily  a 
labor  organization,  does  not  overlook  the 
importance  of  conducting  its  affairs  as  a 
business  institution,  neither  does  it  over- 
look the  advantages  of  trade  education  for 
its  membership.  Each  of  the  over  nine 
hundred  local  unions  has  established  edu- 
cational features.  A  portion  of  the  time 
of  each  business  meeting  is  given  over  to 
lectures  and  discussions  on  practical  elec- 
trical subjects.  Trade  schools  for  appren- 
tices have  been  started,  providing  an  oppor- 
tunity for  the  apprentice  to  obtain  a  techni- 
cal as  well  as  practical  understanding  of 
the  business.  It  is  said  that  no  other  or- 
ganization of  labor  has  such  diversified 
interests  as  the  electrical  workers.  There 
is  practically  no  limit  to  its  field  of  opera- 
tions and  no  branch  of  industry  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  electrical  worker.' 
CHARLES  P.  FORD, 

International  Secretary. 


656 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 

ADDENDA 


Lieutenant-Colonel  Byllesby,  of  whom 
an  engraving  appears  opposite  page  135, 
while  in  Europe  during  the  war  served  the 
United  States  Army  as  the  London  repre- 
sentative of  the  Purchasing  Bureau  of  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces,  having 
charge  of  purchasing  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  Scandinavian  countries.  He  returned 
to  the  United  States,  was  honorably  dis- 
charged December  19,  1918,  and  resumed 
active  duty  as  president  of  H.  M.  Byllesby 
&  Company.  He  has  received  the  Dis- 
tinguished Service  Medal  from  the  British 
Government. 

Mr.  James  F.  Hughes,  whose  photo- 
graph and  sketch  appear  at  page  261  of 
this  volume,  died  on  January  24,  1919. 
Mr.  Hughes  had  not  been  active  with  his 
firm  for  some  time,  and  his  lamented  death 
will  not  curtail  the  commercial  progress  of 
the  company. 

Charles  Edwin  Knox,  for  many  years  a 
leading  consulting  electrical  engineer,  see 
page  563,  died  at  the  St.  Luke's  Hospital 
on  June  ist,  1919. 

Louis  K.  Comstock,  electrical  contract- 
ing engineer,  whose  sketch  appears  on  page 
175,  has  removed  his  offices  from  30 
Church  Street  to  21  West  4Oth  Street,  New 
York.  

Ray  Palmer,  whose  sketch  appears  on 
page  362,  has  changed  his  address  from 
444  Jackson  Avenue  to  the  Bridge  Plaza, 
Long  Island  City. 

Welcome  I.  Capen,  late  vice  president  of 
the  Postal  Telegraph  Company,  see  page 


293,  died  at  his  home  in  Mt.  Vernon,  New 
York,  April  i8th,  1919. 

James  T.  Maxwell,  for  many  years  with 
the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company,  see 
page  296,  died  at  his  home  in  that  city 
since  the  above  sketch  was  printed. 


In  June  1918,  Dr.  Miller  Reese  Hutch- 
ison, in  order  to  devote  his  entire  attention 
to  the  Government  as  a  member  of  the 
Naval  Consulting  Board,  disposed  of  such 
commercial  interests  as  necessitated  his  per- 
sonal attention.  About  Jan.  ist,  1919,  he 
opened  offices  of  Miller  Reese  Hutchison, 
Inc.,  on  the  5  ist  floor  of  the  Woolworth 
Building,  N.  Y.,  where  he  is  now  engaged 
igi  special  engineering  development  and 
construction  work  in  the  U.  S.  A.  and  over- 
seas. 

In  addition  to  the  clubs  and  societies 
mentioned  on  page  258  in  Dr.  Hutchison's 
sketch,  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Automo- 
bile Club  of  America,  New  York  Athletic 
Club,  Kappa  Alpha  (Southern)  Fraternity 
and  vice-president  and  treasurer  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  Industrial  Engineers  of  New 
York  City. 

William  S.  Murray,  whose  sketch  ap- 
pears on  page  353,  chief  electrical  engineer 
of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford 
Railroad  for  many  years,  who  has  hereto- 
fore maintained  headquarters  at  New  Ha- 
ven, Conn.,  has  moved  his  engineering 
offices  to  165  Broadway,  New  York  City. 
He  will  devote  his  time  to  consultation  on 
electrical  generation  and  transmission, 
railroad  electrification,  and  conservation 
of  natural  resources. 


INDEX  TO  CONTENTS 


Abbott,  Arthur  L 524 

Acheson,  Dr.  Edward  G 115-506 

Adams,  Charles  C 291 

Adams,  Prof.  Comfort  A 129-309 

Adams,  Edward  D 123 

Adams,  Prof.  Francis  J 130 

Alabama  Light  &  Traction  Association.  .  325 

Alabama  Power  Company 575 

Aldred,  John  E ". 128 

Aldred  &  Company 126 

Alexander,  Harry 131 

American  Electric  Railway  Association.  .  306 
American  Institute  of  Electrical 

Engineers 307 

Ampere,  Andre  Marie 16 

Andrews,  William  S 524 

Arkansas  Association  of  Public  Utility 

Operators 325 

Association  of  Edison  Illuminating 

Companies 311 

Association  of  Iron  &  Steel  Electrical 

Engineers 322 

Association  of  Railway  Telegraph 

Superintendents. 306 

Babcock  &  Wilcox  Co 75-84 

Bacon,  Frank  R 612 

Bacon,  George  W 552 

Baekeland,  Leo  Hendrik 146 

Bailey,  Benjamin  F 526 

Bain,  Alexander 35 

Baker,  Cyrus  O 525 

Ball,  John  Dudley 527 

Bancroft,  Charles  F 134 

Barrett,  John  P 51 

Barrows,  William  E.,  Jr 527 

Barton,  Phillip  P 140 

Barstow,  William  S 143-312 

Bates,  Putnam  A 50-532 

Baylor,  Armistead  K 635 

Bedell,  Frederick 528 

Beebe,  Charles  B 528 

Behrend,  Bernard  A 148 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham 24-55-308 

Bell  Electric  Motor  Co 529 

Bell  Telephone  Co 54  to  75 

Bennett,  Josiah  Q 139 


Bentley  &  Knight 106 

Benton,  John  R 530 

Bernard,  Edgar  G 145 

Berresford,  Arthur  W 332-612 

Berthold,  Martin 147 

Biesecker,  Arthur  S 530 

Bishop  Gutta  Percha  Co 376 

Black,  Charles  N 554 

Blackwell,  F.  O 438 

Blake,    Francis 67-133 

Blakeslee,  Henry  J 150 

Bliss,  William  L 533 

Blood,  John  B 537 

Blood,  William  H.,  Jr 311 

Boileau,  Willard  E 144 

Bonbright,  William  P.,  &  Co.,  Inc 540 

Bowker,  R.  R 312 

Boyer,  William  C 142 

Bradley,  Charles  S 149 

Brady,  Anthony  N 535 

Brady,  Nicholas  F 536 

Breed,  Richard  E 539 

Brixey,  Richard  D 645 

Brixey,  William  R 643-644 

Bruch,  Charles  P 292 

Brush,  Charles  F 25-96-308 

Bryant,  Waldo  C 541 

Buck,  H.  W 309-438 

Buffalo  General  Electric  Co 81-590 

Bump,  Milan  R 633 

Burch,  Edward  P 537 

Burchard,  Anson  W 324-329-542 

Burke,  James 641 

Burt,    Austin 540 

Bushnell,  Winthrop  G 543 

Byllesby,  Henry  M 135-656 

Byllesby,  H.  M.,  &  Co 135 

Campbell,  Charles  E 183 

Capen,  Welcome  I 293-656 

Carpenter,  Charles  E 613 

Carty,  Col.  John  J 153-309 

Cary,  Walter 173-332 

Central  Station,  First 73 

Chaee,  W.  G 189 

Chandler,  Albert  B 168 

Channing,  Dr.  W.  F 46 


657 


658 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


Chesney,  Cummings   C 637 

Chester,  Charles  T 47 

Clark,  Farley  G 179 

Clark,  LeRoy 152 

Clark,  Walter  Gordon 157 

Clark,  William    J 161 

dowry,  Col.  Robert  C 170 

Coffin,  Charles  A 82-495 

Coggeshall,  Allan 648 

Colby,  Edward  A 155 

Coles,  Stephen  L 329 

Colorado  Power  Company 581 

Colpitts,  Edwin  H 450 

Commonwealth  Edison  Co 77-87 

Comstock,  Louis  K 175-656 

Condit,  Sears  B.,  Jr 177 

Conklin,  L.  H 184-324 

Cook,  Charles  S 176 

Coolidge,  Dr.  William  D 189-519 

Corey,  Fred  B 544 

Corey,  Robert  B 163-164 

Coster,  Maurice 174 

Cowles,  Alfred  H 172-504 

Crafts,  Major  Edward  B 449 

Crane,  Albert  S 523 

Crescent  Electric  &  Mfg.  Co 355 

Crocker,  Prof.  Francis  B 92-309-325 

Crookes,  Professor  William 513 

Cross,  Prof.  Charles  R 178-308 

Grouse,  John  B 165 

Crouse,  J.  Robert 167-319-329 

Cummings,   Henry   H 186 

Cummings,  James  F 159 

Currie,  Harry  A 178 

Cushing,  H.  C.,  Jr 188 

Cutler-Hammer  Mfg.  Co 610 

Cutler,  Harry  H 181 

Daft,  Leo 103 

Dame,  Frank  L 201 

Davis,  George  H 553 

Davis,  Joseph  P 308-628-632 

Davy,  Sir  Humphrey 15-503 

Day,   Charles 545 

De  Camp,  A.  J 546 

DeForest,  Lee 41-190-328 

DeVeau,  A.  S 198 

Devereux,    Washington , 200 

Doane,  Samuel  E 197 

Dodge,  Kern 54,7 

Doherty,  Henry  L 193-194-311-319-329 

Doherty  Organization 193 

Doremus,  Arthur  L 199-324 

Doubleday-Hill  Electric  Co 202 

Dow,  Alex 312 

Downing,  Paul  M 200 

Driver,  Frank  L 203 

Driver-Harris  Co 203-205 

Driver,  Wilbur   B 205 

Dunbar,  Glendower 548 

Duncan,  Dr.  Louis 207-208-309 


Dunham,  Austin  C 209 

Dunn,  Gano 309-522 

Durland,  D.  Clarence 206 

Edgar,  Charles   L 311 

Edison,  Thomas  A., 

19-38-72-74-102-210-213-308 

Edwards,   Evan   J 214 

Eglin,  William  C.  L 215-311 

Eidlitz,  Charles  L 330-550 

Eisenmenger,  Hugo  E 216 

Eldred,  Byron  E 217 

Electric   Bond  &  Share   Co 548 

Electric  Club  of  New  York 312-313 

Electrical   Manufacturers   Club 332 

Electric   Power   Club 324 

Electric   Storage  Battery 335 

Electrical  Supply  Jobbers'  Association..      332 
Electric  Vehicle  Association  of  America.      326 

Elliott,  William  B 551 

Emmett,  William  LeRoy 218 

Empire  State  Gas  &  Electric  Association.      320 

English,    James 312 

Entz,  Justus  B 219-220 

Faraday,    Michael 18 

Farmer,  Moses  G 38-46 

Farrand,    Dudley 221-311 

Faure,  C.  A 336 

Ferguson,  Louis  A 311 

Field,   Cyrus   W 36 

Field,  Stephen  D 22-1 12 

Fink,  Dr.  Colin  G 222-224 

Fire  Alarm   Telegraph 46 

Fire  Hazard,  Electrical 83 

Fish,  Frederick  P. 225 

Fisher,  Henry  W 226 

Fitzgerald,  Francis  A.  J 228 

Flowers,  Alan  E 226 

Ford,  Bacon  &  Davis 552 

Ford,  Charles  P 655 

Ford,  Frank    R 552 

Forsyth,  Joseph  C 229 

Foster,  Mortimer  B 636 

Franklin,    Benjamin 13 

Freeman,  W.  Winans 227-31 1 

Frink,  Inc.,  I.  P 642 

Frueauff,  Frank  W 195-311 

Gage,  Nelson   W 230 

Garnewell,   John    N 47 

General  Electric  Co 76-346-489 

Gest,  Guion  M 231 

Gherardi,   Bancroft 647 

Gilbert,  Dr.  William. 10 

Gilchrist,  John  F 31 1-327-329 

Gossler,  Philip  G 235 

Graf,   Robert   J 138 

Graham,  William  Pratt 236 

Gray,    Elisha 63 

Great  White  \Vay 626 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


659 


Green,  George  F 22 

Green,  Dr.    Norvin 237 

Griffin,  Late  General  Eugene 623 

Grissinger,    Elwood 232-234 

Grover,  Theodore  F 324-556 

Haanel,   Dr.    Eugene   E.   R 507 

Hall,  C.  M 504. 

Hallberg,  J.  Henry 650-652 

Hammer,  Major  William  J 252 

Hare,   Robert 504 

Harrison,  Ward 240 

Hartford  Electric  Light  Co. 557 

Hartman,  Fred  S 241-324 

Hatch,  Edward  B 239 

Hatzel,  John  C 241 

Hawksbee,    Francis 11 

Henry,  John   C 107 

Henry,  Joseph 32 

Hering,  Dr.  Carl 242-243-309 

Heroult,     Paul 504 

Herr,  Herbert  T 248 

Hill,  C.    Phillips 202 

Hill,  G.   Brown 202 

Hill,  Halbert  P 244 

Hill,  Nicholas  S.,  Jr 245-246 

Hill,  William  A 259-260 

Hixon,  Alfred    J 247 

Hodenpyl,  Hardy  &  Co.,  Inc 558 

Holtzer,  Charles  W 251-324 

Hornor,  Harry  A 249-250 

Houston,  Prof.  Edwin  J 491 

Hubbell,  Harvey 257 

Huey,  Arthur  S 135 

Hughes,  James  F 261-656 

Hunter,  Rudolph  M. 255 

Huntley,    Charles    R 311-590 

Huntley,  William   R 595 

Hutchison,  Dr.  Miller  Reece 258-656 

Hydraulic  Power  Co.  of  Niagara  Falls.  .      584 

Illuminating  Engineering  Society 321 

Independent  Lamp  &  Wire  Company.  .  .  559 

Indiana  Electric  Light  Ass'n 323 

Institute  of  Radio  Engineers 328 

Insull,  Samuel 82-311-312 

International  Brotherhood  of  Electrical 

Workers 654 

Jackson,   Prof.   Dugald   C....  ..      263-309-315 

Jackson,  Herbert    C 513 

Jewett,   Col.   Frank   B 446 

Johnson,  Walter  H 262-327-329 

Jones,  Theodore  I 264 

Jovian  Order 317 

Kabat,  H.   H 267 

Kebler,  Leonard 266 

Keilholtz,  P.  O 562 

Kelvin   Engineering  Co.   Inc 560 

Kemper,   Ludwig 265 


Kerite  Insulated  Wire  &  Cable  Co.,  Inc. 

Kidd,  Jr.,  Andrew 

Knight,  G.  L 

Knox,  Charles  E 


643 
268 
266 
563 


Lamb,    Richard 270 

Lamme,  Benjamin  G 269 

Langmuir,    Irving 271 

Langsdorf,  Alexander  S 272 

Lardner,   Henry   A.  .  .  . 523 

Latey,  Harry  N 271 

Lee,  William  S 565 

Leland,  George  B 276 

Lemp,    Hermann 280 

Leonard,   H.   Ward 273 

Leslie,  Edward  A 277-278 

Lieb,   John   W 309-311-312-604 

Lincoln,  Paul  M 279-309 

Lisle,  Arthur  B 280 

Lloyd,  Edward  W 311 

Lobo,   Gustavo 561 

Lockwood,   Thomas   D 65-281-308 

Logan,  Henry  B 601 

Lovejoy,  Jesse  E 284-285 

Lozier,  Robert  T.  E 283 

Mackay,  Clarence  H 287-288 

Mackay,  John    W 286 

Main,  Charles  T 300 

Manwaring,   Albert   H 298 

Marburg,  Louis  C 295 

Marconi,  William 41 

Marshall,  Cloyd 304 

Martin,  Archibald  J 297 

Martin,  T.    Commerford 308-311 

Maxwell,  James  T 296-656 

Metropolitan   Engineering  Co 597 

Millar,  Preston  S 322-640 

Missouri  Association  of  Public  Utilities .  .      323 

Mitchell,  James 347 

Moissan,   Henri 505 

Mole,  Harvey  E 568 

Moody,   Walter   S 567 

Moore,  Daniel   McF 302 

Mora,   Mariano   L 634 

Morris,   Elmer   P 111-351 

Morrison,  George   F 334 

Morse,  Prof.  Samuel  F.  B 31 

Motz,  Jacob  F 355 

Mullaney,   Thomas   F 570 

Murch,   George   A 640 

Murray,  Thomas   F 353-65'6 

Murray,  William  S 353-656 

Musso,  Dr.  Giuseppe 599 

McBerty,  Fred  P 603 

McCall,  Joseph  B 294-31 1 

McCarter,   Robert  Dale 299 

McCleary,  Earnest 329-330-418 

McClernon,  James   E 349 

McDougall,  Douglas   H 354 


660 


THE    STORY    OF    ELECTRICITY 


McGraw,  James  H 303 

McJunkin,  Paul 569 

McNicol,   Donald 45-350 

McQuarrie,  James  L 448 

Nagel,  W.    G 638 

Nally,  Edward  J 42-356 

National  Association  of  Electrical 

Contractors  and  Dealers 330-416 

National  District  Htg.  Association,  The.  .      652 

National  Electrical  Credit  Ass'n 331 

Nela  Park,  Cleveland 390 

Newcomb,   Charles   L 639 

New   Mexico   Electrical  Ass'n 329 

New   York   Electrical  Society 305 

O'Brien,  John  J 137 

Ohio  Electric  Light  Ass'n 315 

Ohio  Soc.  of  Mech.,  Elec.  and  Steam 

Engineers 319 

Oklahoma  Utilities  Ass'n 327 

Okonite  Company 598 

Oregon  Ass'n  of  Electrical  Contractors 

and  Dealers 331 

Osborne,  Loyall  A 324-329-332-358 

Osthoff,  Otto  E , 136 

Oudin,  Maurice  A 359-360 

Page,  Almon  D 361 

Page,  Prof.  C.  G 102 

Page  Steel  &  Wire  Co 649 

Paine.   Sidney   B 97 

Palmer,  Ray'. 362-652 

Pearson,  Fred  S 368 

Peck,  Henry  W 370 

Peerless  Electric  Co. 602 

Pegram,  George  H 374 

Pender,  Dr.  Harold 362 

Pennsylvania  Electric  Assn 324 

Perry,   Marsden  J 311-365 

Pettingell- Andrews   Co 369 

Petty,  David  M 323-363-364 

Philadelphia   Electric  Co 79 

Phillips,  Ellis  L 367 

Pierce,  Frederick  L 614 

Plante,  R.  L.  G 336 

Platt,  Frederick  J 605 

Police  Patrol  Systems 51 

Postal  Telegraph  Cable  Co.  ...      39-43-286-293 

Potter,   Henry   S 35 

Potts,  Louis  M 372 

Price,  Charles  B 369 

Price,  Frank  S 329-369 

Public  Service  Assn.  of  Virginia 326 

Public  Service  Co.  of  New  Jersey 78 

Public  Utility  Holding  Co 626 

Pupin,  Prof.,  Michael  I 328-371 

Putnam,  Henry  St.  Clair 373 

Radio  Club  of  America 326 

Railway  Signal  Association 315 


Raney,  E.  C 375 

Rankine,  William  B 380 

Reed,  Henry  A 377 

Reed,  Henry  D 378 

Reed,  William  B 379 

Reist,  Henry  G 381 

Requa,  Leonard  F 382 

Reynolds,  Edward 290 

Rhodes,  George   I 652 

Rice,  Edwin  W.,  Jr 309-491-607 

Rice,  Richard  H 609 

Riley,  R.  Sanford 387 

Robbins  &  Myers  Co.,  The 600 

Robinson,   J.   K 615 

Rogers,  Edwin 48 

Rontgen,  Wm.   Conrad 513 

Rowland,  Prof.  Henry  A 12-384 

Rowntree,   Harold.  .  ! 385 

Rushmore,  David  B 383 

Ryan,  William  D'A 608 

Sawyer,  Le  Roy  P 618 

Sawyer,   Willits    H 392 

Schildhauer,   Edward 393 

Schoellkopf,  Arthur 589 

Schoellkopf,  Jacob  F 585 

Schoellkopf,  Paul  A 589 

Schreiber,  John  Martin 391 

Scott,  Henry  Holton 196-31 1 

Scovil,  Samuel 315 

Scribner,   Charles   E 616 

Sheldon,  Prof.  Samuel 309-396 

Shepard,  Francis  Henry 394 

Shick,  D.  Frederick 389 

Short,  Prof.  Sidney  H 108 

Shute,   Henry   D 397 

Siemens,   Sir  William 504 

Sinclair,  H.  A 622 

Skiff,  Warner  M 401 

Smith,  Chauncy 65 

Smith,  Frank  Whitney 327-400 

Society  for  Electrical  Development 328 

Society  for  Promotion  of  Engineering 

Education 314 

So.  Dakota  Elec.  Power  Assn 329 

Southwestern  Elec.  &  Gas  Assn 316 

Spencer,  Paul 404 

Sperry,  Elmer  A 308-402 

Sprague,   Frank   J 22-98-108-309-617 

Sprong,  S.  D 398 

Staley,   Marcellus 406 

Stanley,  William,  Jr 23-75 

'  Stebbins,  Theodore 82-414 

Steinberger,  Louis 619 

Steinmetz,  Charles  P 98-309-322-415 

Stevens,  Ray  P 409 

Stewart,  Frank  H 411 

Stickney,  George  H 322-412 

Stillwell,  Louis  B 309-407 

Stitzer,   Arthur  B 646 

Stone,   Charles   A 621 


THE    STORY    OF   ELECTRICITY 


661 


Stone  &  Webster 621 

Storage  Battery,  Story  of 335 

Storrow,  James   J 65 

Strong,  Frederick  G 622 

Strong,  James  R 329-330-417 

Tait,  Frank  M 311-419 

Telegraph,   Story  of 29 

Telephone,   Story   of 55 

Terry,  Franklin  S 423 

Tesla,   Nikola 75-420 

Thomas,  Charles  G.  M 320-424 

Thomson,  Prof.  Elihu 308-425-491 

Thomson-Houston  Electric  Co -493 

Towson,  Morris  S 422 

Tri-State  Water  &  Light  Assn 327 

Trumbull,  Alexander  H 428 

Trumbull  Electric  Mfg.  Co 624 

Trumbull,   Henry 625 

Trumbull,  Isaac  B 429-430 

Trumbull,   John   H 624 

Tufts,  Bowen 431 

Twining,  William  S 426 

Tynes,  Thomas  E 427 

Uebelacker,  Charles   F 553 

Underbill,  Charles  R 433 

United  Gas  &  Electric  Corporation 626 

Upton,   Francis   R 432 

Vail,  Alfred 34 

Vail,  Theodore  N 67-308-439 

Van  Depoele,  Charles  J  .  .      98-105-1 1 1-434-494 

Vanderpoel,  Floyd  L 437 

Vasquez,  E.  A 561 

Vermont  Electrical  Assn 320 

Viele,  Blackwell  &  Buck 438 

Volta,  Alexander 14 

Von  Guericke,  Otto 11 

Von  Phul,  William 554 

Vreeland,  Herbert  H 436 


Wagner,  Herbert  A 311 

Wagoner,  Philip  D 443 

Wakeman,  James  M 329 

Wappler  Brothers 440 

Wappler,  Frederick  H 44,0 

Wappler,  Reinhold  H 440 

Ward,  George  Gray 289 

Warren,  Henry  M 453 

Watson,  Prof.  Arthur  E 441-442 

Watson,  Thomas  A 59 

Webster,  Edwin  S 621 

Weiderman,  George 455 

Wells,  Walter  F 31 1-456 

Western  Assn.  of  Elec.  Inspectors 320 

Western  Electric  Co 444 

Western  Union  Telegraph  Co 29-43 

Westinghouse  Elec.  &  Mfg.  Co 484 

Wheeler,  Frank  T 625 

Wheeler,  Schuyler  S 309 

White  Engineering  Corp.,  J.  G 521 

White,  James  G 522 

Whitney,  Willis  R 452-497 

Williams,  Arthur 31 1-312-326-457 

Williams,  E.    G 523 

Williams,   Harrison 459 

Willson,  T.  H 505 

Wilson,  Howard  S 454 

Winchester,  Albert  E 458 

Wisconsin  Electrical  Assn 322 

Worth,  Barzillai  G 623 

Wright,  John  E 42 

Young,  Charles  Griffith 461 

Young,  Owen  D 462 

Ziegler,  A.  Arthur 54-70-463 

Zimmerman,  John  E 545 


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